Unsplash Copyright Issues - WARNING! Don't Use Unsplash!

Thanks for the thoughts, I am just starting out and want a place to upload my photos, ideally where they will be seen and potentially used. Making money isn't my primary purpose. Where would you recommend I store my portfolio?

Hi I came across your video, so what website is better to sell your photos?

What about Unsplash Plus? I would NEVER consider myself a photographer. I find all the legalities SO confusing. I write on Mediumm but much less than I used to. I wish that I could write posts with NO images. It would be SO much simpler!

Formerly, Unsplash used the CC0 licence (Commonwealth spelling), which is basically Public Domain... forever. Now the Unsplash licence is non-freedom-free, and thus photos using that licence (that are uploaded later than the licence change-over) cannot be used on Wikipedia, as Wikipedia specifically requires freedom-free images (otherwise the images are non-free, and have to have a Fair Use Rationale, which complies with American copyright law's fair use statute). The CC0 images are still in the public domain, regardless of licence, because once something has the CC0 licence on it, then it's public domain forever.

I sold my images to shutter stock and some others and they paid me .99 cents for the best ones. However, I placed those same images on Unsplash and I got over 400,000 views and thousands of downloads in the matter of a few weeks. I got more recognition in that time and probably more inquiries about me than ever before on shutter stock. The best advertisement for the effort. Well worth posting on Unsplash.

Can’t you request a contribution every time someone is using your pictures? It’s your work. It’s optional to an artist to give something for free - it’s not obligatory.

As an Artist I know how it feels like when our work is been used it randomly after we’ve spend time money we have invested so much for a special artwork and then realized that some people might be using it without our permission. Making copies of our designs. Why don’t you charge for your work?

I just don't understand why you never keep your photos probably and why not you just ask unsplash delete those photos you don't want to share.

Everything has its good and bad sides, I'm new on the content marketing, I don't have any money to buy anything at all for now, I made a website for free so that in the future I can pay for a premium content. But anyway, those images on Unsplash are just saving me, and I always give credit to the author. For me, if you have a skill and are not willing to use it just a little to help people, you're wasting your time. Of course, photography is a career, you have bills to pay, projects, that doesn't mean you should do everything for free (OF COURSE NOT) but offering a few photos for copyright free wouldn't make you go bankrupt or something like this..it is not as if you could "run out of inspiration" That's an infinite source

Have you checked out JumpStory? An alternative to Unsplash 😊 thanks for a great and interesting video.

Are you in business to make a living, or are you doing it for other reasons? Everyone needs to be honest with themselves about their raison d’etre.

Yes sir,
I think informations you have said it's true maybe I uploaded 10 photos but 6 photos are missing of 10 .
After that I mailed them but they replied as the photos that photos I had uploaded and missing photos aren't perfect quality . But the photos left are
even worst than missing ones.
Am not professional photographer but missing photos from your/my account is unbearable & unthinkable

If you give your work away, you get paid what you are worth. Exposure is a rort.

Thanks for your views on Unsplash. 
Question: What's the solution to this problem? Do you have one? Are you creating one?

Yes, it doesn't make much sense to put your work on Unsplash if you're a professional selling photos for the kind of prices you mention. But I suspect most photographers on Unsplash are part-timers or amateurs, like myself. I sell a photo here and there on stock photography sites; the sums are generally tiny so it doesn't make a great deal of difference if the pics are sold or given away. The chances of selling photos for the kind of money you mention are very remote for most of us.

Misleading title.

the content in this video doesn't necessary point out to copyright issues but multiple reasons

one is money - could've sold the photos but instead giving out for free through unsplash.

The photographers on unsplash is appreciated, its their way of giving back to the community and we, other users highly appreciate for sharing their photos. Some of my blogs i mention those photographers in return for their great work.

Yes, they sell most of their photos and some good ones they give it out for free to feature themselves or simply giving back to the community. So its not always about money :/

As a brokeass wannabe painter, unsplash is amazing

1 thumbs down? CEO of Unsplash, most certainly haha

I'm primarily a corporate headshot photographer(lawyers/realtors/CPA's/etc), so Unsplashes' business model doesn't normally effect my bottom line. However, the fact that anyone can upload an image without any verification of being the copyright holder has caused me problems in the past. I've found clients images, headshots for which I am the SOLE copyright holder, being offered on Unsplash as stock photos. Who steals headshots???


I also found marketing images I shot for a local florist being offered on Unsplash because a different florist was using them and claimed they had a license from Unsplash. In both cases the metadata had been altered and it took weeks of back and forth before Unsplash finally removed the images. I still have no idea how many times they have been used without my/my clients(no release) permission and lost a days work re-shooting for the florist.


I honestly don't care if people want to give their stuff away for free, but Unsplash needs to seriously clean up their act with regard to just accepting images on the submitters word and granting licenses for commercial use. Hopefully someone will use one of the dozen+ image of Epcot or other Disney properties that are on Unsplash without a release and Disney will nail them as hard as they've gone after others in the past. It seems like it's the only way they will learn their lesson.

90% pictures of unsplash is of women .. can't be used as emoji for men ..sucks

Wait? How do Unsplashed get their money though?

Where are you selling those for $900?? Do you know this magazine specifically, or is there some other site? Stock image sites?

Perhaps you used the wrong website? I don't upload to Unsplash... I post my images to a similar website called Pexels. The Pexels license is not like Unsplash, it's not the standard CC0 public domain either, but their own license... they state what is allowed and what is not under their own usage rules (anyone can create their own license attached to the use of their photography) the standard CC0 is best avoided. Pexels clearly state "Don't sell unaltered copies of a photo, e.g. don't sell it as a stock photo, poster, print or on a physical product without adding any value"... and... "Don't redistribute or sell the photos on other stock photo or wallpaper platforms." They also have a donate button which goes straight to your Paypal (many photographers say they earn more from Pexels than they do on paid stock image sites) And now they've added a 'for hire' button, because a lot of photographers have got work from their images seen on Pexels... why not advertise it?! I like Unsplash, but I feel they are bit backward in the way they run the site.

Sometimes I've had my images taken from Pexels and uploaded by idiots to Shutterstock and other paid stock images sites, but I've had no problems getting those photos removed quickly... simply because paid stock image sites don't want fake photographers uploading images that can be obtained free elsewhere... it's an embarrassment. Pexels also has an excellent support system for reporting images you find being offered as downloads for sale... they will deal with the problem for you, and they seem to be successful at getting images removed where they shouldn't be, but most times I deal with it myself. I have heard of photographers having the same issues just displaying their photography on their own website... they end up on a paid stock image sites too.

To some extent I would agree with you on certain photography that is visually stunning and may have cost a great deal of time and money to create, or images of people... it may not be wise to upload such work to a free stock image site. The kind of images I create are more basic and unlikely to be used by a company like Apple. Perhaps Apple should be shamed for using free images, because they certainly can afford to pay big money, and they should. But just because that problem exists, shouldn't prevent smaller websites and ordinary bloggers being able to access free images.

The prices on paid stock image sites are ridiculous, often for images not even that good and are unaffordable for most bloggers, first time publications of books, small businesses and charities. I would I'm sure struggle to sell my work on Shutterstock and Getty because there are so many images under similar categories... it would get lost in the thousands of pages of similar images. I'm also not impressed with how much those websites make from images sold, paying the one who did all the work hardly anything at all... that's a scam... causing photographers to work even harder... having to produce large amounts of images to make any money at all.

And not all photographers see their work as something to make money from either. Photography is not money, it is art, memories and history. It's never going to be possible for every photographer to make a living out of their work... that isn't how the world works. For those who want to sell their photography, that's fine... for those who don't... we are tired of people telling us we are missing the point... we shouldn't be giving our work away. We know what we want, we are not fools, we know fully what we are doing.... it's our work... if we want to give it away, that's our business and nobody else has a say in that.

If you upload photos on unsplash you should not expect any profit from there , you have to decide it upload or not

True true. Thanks for sharing this with the world!!

I don't think you're seeing the whole picture. Yes, of course when you give away your images for free on unsplash (or anywhere else), big companies can use them without paying you. But what it also does is create a foundry of free images for everyone to use. Don't stop because a big company also can uses that stuff. I do some design work for a small non-profit and a students choir - having a resource like unsplash available is invaluable for us.



For example just this year we decided to buy an image off Adobe Stock - great the creator (and Adobe) got paid. But in the end we had a lot of problems because the license was too restrictive and we could not get another one - so instead of being able to use the dertivative works (flyers, posters with concert dates added) could not be shared on any social media - just because not all channels would have the option to give credit. Of course we give credit where it is possible - but having unsplash available we could get supplemental images to create additional content that could legally be shared on social media that does not enable you to give credit (e.g. a Facebook page header). Not being contractually forced to give credit is unfortunately essential in some cases.


Sure, don't give away everything for free - but think about it. You also help the "little guys" when releasing images with a Creative Commons license or on unsplash. I think it's a good approach to share a little bit of your own stuff. Some of the original photos I created for the choir (that ultimately went unused) will be uploaded to unsplash, so the community that provided us with material when we needed it, can also profit a little bit.



TL;DR: it's not all black-and-white and you supporting the 'little guys' as well when offering images for free

Thanks for the heads up. Even though I have never heard of Splash. How do you feel about 500PX? What other apps would you recommend for uploading your work?

Great video, I'm going to stop using it. Been feeling this way for awhile.

Thanks Noealz.. I guess as a young photographer who isn't making money from the photography they are passionate about, it's appealing because at least you're getting something from your work. Maybe you could strategically upload photos in your city or town to get noticed? I got a couple of local jobs from it but I'll probably stop uploading photos from different countries. Stock Photography websites don't motivate me to upload to them at all haha. Maybe you could do a video on how to get your images sold to a magazine? 🙏

i have 33Million views on Unsplash and 132K downloads with nothing to show for it. save yourself and dont use this site. i've had my unsplash photos used by the NFL, cosmo magazine germany, and have gotten ZERO work from it.

You make some really good points that I hadn’t thought of before. However, I have always known why uploading to Unsplash is a bad idea, even before I started doing photography again. I’d like to think it’s widely known that Unsplash allows other people to use photos without credit. I used to grab photos from there to share them (with credit of course) and they always tell you that they’d prefer credit but it isn’t mandatory after every photo you save. I’ve never even thought about using Unsplash because I require credit for my work, and I know they don’t share those views. I’m also not good enough to ever have someone approach me wanting to buy a photo from me but oh well xD

I 100% agree that big corporations should be paying people for their work. They shouldn’t be allowed to grab things from the internet for free when they have that much money to spend on a real person trying to make their way in this world.

I also hadn’t thought about being able to be sued if there is someone in a photo that didn’t want to be in the photo. I would have thought the company that used the photo without their permission would be held accountable, and not the little guy just trying to take good pictures. Another thing big companies get away with that they really shouldn’t -.-

What could be beneficial to viewers is perhaps a video regarding the matter of both finding and contacting magazines and such about selling photography and videography. That's a pretty difficult part of making it financially in the industry.

No the downloader / user has the responsibility...

T&C:

This means that Photos on the Service come with a very, very broad copyright license under the Unsplash License. This is why we say that they are “Free to Use.” Note that the Unsplash License does not include the right to use:

Trademarks, logos, or brands that appear in Photos

People’s images if they are recognizable in the Photos

Works of art or authorship that appear in Photos

*If you download photos with any of these depicted in them, you may need the permission of the brand owner of the brand or work of authorship or individual depending on how you use the Photo.* …

Totally agree. Unsplash is interesting if the world was a fairer place, but it is not. I don't see that unsplash is making money though!?!? How? I thought it was more like Wikipedia for Stock photography.

Never heard of Unsplash. But thanks for the info! Not gonna use it.
I used to use Flickr, and made some money when they made that agreement with Getty Images.
I've been away of it for too long, but it's nice when I receive an email from some e-magazine or blog or whatever asking for permission to use some of my old photos there (first years in Korea...trips to Japan...,etc )
I should do something with my travel photos. Lots of stuff than I'm sure would do well in some stock image bank or magazines...
Any tip on that?

always wondered about that. I've sold a couple photos on Eeyem. But youre right, it was the trash.

Haven't heard too much about Unsplash until now! Thanks for sharing Noe, definitely going to stick clear of it haha

I've deleted my Unsplash pictures about two months ago. Great video!

gracias~!