Report usage of my photos on Unsplash
After 6 millions views on my pictures with some tips for you
First of all, why I shared for free photos on Unsplash?
- I used Unsplash beautiful photos on my personal projects : best way to thank Unsplash was sharing to all some of my best pics and spread the word in my friend circle.
- I wanted to see how they will be used by creatives: remixes, backgrounds, printed things…
- I wanted to improve myself on photography by comparing and learning techniques on what is and could be loved on Unsplash.
Only a few of my pics were highlighted in the Unsplash daily selection. These ones are clearly the most exposed and thus have the best statistics and are the most used.
How are used photos published on Unsplash? 🧐
To make a long story short:
Unsplash photos are used as if they were available on Google Images.
They are used for almost everything: illustrations, photo remixes, printed on objects, etc… The difference is that photos are browsed by digital artists and content writers which needs royalty free and good image quality to perform. That’s the interesting point. Here below some remixes examples found from my “China’s myst mountain”, best viewed photography on my Unsplash profile.
Most of the time multiple Unsplash photos are remixed to create a new perspective, a new interpretation, something creative. Remember, it was a criteria for me to engage with this community. Some people gives credit with author full name, source or better with a ping on you at social networks like Twitter or Instagram (do not forget to complete your Unsplash profile!).
Bad surprises, sometimes 🤔
Although publishing freely something on Unsplash is a good gift for the creative community, you have to be aware that your photos might be misused. For example, I found a Spanish website using some of my pictures with an insult text…
An other one was a website selling my pictures as digital resized photos without any remix or creative work and credit, a bad but totally authorized practice. Moreover, pictures are also automatically grabbed by websites sharing pictures from multiple free CC0 sources. That said, I focus on Unsplash quality and community.
How are your Unsplash photos used? 🔍
I used a simple reverse search using Google Images. Just upload your pic and Google will search for relatives pictures like yours. If you’re using Google Chrome, install the Search by Image (by Google) plugin, then you just have to right click on your picture on Unsplash and explore the results.
Many other tools exists like Tineye or PrepostSeo.
Tips for success 🚀
- 🐼Post pictures on rarely treated subjects: for example, I posted a photo set concerning “voting”. It’s a better way to expose a photo AND to complete usefully the Unsplash picture database. If your picture is beautiful, they’ll probably publish it in the daily selection! Your goal, isn’t it?
- 🗓Events related: publish your related shots as demand grows just before and after events like New Year’s Eve, Christmas, Halloween…
- 🌁High quality photography: great resolution and less defaults (no spotting, no grain on night pics, no wonky horizon…).
- ℹ️Informations: don’t forget to tag, write a related story, put the location of your pic.
- 👨🏻💻Be proud of your shot and publication: mention Unsplash when publishing your picture on Twitter and Instagram. Fill your Unsplash profile with your Instagram and Twitter.
Finally I’m proud that some of my pics are used everywhere thanks to Unsplash platform and community. When I published my first pics in April 2016 I didn’t expect that the people behind Unsplash are so nice and that photos could be viewed million of times!
6 millions views — maybe more — is just a little award.
I’m now challenging myself to look for and take beautiful shots that will be useful for creative people using Unsplash.
✔️Publish your first photo in Unsplash community
I recommend you also to read Unsplash advice for photographers and Samuel Zeller article (pro photographer sharing on Unsplash).
Credits
Remixes from:
- Instagram by brnwills
- Instagram by vindiablo_photography
- www.unquote.li by unquoteli (remixed quotes with Unsplash photos)
Tools:
- RecordIt for Mac easiest screen capturing as video or gif
Thanks to
for advice and proofreading.