Help Licensing stock photography. Any experts?

[editor]

I must be doing something wrong.

View attachment 420173

*tries again

It's absolutely free - it's built into Windows

So, the answer to “Is Microsoft Copilot free?” is yes – for personal users using Windows and standard search tools (Bing). However, if you want to use Copilot with your Microsoft apps, and access more advanced features, you need to choose from one of two plans.

Is Microsoft Copilot Free? The Complete Guide to Copilot Pricing

UC Today covers Collaboration news including Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Generative AI, Microsoft Teams and more.

www.uctoday.com

 

[skyscraper101]

It's absolutely free - it's built into Windows

Is Microsoft Copilot Free? The Complete Guide to Copilot Pricing

UC Today covers Collaboration news including Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Generative AI, Microsoft Teams and more.

www.uctoday.com

So I have to use Windows or Bing. OK.

 

[skyscraper101]

So, after deleting the copilot app and downloading the bing app. I asked it for a photo realistic image of a glass of watermelon juice. It has the basic concept down, but unfortunately the results aren't all that photo realistic.

 

[editor]

So I have to use Windows or Bing. OK.

Ah I assumed you'd be on Windows. Can't you borrow a cheap laptop?

 

[editor]

So, after deleting the copilot app and downloading the bing app. I asked it for a photo realistic image of a glass of watermelon juice. Unfortunately the results aren't all that photo realistic.

View attachment 420176

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You have to keep on trying different instructions to fine tune the images. You're getting it for free so you've sometimes got to put the work in!

 

[girasol]

Having fun with Copilot (my profile pic was generated in Discord/Midjourney, so now trying similar prompt on Copilot) but oh, my, it's hard to get the guitar to have 6 strings! Even when I specifically as, the strings don't look right. I seem to get 80 images for free with my existing hotmail account. (edit: no, the 80 were booster points or summat - it would seem that basic Copilot is free?)

those strings don't look right either. Why is it struggling with something so universal? Also it never gives me a full guitar.... Hopefully is better if you pay for it, otherwise I'd be annoyed.

photorealistic photo of a short haired tortoiseshell cat with light green-yellow eyes, sunflowers in the background, and an entire classical guitar with SIX strings in full view next to the cat

the sunflowers are there because my username here means sunflower in Portuguese

 

[skyscraper101]

Ah I assumed you'd be on Windows. Can't you borrow a cheap laptop?

I’m currently using the bing app on my phone.

Annoyingly it doesn’t offer portrait style orientation. Just ‘square’ or ‘landscape’

It’s almost there. If it could just produce something a little more photorealistic and the orientation I ask for then it would be perfect.

 

[girasol]

I put ethereal in the prompt and things got prettier and weirder... Look at the guitar's body

Ethereal, hyper realistic image of short-haired tortoiseshell cat with green/yellow eyes with sunflowers in the background and full guitar with six strings in foreground with cat

 

[Magnus McGinty]

This is what midjourney spat out.

 

[girasol]

That's much better, more realistic looking overall...

 

[skyscraper101]

Midjourney definitely seeming to produce more photo realistic images.

I may have to pony up for a month membership, especially if they are able to to portrait style images.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Midjourney definitely seeming to produce more photo realistic images.

I may have to pony up for a month membership, especially if they are able to to portrait style images.

You just type —ar 1:2 at the end of the prompt (or whatever) which means aspect ratio 1 wide to 2 tall.
Eg for proper widescreen you’d type —ar 16:9

 

[Magnus McGinty]

That's much better, more realistic looking overall...

It’s the best one. Unfortunately not free.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Do you really want AI images? Even the good ones posted here look a little 'uncanny valley' and that ai look is going to age very quickly.
If it's a book is it really that awful to actually get the photos taken.
If it's a short run on a tight budget it might be possible to get a photography student involved as work experience (it's that time of year).

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Ah, the anti AI crowd arrive.

 

[Silas Loom]

Ah, the anti AI crowd arrive.

The words in the book were presumably arrived at the old-fashioned way, without Chat GPT. Why expect readers to put up with ersatz pics?

 

[Magnus McGinty]

The words in the book were presumably arrived at the old-fashioned way, without Chat GPT. Why expect readers to put up with ersatz pics?

It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where they have pictures of the dishes on the menu or the wall. Nobody thinks they’re actually an exact representation.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Plus we’re discussing stock photos. Which aren’t either.

 

[girasol]

It’s the best one. Unfortunately not free.

yeah, I tried the free version before, my avatar on here was generated there...

Playing around with AI images and creating/refining the prompts is actually really good fun.

 

[Silas Loom]

Plus we’re discussing stock photos. Which aren’t either.

Yeah, that confused me too. Most recipe books are illustrated with the actual dishes.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Yeah, that confused me too. Most recipe books are illustrated with the actual dishes.

Well Midjourney can help there too.



And then you can use that image to create a style so all of the generated images are consistent.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Yeah, that confused me too. Most recipe books are illustrated with the actual dishes.

I think I misunderstood what you meant by illustrated actually.

 

[skyscraper101]

Do you really want AI images? Even the good ones posted here look a little 'uncanny valley' and that ai look is going to age very quickly.
If it's a book is it really that awful to actually get the photos taken.
If it's a short run on a tight budget it might be possible to get a photography student involved as work experience (it's that time of year).

It really depends on the quality. If I can generate exactly the image I want, in the aspect ratio I need, as good as the image of the cat Magnus McGinty posted above, with no copyright restrictions, for a tenner - then I'm OK with that. It's really not for any kind of mass publication on a budget big enough to commission a photographer.

TBH the world of stock image licensing was so confusing to me - hence starting the thread - they all seem geared towards high end professional projects, and speak in terms of credits and limited/extended licenses. I think it's rather overkill for what's needed - 8 images of homemade fruit juice. It would probably end up costing more than necessary.

 

[RoyReed]

If you are going to use AI generated images, make sure that they are high enough resolution for whatever size you want them printed in the book. For instance if you want the image to be 6" high then the image should be at least 1800px high (to print at 300 pixels per inch).

 

[weltweit]

Might be worth looking at :

Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash

Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock photos.

unsplash.com

Free stock photography

 

[editor]

If you are going to use AI generated images, make sure that they are high enough resolution for whatever size you want them printed in the book. For instance if you want the image to be 6" high then the image should be at least 1800px high (to print at 300 pixels per inch).

You can get away with a lot less than that though. My photos appear in Peckham Town's match programmes and they're just taking them directly off my website, so they're just 735 pixels wide (and look absolutely fine),

 

[RoyReed]

You can get away with a lot less than that though. My photos appear in Peckham Town's match programmes and they're just taking them directly off my website, so they're just 735 pixels wide (and look absolutely fine),

It depends on lots of factors how much less than optimum you can get away with: paper quality, dot screen size, colour/black and white, viewing distance.

 

[skyscraper101]

Midjourney seemed to do the job with the photo real images of juice I needed. Cost a tenner, but at least there's no copyright issue and you can pretty much generate the exact type of image you want if you give it enough input.