Facebook/Bing Photo Contest

[Simply Ravishing]

Well a few weeks ago I submitted a few images to a photo contest that Bing is putting on through their facebook fan page... The winning photo gets featured on the bing homepage as the background for day in January... Anyway, yesterday I got an email letting me know that I was one of ten finalists selected, and that voting will be open until 12/20.

Well as of today I am winning the stupid thing, and by the comments the image has received I think I am leading by a pretty wide margin.


Here is info regarding what happends when you win...

"After the close of the final round, the photo that received the most votes will be declared the winner. The Bing photo contest will have only one winner. The winning photo will be featured on www.bing.com as the official homepage photo for 24 hours on January 6, provided that the photo is in compliance with the Contest Rules. Microsoft may choose to use any hot spots within the winning photo but is not obligated to do so. The winning photographer will be given credit for the photo."


And here is the legal stuff.


"All digital images must be original work. Participants retain ownership rights to their photos. You must have taken the photograph yourself, and submitted photos cannot violate the privacy or intellectual property rights of any person or entity. This shall include, but not be limited to, all third party copyrighted materials.
By submitting your photograph you grant Microsoft Corporation and its affiliates (collectively, "Microsoft") an unlimited, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, nonexclusive right and license to use, reproduce, publish, modify, perform and display the image and any hot spots on the www.bing.com webpage or any replacement or successor to such web page, any sub domains, any international versions of www.bing.com, and in any marketing or advertising of any kind related thereto, in any medium now known or later developed.
Microsoft will not pay you any compensation for your photograph or any use we may make of it. Microsoft is not obligated to use your photograph and we may not notify you if we do not use it. By submitting your photograph you agree and represent to Microsoft that you are the photographer and the sole copyright owner of the photograph."


So from what I gather, if I did win, I would get credit for the photo, and then they in turn could use it for whatever they want essentially. I've gotten some decent exposure from this (100+ views on my personal website yesterday) and would get credit if I did win... but I'm not so excited about what they could potentially do with it after the contest...


Here is a link to the image, which contains a link to the contest... you'd need a facebook account to go to the actual contest page btw...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinkraemer/4187720627/

[SwitchBlade]

You gave then that right by submitting they don't just get it if you win. Always read the small print first.

[Simply Ravishing]

Yea, I know... I'm not sure if it matters or not, but I uploaded a pretty low res version of the file...

[OdiN1701]

Yet another reason I don't enter my photos into contests like these.

I will respond to calls for entries at galleries, etc. but not this stuff.

[NeverFollow]

Yet another reason I don't enter my photos into contests like these.

I will respond to calls for entries at galleries, etc. but not this stuff.

x2 its all fun and games until you read the fine print

[jacuff]

but I'm not so excited about what they could potentially do with it after the contest...

So lets all vote for the image that is currently in second place?

[Simply Ravishing]

Hahaha... I am not all convinced that this is entirely a bad deal... I mean I would be getting a fair amount of exposure, just no direct compensation.

[e02937]

It says that you retain the copyright and grant them a nonexclusive right to use the photo. I think that's more than fair as compared to all of the other competitions I've seen. Personally, I don't think it's a bum deal either.

You get to say you were featured on Bing (make sure you take screenshots). I wish you good luck!

[e02937]

Oh and nice caputre btw!

[blackshadow]

Yet another reason I don't enter my photos into contests like these.

I will respond to calls for entries at galleries, etc. but not this stuff.

bingo!

A lot of these contests are just ways for companies to get free photos. They can build their own image library and use them. Imagine how many thousands of suckers have submitted their photos to the competition and by doing so have given Microsoft permission to use them for a whole lot of purposes relating to bing.

[Karl Johnston]

Do you get a line of credit? Will the image, upon being clicked, lead to your website? Thats what I would like.

Unless it was one of my photos that was easily recognized...then what use would it be? anyone can photoshop that on the bing website and call it a tearsheet..that would be my concern. And is it even a qualifiable tearsheet?

[amfoto1]

By submitting your photograph you grant Microsoft Corporation and its affiliates (collectively, "Microsoft") an unlimited, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, nonexclusive right and license to use, reproduce, publish, modify, perform and display the image and any hot spots on the www.bing.com webpage or any replacement or successor to such web page, any sub domains, any international versions of www.bing.com, and in any marketing or advertising of any kind related thereto, in any medium now known or later developed.


Let's see... Microsoft owns Corbis, don't they?

[JWright]

Let's see... Microsoft owns Corbis, don't they?

I'm no lawyer but given the language you quoted, it seems to me anything Microsoft does with the image has to be related to the bing website and there is no right conferred to use it outside of that.

[jacuff]

Do you get a line of credit? Will the image, upon being clicked, lead to your website? Thats what I would like.

Just based on all the other bing images... clicking on the image shows there are several hotspots with tidbits of facts and then a link that leads to more info on that tidbit. There is a tiny copyright symbol next to the forward and back buttons near the bottom right of the image shows the line credit. Problem is... very few people are going to click on that copyright symbol to see who made that image.

[jacuff]

I'm no lawyer but given the language you quoted, it seems to me anything Microsoft does with the image has to be related to the bing website and there is no right conferred to use it outside of that.

You missed the part at the beginning that said:

"you grant Microsoft Corporation and its affiliates (collectively, "Microsoft")"

[Picture North Carolina]

Yet another reason I don't enter my photos into contests like these.

I will respond to calls for entries at galleries, etc. but not this stuff.

+1.

Please, people, please - drop the emotion and put on your common sense business hats. See the current trend of photo contests for what they are - rights grabs. Even major corporations with respected names are now doing it. The majority of contests nowadays seem to be slimy exercises in rights-grabbing. Read every rule before entering.

[golfecho]

I guess one big advantage of winning the contest (especially since it appears to be a rather large and somewhat respectable one) is that you can now add to your business card "Award Winning Photographer", and actually have a decent credential to back it up . . .

[JWright]

You missed the part at the beginning that said:

"you grant Microsoft Corporation and its affiliates (collectively, "Microsoft")"

To the best of my knowledge, Corbis is not an "affiliate" of Microsoft. The only connection I know of between the two is that they are both owned by Bill Gates. I've never seen any indication that the two businesses are intermixed.

[themadman]

Wow, congratz on the win, thats a great photo!!!

I voted for you, go fellow POTN member!

(I considered entering... but my hometown is on the other side of the world... my "American" hometown is rather bland... lol)

[Simply Ravishing]

Well I did win. I got a call from a Microsoft employee today and an email as well. It sounds like I might get some decent exposure from this as he was asking about more information about me, and how long i've been doing photography and my website and stuff like that. So the image will go on the Bing website January 6th, and I will have an article written about the stuff in their Blog. Here is the email I just got..

"Congratulations again on winning our contest. As I mentioned, we’ve scheduled the photo to appear on the homepage on January 6. We’ll highlight that your photo won today in the app on Facebook, and include any interesting information about the photo that you can provide. We’ll be limited in the number of characters we can use, but we’ll also post a blog that we can be more expansive – I’ve copied Kristin who’s responsible for our blog. That post will also go up today.



Which of your sites would you prefer we mention? I notice you have both http://www.justinkraemerphotography.com/ and your Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinkraemer.



Thanks and congrats again!"


Not as bad as I thought it might be...

[TheHoff]

I didn't read the fine print but as long as you can still sell the image and license it, I think you're getting a fair deal. You weren't going to get a huge mention on the Bing.com home page any other way, so is licensing this photo for their unlimited use a fair trade? Probably.

I would make damn sure that when people click through to your site from Bing, the first thing they see is a huge chance to buy that exact print, in various sizes, of a limited edition Giclee.

The unfortunate thing, as mentioned earlier, is that the entire contest was a slimy rights-grab and the obtained not only the winning photo but all of the entries for their own unlimited use. I wouldn't mind these contests if they only grabbed the winners but to get all the entrants is, and will always be, lame.

[e02937]

CONGRATS! Let us know what day it's the background on bing!

[Simply Ravishing]

January 6th, all day long.

I set up my website through Zenfolio, I am not sure how to make that photo a "feature" but that is a fantastic idea... I can make it the album cover to one of the galleries, but I'm not sure how to feature it any other way. Ideas?!?

[TheHoff]

January 6th, all day long.

I set up my website through Zenfolio, I am not sure how to make that photo a "feature" but that is a fantastic idea... I can make it the album cover to one of the galleries, but I'm not sure how to feature it any other way. Ideas?!?

To me, this would be worth setting up your domain and a simple website just for that print.

Domain: $free, already exists
Hosting: $10
One Page Site: $100

Print sales profit: $ ? ? ?

[Simply Ravishing]

I talked to my contact over at Bing and I guess my photo had 17% more votes than the 2nd place photo... pretty wide margin!

Also, they are having me out to tour the place tomorrow and meet with the homepage editor.

[TheHoff]

Sweet perk since you live right there!

[Simply Ravishing]

I know =)

[aroundlsu]

Congrats! Literally millions of people are going to see your photo. It may not turn into cash or jobs right away (I have had a few high profile pics that did not instantly lead to anything at all) but it is something great to talk about to potential clients or just people you meet on the street. And of course get the screenshot!

[Simply Ravishing]

And the blog post as promised...

http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/search/archive/2009/12/21/home-sweet-home-page-winning-photo.aspx

[quadwing]

And the blog post as promised...

http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/search/archive/2009/12/21/home-sweet-home-page-winning-photo.aspx
Haha, I checked your photo for the EXIF info, but it isn't in tact.

Can I know what body you were using? ISO settings? Shutter speed, aperture, etc. etc.?... Of course, if you don't mind.


Congratulations by the way. I'm happy for you! :D

[Simply Ravishing]

Taken with the 40d and Sigma 30mm. F/9, ISO 100, It's a 3 shot HDR and I honestly have no idea what the shutter speeds were... I just remember them being several seconds each to create the smooth light trails.

[quadwing]

Taken with the 40d and Sigma 30mm. F/9, ISO 100, It's a 3 shot HDR and I honestly have no idea what the shutter speeds were... I just remember them being several seconds each to create the smooth light trails.
Ah, I really have to say, that is probably THE best cityscape shot I've EVER seen in my life! Incredible job! Haha, I wish I could set that as my background desktop.

I read the the blog entry... with the HDR, did you do manual bracketing, or use AEB?

I see you used Photomatix. I don't understand that program at ALL, haha.

[Simply Ravishing]

Ah, I really have to say, that is probably THE best cityscape shot I've EVER seen in my life! Incredible job! Haha, I wish I could set that as my background desktop.

I read the the blog entry... with the HDR, did you do manual bracketing, or use AEB?

I see you used Photomatix. I don't understand that program at ALL, haha.


AEB, I almost always use it. Just practice practice practice. Find a tutorial that covers the basics, and then find a forum or some place to ask more specific questions... I still have a lot to learn too, don't worry

[quadwing]

AEB, I almost always use it. Just practice practice practice. Find a tutorial that covers the basics, and then find a forum or some place to ask more specific questions... I still have a lot to learn too, don't worry

Ah, alright. Will do. Thanks, man! Once more, congrats, and beautiful shot! :)

[Simply Ravishing]

I just got another call, this time from the Seattle PI, one of the bloggers is going to be writting about the photo contest today, so a little more pub! I'll post the link when I have it.

[Kadath]

Don't sweat the rights issues and get as much exposure as you can from the contest. I'm not a fan of HDR in general but this image is fantastic. Well done.

[Simply Ravishing]

And the link

http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/188984.asp#comments

[Kadath]

Congrats on the official win!

[themadman]

Congratz again man, glad to see a fellow POTN member win! It is a pretty awesome photo. I personally like HDR and it is good to see a well done HDR photo get recognition!

[Simply Ravishing]

Thank you.

[Simply Ravishing]

It is up!!!! So far over 300 views this morning to my website and several new guestbook entries and photo comments... lets hope that translates to a few purchases later today.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4250393249_f2d07cea29_o.jpg