Despite efforts to win back its once loyal users, Flickr has not managed to satisfy many of the evolving needs of professional photographers. Now, yet another blow has been dealt: photo sharing rival 500px has added Creative Commons (CC) licensing, and the younger, fast-growing site could lure in even more Flickr users.
To use the new feature, perform a search, and then look in the top right for a drop-down menu labeled “Any License.” From there, select “Attribution,” and your search will automatically be filtered. Alternatively, you can see all of 500px’ CC photographs here.
It’s noteworthy that this launch is not without it’s glitches. After a bit of stumbling, users can now right click CC images to download them. 500px told TNW that a physical download button “will become available in the coming days.”
Directly following the launch, the supply of CC photos is slim (by our count, there are only 294 CC photographs currently available), but will likely increase gradually over time as it was reportedly a highly-requested feature. Regardless, “all rights reserved” will remain the default setting for photo uploads.
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500px CEO Oleg Gutsol told Mashable that he feels this move is a positive one for existing users, and also provides more incentive for new users to join.“Giving our users the option increases the talent pool we can bring to the platform.”
500px is known for its rather pro-focused community, which in some ways creates a barrier to entry that sites like Flickr don’t have. For some amateurs, Flickr may actually be more accessible for casual use, but embracing CC licensing is one way for 500px to open up its doors just a little bit wider to the larger photography community.
➤ 500px CC
Image credit: Adrian Limani / 500px
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