As part of a long-worked-on project, last week Stocksy United revamped it’s “advanced filtering” options for it’s search, as well as adding two new sorting methods. Let’s take a look at the cool new options.
First off, when you run a keyword search, you’ll now see the advanced filtering panel on the left of the screen. This panel is collapsible, and should stay out of the way unless you need it.
First off, at the top, we have the new “Safe Search” button. When you click this button, it turns green, and it will then hide all the images with adult content (as marked by the editing team). Consider this the “NSFW” (not safe for work) filter. The setting of this filter will also be retained between search sessions. A lot of buyers were saying that this was very important, as they didn’t want to be surprised by mature content when sitting and searching with a client. So here it is! Great news.
“No People” does a pretty good job at removing all the images with recognizable people in them. It is based on the model release information that accompanies an image, so things like hands or people in the far distance may not be filtered out, as those things generally do not require a release.
Next we have some filters based on the pixel dimensions of the image -“Tall”, “Wide”, etc. Simple, but totally helpful when looking for something for a 2 page spread, or a more vertical email send out.
Treat the “Distance” ones with a light hand, because these depend on the judgement of the contributor as to whether an image captures the whole scene, or a smaller part, or a realllllly tight close up. So, maybe don’t just select one of these, but choosing two should give a pretty nice result.
The next section, “People” is pretty self-explanatory again. Want just men in your image? Click “Male”. Just “a couple”? No problem. Again, this is built on the model release information that photographers provide. As is the next set of filters, “Ethnicity”. What is really interesting though, is that it uses the information from your current search to grey out (make unavailable) the options that don’t apply. For instance, there were no toddlers at my tailgating shoot, so that option is not available. No need to waste time clicking things that don’t apply. Note: You can actually see this in action in the earlier examples – I just didn’t mention it. No square or panorama images, no far distance shots, etc.
The last set of filters will allow you to narrow down the country of origin for the image. If you just want cupcakes from the United States, no problem. Party images from Germany? Here you go. And again, all these filters are able to be combined, so you can get images from two or three countries or age groups or ethnicities of your choosing.
So, that’s it for the new filtering panel. It’s fun to play with, so try it out. Think of a specific image, and try to narrow your way down to it from a very general search, like “business” or “party”.
The other new thing is two new sorts to choose from when searching. We already had “Curated”, which sorts by editor picks, and “Latest” which sorts by newest (date added). Now, “Popular” and “Emerging” have been added.
“Popular” is supposed to be a magic mix of things with an emphasis on what people have “liked” as well as factoring in “latest”. “Emerging” brings to the top images that were well appreciated at the time, but that didn’t garner many sales. So it’s a good way to find those hidden gems. Try them out and see what you think.
That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by!
