Archives: June, 2005
Features
A Picture Is Worth 1000 Keywords
In the past few years I have noticed a trend among many
photographers and smaller stock agencies to outsource keywording. This brings
us to the fundamental question - How important is keywording? My experience is
that proper keywording is perhaps one of the most important things that can
affect the revenue potential of an image. This is because the primary way for a
potential buyer to see your images is through an online service which typically
uses keywords to determine which images appear in a search. That means that it
is very important that keywording is done by a competent professional with an
understanding of what keywords should be applied to an image. If you don’t know
for sure how to do this you may consider using one of the following outsourced
solutions.
News
Open Letter to the Art Directors Club
A few Trade Organizations have sent an open Letter to The Art Directors Club to protest sponsorship by OnRequest Images. I have been following OnRequest for some time and have always felt that OnRequest Images has treated its photographers very fairly. OnRequest is lead by David Norris who is himself a professional photographer and a very nice man. OnRequest has done many artist-friendly things to distinguish themselves including, offering use of studio space and equipment to its artist for use free of charge, and producing complex shoots for potential stock requests and sharing all revenue from these shoots 50/50. Don't forget that these same Photographer's organizations have a history of protesting new business models and many of them preached against the evils of Royalty-Free licensing a few years back. Today some of the most successful Photographer's I know (Ron Chapple, Jack Hollingsworth, Etc...) are those that embraced the royalty-Free business model early on. These photographer's understood that Royalty-Free licensing served the needs of customers in a way that Rights-Managed images simply could not. I think we will see that the Custom Stock Business model (although frightening at first) will prove to be a good thing for both photographers and photo-buyers.
To read the letter for yourself click on the following link.
http://asmp.org/news/spec2005/adc.php
Features
Rumble in the Bronx (Small Business Vs. Big Business)
Today's all-star match is the battle between a large flower delivery service
(1800flowers.com - Westbury, NY)
and a local Flower Shop (On The Square Flower Shop - Bronx, NY).
Place your bets now on who will come out victorious in the battle to provide
the best service and win customer loyalty and (uhhh, errr...) hundreds of
dollars in cash and flower orders.
Round 1 - Valentines Day - Feb 05 (ding, ding)
Last Valentines Day I ordered flowers from 1800flowers.com two weeks before
the big day. I went with 1800flowers.com for the following reasons.
- A promotion where I received air miles
- I assumed that 1800flowers.com would be able to offer a great product at a reasonable
price and that delivery would be reliable.
I selected a nice bouquet with tulips that I knew would appeal to my wife.
The cost was approximately $75 (a bargain for any married man to make his wife
happy on V-day). However when Valentines day arrived, I never heard from my
wife (typically she would call to say thank-you). Towards the end of the day I
tried to call 1800flowers.com to see when the flowers would be delivered and
was told by a recording that the hold time would be a minimum of 3 hours (I did
not wait to see if someone would actually pick up). The next day - still no
flowers. Three days later I called 1800flowers.com again and this time I waited
35 minutes to speak with a representative. The representative started sparring
with me by informing me that the package was not delivered to my wife because
FedEx cannot deliver to the address provided (not true). I confirmed that the
address provided was correct and I pointed out that I have sent FedEx packages
to my wife at that address before. The representative admitted that she has no
idea why the package was not delivered. After more dancing in the ring I finally
convinced 1800flowers.com to refund my card and cancel the order.
Round 2 - Wedding Anniversary - June 05
(ding, ding)
For this round I did a little research to find a reputable local flower shop (a contender) that was located in the Bronx (where my wife works). However this time around I had been traveling the week before our anniversary and had neglected to call-in an order until the day before (I know - a rookie mistake). In addition to procrastinating I had the glorious idea that it would be great to see if I could find a florist who can make an arrangement to look similar to my wife's bridal bouquet with Yellow Roses and Blue Cornflowers (I found out later that Blue Cornflowers are not very common).
I called a few local flower shops who all agreed that it was a lovely romantic idea but that I was crazy to try this with only 24 hours notice. Finally I called a little shop called "On The Square Flower Shop" and spoke with a gentleman name John (the owner). John told me he wasn’t sure if he could do it but would be glad to look into it with his supplier and call me back. Here is where John outshined my expectations - He actually called back! John said that he could make it happen and would be glad to make the arrangement based on a picture of my wife’s wedding bouquet that I would e-mail to him. John then came out with a 1-2 combo where he asked me how much I wanted to spend. I suggested $75.00 for the flowers and John confirmed that he could make a reasonable arrangement for that price. The next day, John came through on his promise and delivered a beautiful arrangement which pleased my wife and made me look like Cassa-Nova. (See the picture attached for the knock-out punch in this battle of David Vs. Goliath.)
Ladies and gentleman the winner with a knock-out punch and your new heavyweight champion…… On The Square Flower Shop - Bronx, NY!
News
More cool stuff from Veer
As I have said before Veer understands creative customers better than anybody else offering Stock images for licensing. Veer has today released a new lightbox that makes their lightbox more useable than any I have seen and i'm sure will make life a lot easier for designers to store and share images, fonts, and ideas for their current projects. I'd encourage you to check it out and i'm sure it wont be long before others emulate it.
Veer Shuttleboard
http://www.veer.com/shuttleboard/
Press Release http://www.veer.com/about/pressroom/releases/veer_pr_shuttleboard_050613.aspx
Reaction posted by Cameron Moll
http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/000335.html
News
E-data Gets Spanked by Getty and Corbis
Getty Images and their main competitor Corbis won a court ruling that they
aren't infringing a European patent by allowing customers to download digital
images. The basis for this claim is that E-Data Corp currently owns the Freeny
Patent. For those that are unaware, E-Data contends that the Freeny Patent
applies to the delivery of any content, (i.e. music, books, or images) which a
business delivers via an authorization code and that a consumer can download.
E-data is attempting to recover 5% of any revenue generated through online
sales of stock images.
For more info click on any of the
following links.
- InternetNews, "Court Tosses Patent Case Against Corbis, Getty"
Seattle
Post: “Getty and Corbis win image patent dispute"
Features
Wondering who is using your images?
Ever wonder if somebody is using your images without your permission? PicScout uses search technology to find your images on the internet allowing
you to verify that the image was licensed correctly. Many times they find
images where the original license is expired but the image is still being used
and should be renewed. Sometimes PicScout finds blatant infringements of the
image which can lead to significant fees.
PicScout offers solutions for photographers as well as stock agencies. The company’s solutions are based on proprietary image recognition technology and advanced Internet crawling capabilities.
for more information go to www.picscout.com
Features
Big Mac Attack (Conference for the Geeks)
A friend (thanks Mike!) just e-mailed me about Mac Expo in
Boston
from July 11 – 14. Apparently there are a number of workshops related to working on Digital images using a Mac. If you are in the area it might be worthwhile to check it out.
Here is a link to a couple of workshops for professionals
working with Photoshop.
News
Free Stock Photo’s
Just received this press release from a reader. If you sign up for a newsletter from Turbo Photo they will reward you with some free stock Photos. It may not be what you need but (why not) they are free.
Here is the Press Release (as usual I have highlighted what is important and edited out the BS.)
Download $500 of Free Stock Photos Now from the New Turbo Photo Newsletter
(Press Release)
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Graphic Designers will be generously rewarded with Turbo Photo's new 'Free Stock Photos' newsletter. New subscribers are warmly welcomed with instant download access to 50 hi-res royalty-free stock photos- free for the taking. Designers may subscribe by visiting the Turbo Photo website (http://www.turbophoto.com/ ), then clicking on the 'Free Photos' button.
After the initial 50 free photos, subscribers will continue to be rewarded each week with subsequent newsletters, which contain links to more free stock photos, photo CD specials, and occasional Photoshop tricks. A designer who accumulates all the newsletters could attain thousands of dollars of free stock photos.
Resolution of the free JPEG photo files range from 2560x1920 (14MB) to 3264x2448 (23MB)- ideal for small to medium size marketing materials. Designers are free to use these royalty-free images for virtually any printed project, while agreeing to the simple Terms of Use listed on the download page.
For more information, please contact Turbo Photo (http://www.turbophoto.com ).
News
Digital Railroad is Back On Track
Digital Railroad added $5.2 million in Capital to expand the Asset Management services they offer to photographers. This is good news for anyone currently working with them, or considering them as a potential partner, because the online services are expected to absorb most of those investment dollars.
http://www.digitalrailroad.net/corpsite/press_capital.html
Features
Free Admission to Six Flags with Pentax Camera
I don't own a Pentax camera anymore (my first camera was a Pentax k1000) but if you happen to own one Pentax is running a cool promotion to play hooky next thursday with free admission to any Six Flags themepark.
To take adavantage of this promotion you need to register by clicking on the link below.
http://www.pentaximaging.com/sixflags
Features
To Publish… Or Not To Publish?
Ever dream of publishing a book or calendar of your images? I recently came across a website (www.lulu.com) that allows you to self-publish with a very easy to use interface. The best part is that they do not charge anything upfront and will print on-demand as they are ordered by customers (no minimum orders). This allows you to create many different types of books, Calendars, CD's etc... and you can sell them without the risk.
If you are new to publishing your work or would simply like to experiment - I highly reccomend this service! Stay tuned you may even see calendars and books of my work offered soon on this website.
News
Tit for Tat (Content Licensing Deals)
First Getty Images signed Universal Studios now Corbis answers back with a contract with the MGM Studios to license their still images and motion picture footage.
More about the new Corbis deal
Press release from Getty Images
News
Keyword Mania at Corbis
Corbis is doing an exciting new promotion tied to a keyword game on their site where you look at a set of images and try to guess the common keyword for the set. This game is a pleasant diversion, however, Corbis has turned this game into a promotion where those who answer with the correct keyword are entered in a drawing for a 60 GB iPod Photo
Click here to play the game
Pro.Corbis.com
Features
Flickr Montager
Recently I posted something about Montage-a-Google a montage generator that uses Google to find images and creates a montage with the search results. I received an e-mail this week from someone who saw my first post and pointed out a similar project that searches Flickr to create a montage. I have used these kinds of Montages to create postcards and have seen people create some very interesting and unique artwork with these tools. Have fun playing with this one!
This was created by Billy Fowks and can be found at the following URL.
http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/
Features
Do I Need A Model Release?
Photographer's often ask me about the importance of Model Releases and Property Releases. I cannot stress enough that if you want to license your image to a client or through a stock photo agency, you MUST have the necessary releases. If you don’t have them or if they do not cover the use you plan to license to somebody chances are you will get sued.
I know it is easy to get intimidated by the thought of
creating standard Model and Property Releases but it is actually not that
difficult. I would suggest you start with a generic release (see book below)
and then I would recommend that you go to a lawyer who specializes in content
licensing and ask them to add some language that covers potential Sensitive Subjects such as alcohol/tobacco
related uses, medical conditions, and social issues. The reason for this extra
language; for example, someone may want to license an image you shot of a model
for a billboard related to HIV treatment. Without that
language the model could sue you for defamation of character because all of the
model’s potential dating partners saw the billboard and the model is stuck at
home on Friday night. I know this is an extreme example but this kind of thing
does happen, and here in the US if someone can sue you, they will!
Also, I would take the revised release and have the lawyer create another version for minors. This version should have a space for the minor and a parent or legal guardian to sign. There should also be language that specifies the parent or guardian has a right to sign this document on behalf of the minor.
If you are not sure where to get started, I recommend that you start with this book "Business and Legal Forms for Photographers" by Tad Crawford
News
PhotoSpin Launches Affiliate Program
For those of you who have your own site and would like to earn a few dollars (Momma needs a new pair of shoes!) PhotoSpin, a Stock Photo Subscription site, has just launched an affiliate program to pay you 15% of any subscription revenue generated from your website. I signed up as an experiment and you should see their ad on my site shortly. I have just one little nit-pick with the program. They require you to enter a Social Security number (for tax reasons) but the page is not a secure page. (Can you say... Identity Theft?). I got around this by using a super secret spy tactic and entered 123-45-6789. This didn’t stop them from registering me for the program and I’m sure if I start to make any money they will contact me to get the correct info.
Features
Hello my name is… iPod
Here is the hottest new accessory for those of you who consider your iPod
Just like you, sometimes your iPod
Also, with a little patience and hard work you can train your iGuy to answer the phone for you. (Is there anything my iPod
http://speckproducts.com/iguy.html
