Built on the LicenseStream platform, LicenseStream Business Edition gives owners of premier collections and libraries of images, video and audio a quick-start, all-inclusive, Web-based service that allows content owners to showcase, license, track and monetize the full value of their content through their own branded online stores.

“With LicenseStream Business Edition, content owners can publish their content directly to their own online store or anywhere else on the Web and to global search engines, enabling anyone in the world to find their search-optimized content and pay for it with a mouse click,” said Iain Scholnick, chief executive officer, ImageSpan. “This essentially makes the content itself the storefront. It dramatically speeds the pace of transactions and drives incremental revenues. Until now, media companies, libraries and owners of premier collections had a tough time justifying the cost of putting the head as well as the long tail of their content on the Web because the revenues they realized could not cover the costs associated out-dated manual licensing transactions. Now content owners of all sizes can make their entire catalog of media – not just the hits – available online to maximize their assets’ value.”

Missouri History Museum already has made available online via LicenseStream Business Edition more than 3,000 images, including a wide range of Civil War-era images, a wide range of early daguerreotypes and other photos and images related to American Indian people and culture, and images of oil paintings and artifacts related to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who headed up the first overland expedition by the United States to the Pacific Coast and back.

“We often receive requests from visitors asking us about the art and artifacts we display and how they can get copies,” said Dr. Robert R. Archibald, president, the Missouri History Museum. “With LicenseStream Business Edition, we can now publish images of our collections directly to the Web so that anyone in the world can find our search-optimized images and pay for them with a mouse click. LicenseStream also has dramatically cut the time spent by our staff on searching for and processing such image requests so we can respond to requests in a day versus months, accelerating both of transactions and revenues while cutting costs.” (Please see related release: Missouri History Museum Selects ImageSpan’s LicenseStream to Maximize the Value of Its Photos, Prints)

American history teacher turned Producer-Photographer-Writer Joseph Sohm is now using LicenseStream Business Edition to license the more than 1,300 photographs included in his “Visions of America: Photographing Democracy,” ($60; November 2009; Visions of America LLC/Midpoint Trade Books Dist.) a book that offers a sweeping portrait of life in the American democracy via an epic photographic journey across the United States. For more than 25 years, Sohm traveled and photographed all 50-states. Images from his “Visions of America” collection have been published 50,000 times in his lifetime.

“LicenseStream Business Edition enables me to publish my work directly to my own branded storefront as well as to the Web and major search engines in a way that also lets potential buyers license it on the spot,” said Sohm, whose “Visions of America” recently won the Gold medal for “Best Coffee Table Book” at the 13th annual Independent Publishing awards in New York City. While requiring minimal investment, LicenseStream also allows content owners to retain a larger share of royalties for each transaction – multiple times the 20 percent royalty fee offered by most major agencies. “That key difference makes it affordable for me to shoot, metatag, process and offer my customers a much greater selection of photographs online.”

LicenseStream Business Edition pricing starts at $5,500 annually with a 25% transaction fee. The annual fee can be billed one-time, monthly or quarterly to suit a client’s needs.

ImageSpan’s Vice President, Enterprise Business Development Candice Murray will speak on “Tools for Selling Stock Direct” at 1:15 p.m. Thursday, October 22, at the PDN PhotoPlus Conference in New York.

ImageSpan also will be demonstrating LicenseStream Business Edition and its other LicenseStream services in Booths #1155 at the concurrent PhotoPlus Expo in New York, October 22-24. Come see Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice talk about LicenseStream’s benefits in the ImageSpan booth at 11 a.m. Friday, October 23rd.

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — DigitalPost Interactive (BULLETIN BOARD: DGLP) , www.dglp.com, a leader in web-based interactive digital media applications, announced the signing of new contracts with two photo industry leaders. One of these companies is a top 5 U.S. Portrait Studio and the other is one of the largest providers of retail Photo Kiosks in the world. The details of both Agreements will be provided in subsequent announcements.

DigitalPost Chief Executive, Michael Sawtell commented: “Our selection by these two industry leaders clearly validates our position as a world class digital media sharing platform.”

“These contracts are the result of our efforts to broaden the distribution and availability of our products to new markets. Consumers today desire a customer-friendly interface that features secure access to high-quality images, videos and digital file storage,” Sawtell added.

“DigitalPost’s digital media sharing solution is permanent; we believe today’s consumers realize their digital media needs to be secure and accessible from one single destination on the web. This makes DigitalPost unique. We are pleased these photo industry leaders see our solution as the preferred digital media sharing option for their consumer base.”

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

From the platinum-selling agency that has revolutionized the industry during its five-year history, Dreamstime has elevated its services to offer images from its gallery of more than 6.5 million to enable purchasers to enjoy their photos in wall art form—a finished product ready to showcase.

“Most commonly, our images are used for creative project designs. This new service recognizes the value and artistry as a finished, ready-to-use display product,” introduced Serban Enache, Dreamstime’s CEO. “Our posters and canvases are unmatched when comparing pricing, quality, delivery speed and diversity. Dreamstime’s community library of images is unparalleled and this new offering will make us a leading ‘go-to’ vendor when searching for interesting and captivating wall hangings.”

In keeping with the agency’s commitment to low prices, the price point for each poster/canvas is significantly competitive (ranging anywhere in monetary value between $13.00 to $80.00 for a 20”X60” canvas—lower than most online retailers in the market). Costs include shipping and handling to the United States and Europe. Volume discounts are available.

In addition to its vast selection of images and services, another advantage to this new facet is ease of use. In one, easy step, Dreamstime users can access their desired photo, click the “order a print” tab and select the size and support type (poster or canvas.) In a sophisticated, two-day production process (posters are printed on professionally glossy inkjet paper/canvasses are printed on polyester water and UV resistant canvas), the posters and canvases will be developed and shipped to the purchaser’s door.

All Dreamstime images are available in varying download sizes and resolutions to compliment and complete any design project. Dreamstime.com offers an unlimited assortment of imagery including photos, sketches, graphic art, illustrations and backgrounds in high quality re-print formats (such as non-compressed jpeg formats, RAW images and vector formats) and are easily discovered via the use of Dreamfinder–an advanced search and tagging engine within the site.

With the most innovations in stock photography, Dreamstime has positioned itself as a cutting edge leader in the e-commerce photography industry. The poster/canvas service increases format availability of its images while being mutually advantageous to the Dreamstime contributors providing a new revenue channel increasing sales overall.

Dreamstime’s gallery remains new and fresh, updated by their more than 77,000 contributors; the engagement of Dreamstime users and contributors in new and dynamic ways has resulted in the traffic of more than 300,000 new visitors daily and nearly 10 million total unique visitors to the site.

For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

“This is huge for us and for our customers,” stated Darren Schiff, Chief Operating Officer of myPhotopipe.com, Inc. “There are hundreds of web sites and retailers that offer prints to their customers. Until now, they had few, if any, options for high quality print fulfillment and were literally forced to work with high-volume, low-end processors. That doesn’t work if quality is the name of the game and better quality prints are in high demand. These companies can now access our professional lab for back-end fulfillment, using an entirely automated suite of web-based tools. They get professional prints at competitive prices and are able to seamlessly access the capabilities of a professional lab. We believe we are the first professional lab to offer this level of integration.”

Schiff estimated that the Company’s new Application Programming Interface (“API”) will allow myPhotopipe.com to compete for the tens of millions of dollars that are currently funneled to print processors through independent front-end retailers and photo hosting sites. “Because prints are family treasures that last a lifetime, quality has become a defining feature,” noted Schiff. “By writing to our API, we provide these retailers with access to high quality, professional services and the finest prints in the nation. The retailers own the customers. We handle the fulfillment. Everyone wins.”

The Company’s proprietary API allows myPhotopipe.com to serve as the back-end provider to any web site or retailer that offers prints to its customers. This includes fashion sites that provide composition prints for models, sites used by professional photographers to sell “event” photos, and countless others that earn revenues for the processing of digital photos into prints.

Schiff expects an incremental revenue bump from the onset, with the potential to double corporate revenues though API services. “It’s all about servicing the digital age with better features and a professional back-end product,” said Schiff. “We expect to announce our first customer for this service within the next few weeks.”

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) today introduced two new members of its family of innovative retail photo center solutions that provide consumers with a superior and more environmentally conscious experience in retail photo centers: the KODAK Picture Kiosk G4XE Order Station and the KODAK 8810 Photo Printer. The two products deliver outstanding photo processing performance and efficiency, and allow consumers to create stunning photo creations faster and with more choices than older kiosk models.

“With an estimated four to five trillion pictures captured globally every year, and more being taken every day, consumers have a strong desire for easy, affordable and creative ways to convert their pictures into treasured keepsakes,” said Nicki Zongrone, General Manager, Worldwide Kiosk Systems and Services, Eastman Kodak Company. “Kodak’s innovation and investment in consumer retail photo solutions enable retailers to create a much richer consumer experience, which in turn helps promote profitable premium products.”

The KODAK Picture Kiosk G4XE

The new G4XE is the latest generation KODAK Order Station, offering significant performance increases with substantially higher energy efficiency than older KODAK kiosk models. As with all Kodak retail solutions, the new G4XE is scalable and adaptable to meet the needs of almost any retailer with a myriad of configuration and connection options. The kiosk can be used on a printer cabinet as an instant photo solution or as an order station for submitting orders into the award winning KODAK Adaptive Picture Exchange (APEX) dry lab or wet minilab systems. Leveraging one of the fastest processors in the industry, the KODAK Picture Kiosk G4XE is more than 44 percent faster on average for typical consumer photo orders, and up to 70 percent faster on average for creating KODAK Picture Movie DVDs, when compared with KODAK G3 models. This speed advantage translates directly into reduced consumer queuing, more premium product potential, higher overall throughput capability and higher customer satisfaction. In addition, with its substantially lower power usage, the G4XE saves retailers up to 25% in electricity cost to run the device, compared to the G3. The G4XE reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 157 Kg per year, equivalent to the emissions from burning 130 pounds of coal, compared to the G3. The new G4XE reflects Kodak’s goal of providing consumers with the world’s best photo creation experience, while helping retailers lower their operational costs and achieve greater environmental sustainability.

The G4XE supports KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v2.0 and later for exceptionally fast picture access and organization along with offering a comprehensive suite of premium photo creation products both on and off-site. It includes KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology, which automatically enhances pictures to deliver stunning pictures with more vibrant colors, fewer dark shadows and richer detail. The G4XE’s user-friendly design includes a new tray load CD/DVD drive and clearly marked digital media input slots for transferring pictures from CDs, USB drives and memory cards. Included in the KODAK Software are engaging attract loops that both draw consumers in as well as showing them what their photos will look like in a KODAK Photobook or KODAK Picture Movie DVD. The software invites them to explore their creativity by making something memorable, and reminds them that they are only minutes away from a stunning story-telling keepsake, in addition to the typical 4×6 print solutions.

The New KODAK 8810 Photo Printer

The new KODAK 8810 Photo Printer enables consumers to easily create 8×10 and 8×12 prints, photo books, collages and calendars, as well as 4×8 greeting cards, in glossy or satin finish in only seconds – all from one media SKU. Retailers can use their APEX or KODAK Picture Kiosk Software to set the printing options they desire for their store – all glossy prints, all satin prints or allow the consumer to choose. With the new KODAK Photo Printer 8810 consumers can receive an 8×10 print in as little as 39 seconds and an 8×12 print in as little as 44 seconds. The 8810 printer is retail staff-friendly, using no wet inks and also featuring a brand new auto load system. Retail clerks need simply to set the paper roll into the media compartment and close the cover – the printer does the rest.

“The G4XE Kiosk and 8810 Printer demonstrate our commitment to continuous innovation, by leading the industry to more profit from existing and new premium products. Our solutions continue to lead in their quality, flexibility and scalability – we have a solution for almost any retailer store type and configuration,” said Zongrone.

The KODAK Picture Kiosk G4XE and KODAK 8810 Photo Printer will be available in select retail stores beginning September 2009.

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

Professional Photographers looking to capture and create composited images of live events like weddings can now do so with LabPrints LP Image Aligner, the new panorama stitching software licensed from DualAlign LLC. With LP Image Aligner, photographers can quickly merge multiple images into a single panorama or montage.

Clifton Park, New York (PRWEB) July 2, 2009 — Professional Photographers looking to capture and create composited images of live events like Weddings can now do so with LabPrints LP Image Aligner, the new panorama stitching software licensed from DualAlign LLC. With LP Image Aligner, photographers can quickly merge multiple images taken at live events from any camera into a seamless panorama or montage – all without ever leaving LabPrints LP Digital Studio.

Unlike other panorama software products, LP Image Aligner is based on advanced technology that is incredibly reliable — so reliable, in fact, that it has been used by NASA to stitch images of the space shuttle into one montage for analysis. In addition, independent government testing has found the incredible technology powering LP Image Aligner to be the best technology in the world. This new form of imaging intelligence is certain to change the way photographers take pictures.

“We felt the technology behind LP Image Aligner was so reliable that we could deliver an advanced easy-to-use product for professional photographers. This is one of the first products in our industry that is reliable enough for use at live events,” says Dr. Charles Stewart, CSO of DualAlign LLC.

DualAlign LLC’s breakthrough technology allows photographers to reliably and easily create montages and panoramas at events like weddings and trade shows. Such environments are generally not conducive to montage or panorama photography because of all of the movement within the shots. However, DualAlign’s revolutionary i2k technology, which features super smart blending and seam selection, makes live event panoramic photography possible without the need for any special equipment or tripod.

“Offering our photographers innovative options is important to LabPrints,” says Bill Gamble, founder and CTO of LabPrints. “By offering this simple, yet robust technology to align and montage multiple images, we believe our 8000+ photographers will be able to offer more unique products and services to their customers.” Gamble also states, “The fact that we had the opportunity to collaborate with another local tech company is very exciting. It benefits the entire area when local businesses can work together in the advancement of technological solutions as well as commerce.” Both firms reside in the area commonly referred to as New York’s “Tech Valley.”

The lead computer vision scientists behind i2k Quickage, Dr. Charles Stewart and Dr. Gary Yang, are recognized leaders in their fields, further evidence of the world class service users can expect from the program’s use and resultant panoramic photographs.

i2k Quickage is so simple to use that it can be employed anywhere in any situation at any time.

“I just read an article in Newsweek, ‘Apple’s New Weapon,’ which stated that the US military is equipping soldiers with iPod touch players and iPhones. With i2k Quickage software, these soldiers could be capturing high resolution imagery of their surroundings, which could lead to valuable intelligence,” says Remy Arteaga, CEO of DualAlign LLC.

For more information about i2k Quickage, the new panoramic photo montage software from DualAlign LLC, visit http://www.i2align.com.

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

In Addition to Containing Maximum Dynamism, the Ideal 64-bit Archive Format for Images Now Also Contains the Dust and Scratch Information Derived From the Scanner’s Infrared Channel

KIEL, Germany, July 2/PRNewswire/ — LaserSoft Imaging presents the new SilverFast 6.6.1, the first software in the world to perfectly capture raw data from photographs and slides.

To effectively, quickly and thoroughly protect valuable memories against decay and destruction, the Kiel software company has developed a format that contains not only all image information, but also the dust and scratch information derived from the scanner’s infrared channel: the 64-bit HDRi format.

This file serves as the ideal starting starting point for further processing steps – regardless of when, how and where. Traditional procedures perform infrared-based dust and scratch elimination directly during the actual digitalisation process, making it impossible to guide the process or modify the results afterwards. In extreme cases, this can cause fine image details to be lost forever, without the user noticing right away.

The new 64-bit HDRi format by LaserSoft Imaging registers all the information of the original in its entirety while simultaneously embedding all the correction information in the image file. HDRi surpasses the principle of “non-destructive editing,” since the user can optimise all corrections at any time. Instead of directly guiding the scanner, SilverFast HDRi enables the user to read the raw data at maximum speed and process it as though he had direct access to scanner images.

More information is available at:

http://www.silverfast.com/highlights/hdri/en.html

About LaserSoft Imaging (R) AG:

LaserSoft Imaging (R) was founded in 1986 by physicist Karl-Heinz Zahorsky, who developed the SilverFast (R) concept in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. Today SilverFast (R) is regarded as the standard scanner and digital camera software for both novices and professionals. Only SilverFast (R) is bundled with such a large number of many manufacturers, such as Canon, Epson, HP, Leica, Microtek, Pentacon (Praktica), Plustek, Quatographic, Reflecta, Samsung and others.

With over 2 million licenses sold worldwide, SilverFast (R) is the most successful scanner software in the world.

The SilverFast (R) software was awarded the EDP Award for the software featuring the best colour management.

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

photo by Michael Tam

On March 27, 2009 a California jury found China Lucky liable for negligent misrepresentation, breach of warranty and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing arising out of its business dealings with Royal Marketing, a Los Angeles based photo-imaging distribution company with worldwide distribution. Royal Marketing filed its lawsuit in early 2007 (Superior Court Of The State Of California, Case No. PC040277), before the public announcement that Eastman Kodak Co., would sell its stake in Lucky Film to Guangzhou Chengxin Venture Capital Ltd.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 30, 2009 — BFK Inc. dba Royal Marketing today announced that a California jury returned a $3 million dollar verdict in its favor and against the China Lucky Film Corporation (“China Lucky”) in broad and sweeping finding of wrongdoing. According to evidence introduced at the trial, China Lucky touts itself as “a trans regional and conglomerate modern company in the field of imaging and information recording industrial sector of China in terms of largest scale, strongest technical force, varieties of product and market share.” China Lucky claims to be one of 189 large size China owned enterprises financed by the State Assets Administration and that it engages in the manufacture of photo-imaging products such a film, digital and analog paper that are manufactured for civilian as well as military use.

On March 27, 2009 a California jury found China Lucky liable for negligent misrepresentation, breach of warranty and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing arising out of its business dealings with Royal Marketing, a Los Angeles based photo-imaging distribution company with worldwide distribution. Royal Marketing filed its lawsuit in early 2007 (Superior Court Of The State Of California, Case No. PC040277), before the public announcement that Eastman Kodak Co., would sell its stake in Lucky Film to Guangzhou Chengxin Venture Capital Ltd. The suit reached the attention of political blogs, including Fox News – http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/28/price-cheap-chinas-products-fail-americans-suffer/.

According to court’s record Royal Marketing introduced at trial a very detailed written agreement signed by it and China Lucky. The Agreement obligated China Lucky to sell very specific products to Royal Marketing. Royal Marketing argued that China Lucky refused to sell certain products contained in the agreement and that the products that China Lucky did sell were of inferior quality. For instance, a number of witnesses, including experts in the photo-imaging industry, testified that the quality problems stemmed from the fact that China Lucky photo papers were not manufactured to American photo-imaging companies’ standards. American photo-imaging companies all use standardized “chemistry” in the processing of film to pictures. Several witnesses at the trial testified that China Lucky’s technician told them that the China Lucky paper required the photo laboratories to add varying amounts of other chemicals – including ammonia. Witnesses called by Royal Marketing, including several of its customers, all complained about the China Lucky photo paper’s poor quality.
After the trial concluded, Royal’s Vice President, Farshid Ourian noted that “When one of our customers was told by a China Lucky technician who had visited his lab, that he was supposed to add ammonia, I thought he was going to call the police to have the guy physically removed. All of our clients were utterly shocked at what they were being told by the China Lucky representative.”

After the jury announced its verdict, Royal Marketing’s President stated: “We are ecstatic. We always knew that when a jury heard the truth of what transpired and how China Lucky behaved, how they treated us, and the facts surrounding the product they sold us, it would make the findings it did.”

Royal Marketing officials alleged that although Royal Marketing and China Lucky had entered into a long term distribution deal, almost from the beginning, China Lucky started giving Royal Marketing problems. Bob Bakhshi testified that first China Lucky refused to sell them one of the main products set forth in the written agreement. According to court’s records the jury was told that Royal Marketing found out later, after having purchased and re-sold in the United States hundreds of thousands of dollars of the China Lucky photo paper, that the paper was not manufactured to U.S. standards and was of poor quality. A China Lucky consultant actually admitted at the trial that the China Lucky paper was not suitable for the U.S. Market. “That admission was astonishing,” noted Bakhshi, after the jury returned its verdict.

Royal Marketing had been in business 25 years when it started purchasing photo-imaging product from China Lucky. Prior to that, Royal had been one of Konica Minolta’s largest and most successful independent distributors of its photo imaging products – catering the cruise line industry among others. “Our deal with China Lucky killed our business,” said Bakhshi. “We have never been able to recoup the losses we sustained to our goodwill nor were we able to locate any alternate suppliers. The jury made it clear that China Lucky harmed us, and that they must reimburse us for the substantial and severe damages they caused.”

On June 23, 2009, The court denied China Lucky’s motion for new trial.

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

I3A Could Reward Your Innovation at Imaging Innovation ‘09 – if you act quickly – deadline July 1

I3A provides new and exciting opportunities and technology presentations at its Annual Conferences.  At Imaging Innovation ‘08, attendees praised our one-of-a-kind Live Consumer Panel.  In 2009 I3A launched a pivotal new program, the VISION 2020 Imaging Innovation Awards.

ACT NOW TO TAKE CENTER STAGE AND PRESENT YOUR INNOVATION

ENTRY DEADLINE IS JULY 1ST

I3A’s VISION 2020 Imaging Innovation Awards have been developed as a way to promote and provide exposure for innovative ideas that enable the use of imaging to simplify and enrich people’s lives through visual experiences that connect generations, communities, information and services.  If you are a creative thinker, tell us about your innovation!

I3A envisions a future where images are increasingly used to enhance communication and quality of life in ways that are woven seamlessly and effortlessly throughout our daily lives. The goal of this project is to stimulate and promote progress towards this vision and to highlight the importance and unique opportunities rooted in the human visual experience.

VISION 2020 Imaging Innovation Awards will be given to individuals, teams, organizations or companies whose product or service innovations enable the future vision. All entries must be imaging-related, but a broad view of imaging can be used. Submissions may come from areas such as capture, storage, sharing, image management, processing or printing, just to name a few. Entries from any part of the product life cycle (i.e., development, early market introduction, established product, etc.) are eligible.

Awards will be given for Gold, Silver and Bronze winners. Judges are an independent panel of industry leaders and influencers, including Christopher Chute, IDC; Philippe Kahn, Fullpower; Mark Kalow, Soquel Group; and George Schaub, Shutterbug.

The winning innovations will be announced at the I3A Annual Conference in November 2009, and the winners will be invited to present their innovations to the high-powered industry audience at the event. Winning innovations will also be publicized to the media and to the public.

For further details and to submit an entry, please visit the I3A Web site.

Don’t delay in taking advantage of this opportunity: the deadline for entries is July 1st

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)