The 232-page soft-cover book, published by New Media Entertainment, is available at Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/Public-Domain-Sourcebook.

“This sourcebook contains more than 200 of the most incredible public domain photos we could find,” says Photopreneur editor Scott Baradell. “Each photo is displayed with its origin and location, providing designers, editors and bloggers with an enormous resource — and any photography lover with a starting point for their own photographic explorations.”

Photo sources for the “Amazing Public Domain Images Sourcebook” include the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Library of Congress, NASA, the Netherlands-based Nationaal Archief and the Swedish National Heritage Board, among others.

The editors of Photopreneur are authors of the best-selling paperback “99 Ways To Make Money From Your Photos,” as well as “The Successful Wedding Photographer” and “The Successful Flickr Photographer.”

© 2010, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)

The new imaginative flash-interactive tool pairs two images on the screen and challenges the contestant to select the best photo—the photo most worthy of purchase or download—based on concept, subject, aesthetics, lighting, composition, etc. This feature was initially established as a quality assurance system utilized primarily by the agency’s editors as part of their training to review the commercial aspects of stock submissions.

“We’re making the feature available to all members. It’s fun and will allow all users to learn to understand the difference between the images, degrees of quality and what actually sells,” said Serban Enache, CEO and co-founder of Dreamstime.com

As the member becomes an active participant, utilizing the feature and making accurate, consecutive selections, he or she will progress in a ranking system. As each member graduates from phase to phase, the images displayed on Stock Rank, and the comparison, will become more difficult validating the member’s ability to detect the most purchase-able image.

The DT players’ “tally” (or ranking) over the course of each phase will be posted on the community page to allow all members to monitor their success rate.

“The ranking system is designed to generate a fun competition within the Dreamstime community while enabling members to seek out that person who has an ‘eye for detail’ as a reliable go-to source for suggestions as to good/better/best photos in our blogs and forums. The participants’ skills summed together represent a grand wealth of knowledge that everyone can benefit from,” added Enache. “While Dreamstime has more than 70,000 photographers, the agency has 1.5 registered users–the majority being buyers. No matter the user (buyer, photographer, blogger or personal-user), every member has a natural eye for and interest in photography.”

PhotoArchiveNews.com – All rights reserved.

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

I like the redesign. It was smart of them to go with the black background, I think it showcases the images better and it is a departure from the white on most other agencies’ sites.

Now, for the details…

I like the pop-up in the initial search to choose between Editorial and Creative:

I also like the more search options pop-up:

I love the image preview, they kept the keyword search options, which was a feature I appreciated on the old site:

I would, however, like to see more options in “related search”:

One feature I absolutely LOVE is the “no people” option:

Another nice feature is that the sidebar is stationary as you scroll down the results frame:

One feature that I like personally, though have heard others complain about, is caption preview when rolling over the thumbnail. There is an option to turn “image preview” off:

If there is one thing that I do miss from the old site is the “refine search” tick box next to the search bar:

Overall, I think Corbis’ redesign is a success. I still love the collection, the results I got for both editorial and creative were, for the most part, relevant to my search terms and great images that I would select. The number of results may be smaller than some of the other creative stock agencies, but there were more quality images to choose from so less “bad images” to weed through. Another search filter I would love to see is a “cut out” option for silhouettable images. Except for the refine search option which they did away with, they did retain, and even improved upon, the many search and result features that made me love Corbis to begin with.

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

The above are screenshots from Dan Schwabel’s personal branding blog. Dan Schwabel literally wrote the book on personal branding. What does his blog and personal branding have to do with photography and photo editing?

Everything.

The first people notice when they click on your website or blog is how it looks. Before they even get to your content, people are going to get an impression based on the visual impact the page makes. You can’t make a visual impact, certainly a unique one, without the right image.

I came across that very same image many times on different websites and blogs. How is that personal branding, if the same picture can be seen all over the internet? A photo is going to lose its impact on the viewer if it can be seen across the web.

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As the web is becoming more accessible and used as new publishing platform, it should be integrated with tried-and-true print publishing methods, such as the employment of designated photo departments. Copy editors will ensure that your written content is correct and well-written. Photo editors are the ones who will find the most relevant image for your purpose. The image will be found based on the message you are trying to get across, the content of your site and the overall look you are trying to achieve. He (or she) will know the proper agencies to obtain your image, or if relevant, know the best photographer to shoot the image.

Web publishing is more than just finding the right web developer and designer, it is also about employing the right people with unique skill sets to help you achieve your goal.

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

A photo (or picture) editor is the person that researches, locates and obtains rights for the use of visual content. We are the ones who keep up with the latest photo agencies and photographers. We know which agency and/or photographer will best suit your needs. In addition to knowing where to find these image , we can also help you decide which image will be the most effective and make the best impact for your particular project.

In New York, I worked in traditional publishing, however the function of a photo editor can be served across all industries, from the smallest blog to a start-up’s investor presentation.

So, welcome to The F Stops Here! If you are a picture provider,  I would love to feature your work. If you are looking for visual content, from that “money shot” to an obscure historical figure, I’m your gal!

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