The F Stops Here

Photopreneur Releases “Amazing Public Domain Images Sourcebook” for Art Directors, Photo Editors and Others Seeking Free Images

Jess — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:52:02 +0000

New York (Vocus) July 28, 2010 Photopreneur, the No. 1 blog covering new opportunities in the photography business, today announced the release of its new book, “Amazing Public Domain Images Sourcebook.” At a time when photo editors, art directors, graphic designers, researchers, educators and bloggers worldwide are seeking free and low-cost images to illustrate their work, Photopreneur provides guidance on utilizing the world’s largest free photography collection: the tens of millions of images currently in the public domain.

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.”

Masterfile Offers Royalty-Free Subscriptions

Jess — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:37:28 +0000

Toronto/Düsseldorf, July 27, 2010. Masterfile Corporation, one of the world’s leading independent stock photo agencies, has added a royalty-free subscription service to its product line. Subscription plans allow clients to download a fixed number of royalty-free images in a set resolution for a flat fee. Masterfile now offers 4 different subscription plans: low, medium, super-hi resolution plans, and one which allows for mixed resolutions in a convenient and flexible “combo” pack. All subscriptions are available on monthly or yearly terms.

Masterfile is a privately-owned company founded in 1981 and is globally recognized in the advertising, publishing and stock photography community as a leading rights-managed and royalty-free licensor. Images available via Masterfile’s subscription service have been hand-picked from the company’s collection of almost 2 million premium royalty-free images.

“We wanted to give value-conscious clients who regularly require a large number of images a budget-friendly alternative to licensing several single images at the same time,” said Geoff Cannon, Executive Vice-President of Masterfile.

Subscribers can download up to 50 images a day during the length of their subscription. “We’re allowing clients a high daily download limit because we want them to have the freedom to work more naturally,” says Tomas Speight, Masterfile’s Senior Vice-President, International. “Designers working on big projects can get all the images they need quickly and easily, without being forced to spread their downloads over multiple days.”

Clients who buy royalty-free subscription plans from Masterfile will also enjoy 25% off any single images they purchase while their subscription is active. “Our automatic discount will allow subscribers to purchase any single images not available through their subscription at a reduced rate,” said Geoff Cannon. “Licensing all their images from one source will make their image buying experience quicker, easier and more economical.”

Masterfile’s subscription service, which is available in major markets now, includes a growing selection of royalty-free images, with content updates every week.

ShotSpy Launches Revolutionary Stock Photo and Video Search Engine

Jess — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:23:06 +0000

Vancouver, July 09, 2010. The lives of all creatives, from marketing managers to video editors to entrepreneurs, just got easier with the launch of ShotSpy, the Smart Stock Search Engine. This video and photo search engine enables users to search the contents of multiple photo libraries and video stockhouses simultaneously. The site is now the largest marketplace for stock available today, delivering over 37 million images, according to ShotSpy.

The video and stock photo search engine says the site saves users time, energy, and money by aggregating the content of the leading photo and video microstock sites, such as Fotolia®, 123RF®, Dreamstime®, Crestock®, and ClipCanvas®. The content delivered is royalty-free and ranges from $1 – $70 per clip or image. Users can refine their search and save their favorite images and clips in their personal ShotBox.

“I used to spend hours searching site after site, trying to find the ideal image for my client,” said Shelley Dubois of Candid Communications, “but now I can see all the photos and video clips the best sites have available in one simple search.”

“We travel a lot and use sites like Expedia® and Orbitz® to see all our flight options quickly,” said Tiffany Steeves, cofounder of www.ShotSpy.com. “We wanted to create something that could mirror the ease and efficiencies of those search engines, but apply it to the stock photo and video industry.”

“The prices for the images and clips are incredible,” said company co-founder Sabrina Heinekey. “The photos and video clips on these sites are almost identical to those on the ‘macrostock’ sites, where the prices are literally a thousand times as expensive.”

The technology behind the engine was created by Fantom Design and a team of leading developers and designers.

For more information on ShotSpy, please visit www.ShotSpy.com. ShotSpy is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of the aforementioned companies.

Veer Introduces Redesigned Website with Uncomplicated Shopping Experience, Affordable Images and Font

Jess — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:50:39 +0000

CALGARY, Alberta, July 13 /PRNewswire/ — Veer (www.veer.com), a provider of affordable and reliable creative elements that makes it easier to be creative, today announced the launch of its redesigned website, veer.com. To celebrate, people who complete a full registration on Veer.com (see website for details) will receive 10 free Veer Credits that can, for example, buy 10 extra small images, or a font, a small image and an extra small image.

Veer now has more than 1.5 million creative photos and illustrations covering a broad range of subject categories, over 12,000 different contemporary and classic fonts and a selection of clever creative merchandise. Veer’s creative elements are priced so affordably that nearly anyone can add style to business, marketing and personal design projects ranging from websites and blog posts to business presentations and ad campaigns.

Simplified Veer.com Provides an Uncomplicated Shopping Experience

Veer.com now features a prominent search box on the homepage and a powerful search engine to make it fast and simple for people to find relevant images and fonts to meet nearly any budget.

Veer® images are available in six standard sizes ranging from extra small to extra, extra large. Image search results can quickly be sorted by price and file size, as well as other more advanced options if needed, to help people find the right image for their project at the best possible price. Once people find an image they like, they can easily buy (download a clean version), try (download a “watermarked” file to see how it looks) or save (put in an album to refer back to later).

Veer offers affordable single fonts starting at just $10. Veer has classic fonts, new releases from small foundries and independent designers, plus Veer Exclusives not available anywhere else.

Flexible Payment Options and Worry-Free Licenses

Customers can now conveniently purchase all images, fonts and merchandise either one at time with a credit card or with Veer Credits. Veer Credits are a prepaid option for shopping at Veer that provide savings of up to 56% over individual credit card purchases. Veer Credit packs come in nine different sizes, varying from 12 to 2,000 credits, with increasing savings for customers who buy bigger packs. Veer.com has examples of what can be purchased with different amounts of credits.

All images come with, at minimum, a Basic license, which provides an individual with unlimited web use up to 600 by 800 pixels as well as print reproduction rights up to 500,000 units. Customers can easily extend the license for multiple users, unlimited reproduction or product resale with a few clicks.

Veer is one of the safest places to buy images online. All Veer images are intensively reviewed by Veer’s experienced Content Editors for visual and technical quality as well as model and real property releases. Every image is protected by the Veer Customer Protection Plan, which provides customers free protection up to $10,000 in legal costs or damages if a claim is ever filed against an image.

Veer Creative Community

Veer also hosts the Veer Ideas community, a place for creative people to play, interact and share ideas with peers. Creative people can build personal profiles, share their work, connect with friends, join groups, and browse other portfolios to discover new artists. People can read the latest design news on The Skinny blog and post on the community blog, The Fat. Veer Ideas also has a wide selection of free Wallpaper downloads for personal use.

“We have built on Veer’s heritage in stock images and design to completely re-imagine how creative people of all kinds buy affordable and reliable images and fonts,” said Nairn Nerland, General Manager of Veer.com. “We created an uncomplicated shopping experience that lets people stay focused on what matters most: their creative work.”

People can make purchases on Veer.com in U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros, and the website is available in English and German.

Contributors interested in submitting imagery to Veer can earn between $0.35 to $103.25 (USD) for every image sold, depending on image size and extended licenses. To learn more and become a contributor, visit the Veer submissions page.

Veer on Twitter (for customers): @VeerUpdate
Veer on Twitter (for contributors): @VeerContributor

Thinkstock Launches New Image Pack Subscription Service

Jess — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:51:14 +0000

Seattle, WA, July 9, 2010. Thinkstock, an image subscription site from Getty Images, today announced the introduction of image packs. This new product offers value-conscious creative processionals pre-paid access to imagery and an even greater choice, value and flexibility in licensing imagery.Customers can now choose to license 5, 25, 100 or 250 high-quality royalty-free stock photos and vector illustrations from Thinkstock’s collection of more than five million images.

Collections are sourced from the industry’s leading providers including Getty Images, iStockphoto and Jupiter Images. Customers can download their images anytime within a year with prices starting at as little as $59 a pack. Image packs are ideal for customers with smaller budgets or those whose needs are project-specific, and they include the same complementary legal protection as Thinkstock’s monthly and annual subscriptions.

WHY: Thinkstock developed the image pack options to meet the ongoing needs of creative professionals who want the best image quality they can get and the ability to find those images quickly and easily. Image packs enable customers to quickly and easily access and license the highest-quality, most relevant, cost-effective royalty-free imagery.

WHERE: www.thinkstock.com

WHO: Thinkstock is committed to changing the way that creative professionals think about stock image services by providing the most relevant offerings available in the marketplace.

Reflex Stock Partner With Fogstock & Vico Images to Distribute New Innovative and Stylish Royalty Free Stock Photography Collection

Jess — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:29:59 +0000

Reflex Stock, the award-winning international stock photography company is pleased to announce a new partnership with Fogstock & Vico Images, enabling Reflex Stock to distribute their wide ranging collection of 30,000 high quality stock photos through its global image library.

The Fogstock and Vico Images is an inspiring and provocative royalty free image collection. They provide new content across a wide range of subjects, styles, genres and the collections commitment to quality stock images fits perfectly with the ethos of Reflex Stock.

Dwyer O’Neill CEO of Reflex Stock says “In 2010 we have continued our search for new stylish content because we see that there is still a very healthy appetite for quality stock photography. Our goal is to continue to provide greatstock photos for our clients. Fogstock & Vico Images is high in quality and style covering many popular stock photography themes and we believe that it will be a successful addition to our royalty free library.”

“Reflex Stock moves fast, has global reach and perfectly complements our content strategies,” says FogStock and Vico Images creative director Erik Palmer. “We make art that sells, and Reflex opens up new horizons for our premium RF collections.”

Fog stock & Vico Images are already available and you can preview this collection of stock images onhttp://www.reflexstock.com.

About Reflex Stock: Reflex Stock is one of the world’s leading independent suppliers of premium royalty free and rights managed stock photography. It provides its customers with access to a unique collection of over twelve million quality images in many countries.

Reflex Stock represents a unique selection of the world’s leading image collections and is continually adding new images to its site. The company recently launched a subscription collection of premium stock images.

As well as consulting on all aspects of image rights and licensing, Reflex Stock offers customers an experienced and professional picture researching service that is able to deliver images tailored to your brief and your budget.

Reflex Stock has offices in the UK, Ireland, the United States (New York City) and Brazil.

For further information visit the award winning website www.reflexstock.com

Nick’s Gregan’s Ambiguous Misdirection

Jess — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:21:07 +0000

Kalahari Dune © Nick Gregan

(PRWEB) July 12, 2010

This is the very pinnacle of creative fine art photography.

Nick’s Gregan’s Ambiguous Misdirection exhibition is nothing like anything seen before in the Galleries of London!

Pushing the boundaries of contemporary photographers imagination, the depth and intrigue to this collection is captivating, it transports you into a generous roving space that is the curiosity of your imagination.

As you walk around the gallery each and every image begs the viewer to interact with it, to ask how they were created and where they were they created. The answer is in the visionary creativity that is the mind of the photographer.

From the ambiguous Obsidian Cat which looks as though it could be a sculpture hewn out of black iron brass, to the ever misleading Golden Hollow that is reminiscent of a well-pool filling with water from the rain. The collection reminds me of the zodiac sign Gemini; with each image combining a little of everything and so revealing the intense mental energy of the photographer’s mind to its full capacity.

Some of the images are recognizable and skim the surface of the creative movement known as Bodyscape, a collection of strong images representing the celebration of the female form in a light-hearted way. However the depth passion evoked in these images take photographing the human body to a whole new level.

The silhouettes give you a sensual excitement without any hint of titillation, they offer a hidden mystery differing

from the norm, creating an impression of a landscape on the surface of the body. While many of the images are intentionally ambiguous, the rest of the collection is artistically created to subtly mislead.

After much persuasion Nick finally opened his portfoilo of private work to the general public. The opening night was met with great anticipation and surprised even some of his biggest supporters with the sheer volume of beautiful images he’d had tucked away.

A truly thought provoking and awe inspiring collection.

Masterfile Joins the Microstock Revolution

Jess — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:53:22 +0000

Toronto, CA, July 3, 2010. On July 1, 2010, the assets of Crestock, a Norwegian microstock agency (www.crestock.com), were acquired by Masterfile Corporation, a premium stock photo agency based in Toronto, Canada (www.masterfile.com).

Masterfile is a privately-owned company founded in 1981 and is globally recognized in the advertising, publishing and stock photography community as a leading rights-managed and royalty-free licensor. Crestock was founded in 2005 in Bodø, Norway, and is well-known in the microstock community with over 100,000 members and close to 1 million images.

Crestock founder, Geir Are Jensen, says: “Building Crestock was a great adventure. Like many young companies, we had reached the point where we needed additional investment. The scale and resources provided by an established player like Masterfile will enable Crestock to continue growing against powerful global competitors.”

Masterfile president, Steve Pigeon, says: “It’s no secret that microstock has revolutionized the global stock photo industry. Our acquisition of Crestock is a springboard for Masterfile to join the revolution. We looked at a number of opportunities in microstock, then set our sights on Crestock. In just a few years, Geir Jensen and his associates built an excellent image collection with a smartly-designed website and a business with tremendous growth potential. We believe that augmenting Crestock with the resources of Masterfile will benefit Crestock’s image contributors and its clientele. And having a solid position in the fastest growing sector of the stock image industry is not a bad idea either.”

Crestock will be run as a separate business unit with considerable support from Masterfile in management, finance, marketing and technology. Steve Pigeon will oversee the transition, drawing on Masterfile’s resources, while looking to recruit additional management talent and other personnel from the microstock sector.

Masterfile’s plans for Crestock include investment in marketing, globalization, content acquisition, improving the online image search and user interface, and expanding the licensing models. Pigeon adds: “We aim to make Crestock into a formidable competitor in microstock. At the same time, we remain deeply committed to Masterfile’s core business of licensing premium rights-managed and royalty-free images catering to the top tier of the market.”

Camera phones ‘no threat to real photography’, Polylooks survey finds

Jess — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 15:57:16 +0000

London, 28 June, 2010. The rise and rise of ever more intuitive camera phones does not pose a threat to traditional photography, according to the findings of a nation-wide survey unveiled today. The survey of 2,245 consumers from across Great Britain conducted online by YouGov on behalf of Polylooks, Deutsche Telekom’s online photo agency, found that while only seven per cent of Britons say that using their camera phone has heightened their interest in photography, just over a fifth (21 per cent) believe that their camera phone is sufficient for their photographic needs.

Nearly one in three (28 per cent) Britons interviewed by YouGov owned an SLR camera, with ownership higher among more senior age groups. Polylooks’ survey also found that men (17 per cent) were almost twice as willing as women (nine per cent) to spend more than £400 on a camera.

Almost one in ten (nine per cent) have considered converting their passion for photography into a career at some point in their life and a similar number (ten per cent) say they would consider submitting their images on microstock sites, such as Polylooks.

“The British passion for photography remains as strong as ever,” said Norbert Weber, head of Polylooks. “While many of us now have a decent camera as part of our mobile phone, our study shows that not only do most British consumers prefer to use a high-quality camera for personal photography, but that a comparatively large amount would like the option to make money from their images.”

Other interesting findings:

A third (34 per cent) use social networks to share photos (women 35 per cent, men 32 per cent). This decreases with age, with two-thirds of 18-24 year-olds (68 per cent) sharing images on social networks, compared to 30 per cent of 45-54 years-olds, and just 12 per cent of over-55s
A quarter (25 per cent) of people still print images out to keep in physical albums – women (29 per cent) more so than men (20 per cent). Interestingly, the younger age brackets are most likely to print out digital images and keep physical albums (30 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds, compared to 20 per cent of 45 to 54 year olds)
Londoners (12 per cent) believe sharing photos is a critical part of the way they interact with their friends and family, putting more emphasis on images than those in the rest of the south (six per cent) and Wales (five per cent)

* All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,245 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 14 – 16 April, 2010. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

barcelona

Jess — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 17:16:46 +0000

barcelona06, originally uploaded by jdk photo.