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Archive for October 2008
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October 30th 2008
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Orphan Works . . .
Is Your Copyright
Still Safe?
On September 29, 2008, the U.S. Senate passed its version of an Orphan Works bill, S. 2913, entitled the “Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008.” This occurred by unanimous consent through a procedure called hotlining, which is utilized to move “non-controversial” legislation quickly through the Senate. Obviously the Senate seems to have a different definition of “non-controversial”given the extensive vocal opposition to it by a number of photography copyright owners and organizations.
“If neither the Senate bill nor the House version or some other
bill on Orphan Work becomes law in the current Congress, it
undoubtedly will be brought up again in the spring.
The final bill is similar to the one which had previously been debated in the Senate, with the addition of certain concessions made to favor copyright holders. The bill now contains a method to determine what would constitute a “diligent effort,” in connection with the required search to find a copyright owner. A search will now qualify when a diligent effort is made “that is reasonable under the circumstances to locate the owner of the infringed copyright prior to, and at a time reasonably proximate to, the infringement.”
This diligent effort requires, at a minimum, the following:
============================================
• A search of the Copyright Office records available to the public through the Internet, which are relevant to identifying and locating copyright owners, provided there is sufficient identifying information on which to construct a search;
• A search of reasonably available sources of copyright authorship and ownership information and, where appropriate, licensor information;
• Use of appropriate technology tools, printed publications, and where reasonable, internal or external expert assistance;
• Use of appropriate databases, including databases that are available to the public through the Internet.
============================================
The diligent efforts would also require “any actions that are reasonable and appropriate under the facts relevant to the search, including actions based on facts known at the start of the search and facts uncovered during the search, and including a review as appropriate of Copyright Office records not available to the public through the Internet that are reasonably likely to be useful in identifying and locating the copyright owner.”
The Copyright Office will still be required to draft recommended practices for conducting these searches. The bill also encourages the creation of private searchable registries through databases to be created with the Copyright Office to certify at least two such databases. The Act will become effective, if it becomes law in its present form, 30 days after such certification, or January 1, 2013, whichever comes first.
What the House of Representatives will do is uncertain at this point. As of this writing, the members of House are either campaigning for reelection or otherwise occupying themselves on other matters, including those pertaining to the financial crisis.
The pending House bill, which has yet to be acted upon, was viewed by photographers as being more favorable to copyright owners than the version passed by the Senate since the House version would require an infringer to file a notice with the Copyright Office when the infringer intended to use what would be considered to be an Orphan Work.
If neither the Senate bill nor the House version or some other bill on Orphan Work becomes law in the current Congress, it undoubtedly will be brought up again in the spring. Given the broad support for the concept of an Orphan Works bill, it will probably become law in some form.
The various photography and artist organizations, such as the Advertising Photographers of America, the American Society of Media Photographers, and the Graphic Artists Guild, have encouraged their members to contact their House Representatives to push for retention of the additional requirement of filing with the Copyright Office.
Attorney Joel L. Hecker lectures and writes extensively on issues of concern to the photography industry. His office is located at Russo & Burke, 600 Third Ave, New York NY 10016. Phone: 1 212 557-9600. E-mail: HeckerEsq[at]aol[dot]com.
When Security Is a Security Risk
Yet another fake Windows Security Center is out there. Current Windows products include a Security Center that warns you of dangerous conditions, like whether you have a firewall installed, if you’ve turned off Window’s Automatic Updates and the status of your anti-virus program.
This trojan modifies certain Windows settings, and uses the Security Center to falsely warn you of missing anti-virus protection. Of course, the real issue is the fake Security Center warning. It tells you to download a specific product (the real Security Center does not specify products by name), which costs forty bucks.
Just like the protection rackets of decades ago (yes, I know they still exist in the world), you are to pay to clean up a mess (or prevent one) that is not of your making. This trojan instructs you to download WinDefender 2008.’ And to help ensure that you do, it blocks outgoing Internet connections so you can’t download a legitimate program, and continually harasses you to download (and pay for) their program. By the way, the real name of Microsoft’s program is Windows Defender.
Read more about it here: http://tinyurl.com/3m8mdh If you’re in doubt, here is the full URL: http://community.ca.com/blogs/securityadvisor/archive/2008/10/14/twogoodlookingwindowssecuritycentersonefakeonereal.aspx
Tiny URL
Did you notice that neat trick I just did? I converted a very long URL (it contained 129 characters) into a very short URL containing just 25 characters total. If you have need to do the same, such as avoiding very long URLs in an email, get your free tiny URL here: www.tinyurl.com
The instructions are simple. Type in the long URL and click on the Make TinyURL button. You also have the option of creating/using a Preview TinyURL, which allows users to preview the translated URL before clicking on the TinyURL link. There are only a few sensible rules, like not using it for spamming or illegal activities.
Foldershare
An easy way to automatically sync folders across and between Mac and Windows platforms is to use the free foldershare program from Microsoft (Microsoft bought the company a few years ago). Check it out at http://www.foldershare.com
Public Service Announcement
The rules-of-the-road generally require that you pull to the right side of the road and stop when an emergency vehicle with flashing lights and siren approaches your location.
I’ve noticed over the last few years in my major metropolitan area that drivers are taking an ambivalent approach to this requirement. The majority of drivers just stop wherever they are on the road, or worse, just slow down a little while staying in their lane, forcing emergency crews to expend precious time weaving in and out of this man-made obstacle course. So, do us all a favor, and pull to the right and stop to allow safe and quick movement of emergency vehicles. Remember, the life you help save may be someone you know.
Bill Hopkins is the Webmaster of PhotoSourceFolio, where photographers
display photos and a regular contributor to PhotoStockNotes. Send comments to Bill via email.
For on-line questions, contact Bill on the Kracker Barrel. Display 6 of your images at www.photosourcefolio.com
Your
Digital Lightbox
When a photobuyer wants to see a selection of your images, he or she up to this point in time would typically ask for low-resolution previews by email. Now, an alternative to email is quickly gaining ground and becoming more and more popular: namely a Digital Lightbox, sometimes called a viewing platform.
When a photobuyer requests to see a digital lightbox, the photobuyer
wants you to put up a selection of images for viewing on your website. (Compared to a traditional lightbox that you use to view your slides.)
A digital lightbox doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. It
can be something as simple as a separate page on your website that you can direct the photobuyer to. The important thing here is to enable the
photobuyer to view selections of your work side by side.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SHARING
Another crucial detail when it comes to digital lightboxes is to make it easy for the photobuyer to share the lightbox with other decision-makers or clients. It is obviously much easier for a photobuyer to send a single URL to others, compared to e-mailing 20 or more low-res digital photos to one or more individuals.
Most photobuyers will need to share the images with at least one other individual before a final image selection is made. Make it easy for the photobuyer to share your lightbox and you will keep the photobuyer happy.
If you want to limit access to your digital lightbox, you can
absolutely password-protect it on your website, but make sure that you tell the photobuyer that he/she can share the password with anyone they need to haveaccess to the images.
DON'T RUSH
A common mistake among photographers is that lightboxes get taken down (deleted) way too quickly. Allow plenty of time for the photobuyer to view your lightbox and to share it with others. As you know, image selection can take time, especially for book-publishers.
Personally, I give photobuyers at least twice the amount of
time I think it will take them to look at and select from the lightbox.
Then, I email the photobuyer and ask them if they have made a final selection or if they need the lightbox to stay active for a while longer.
My own policy is that I don't delete the lightbox until I know a final selection has indeed been made, and the photobuyer has sent requests for high-res images. This way it is easy for me to bring
the lightbox back to life in case the photobuyer needs to make
any last-minute changes.
HOW-TO
How-to instructions for setting up a digital lightbox are hard to give since the details will vary with the software you use for your site. However, there are a number of details that are important in every case:
One. Make sure your contact info is placed both up front and at the
end of the lightbox.
Two. Keep it as simple as possible. Lightboxes should load very quickly and be as easy as possible to navigate.
Three. Make sure that you mention if you have variations of the images you place on the lightbox for a buyer. State how the photobuyer should contact you and ask for variations.
Four. Keep copyright warnings, watermarks and so on to a bare minimum, if at all. These don't create a trusting welcome to your potential buyer.
Five. Include caption info for all photos.
I have made a sample lightbox on the PhotoSource website as a reference. This lightbox will stay up for a while, and please feel free to visit it and have a look at how simple it can be to make a digital lightbox. The url is http://www.photosource.com/101/samplelightbox.pdf and the various items should be self-explanatory.
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 26 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States
in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and writes a how to photograph column for PhotoStockNOTES. To reach Mikael --> email --> Mikael via email.
SLIM DOWN AT THE CORBIS PAYROLL BOOTH: Hard Times for Stock Continues: Corbis to Cut Royalty Rate - Corbis executives said Saturday that the stock licensing industry will decline over the next four years, and the company will cut the royalty rate it pays most rights-managed contributors.
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/stock-and-syndication/e3ia353f77f11f28ab92c10a57f2ca22e4f
TAKEAWAY: The USE of photos will rise more than ever. The sales figures will decline.
WHERE DO YOU FIT? PDN's 2008 Editorial Survey Results - “When we began surveying editorial photographers in August, our goal was to find out how their business is faring: what editorial fees are like, what contribution editorial work makes to photographers' incomes, and how well editorial photographers are managing to cover expenses such as retirement savings and healthcare.”
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/photojournalism/e3i89939c96ea2a724cec1fa4fe7518b3fe
KEY: READ THE MANUAL. Sometimes a Bad Image Isn't the Camera's Fault -- It's Yours - After spending a bunch of money on a new camera or lens, you are less than thrilled - in fact, your images actually appear worse! It couldn't be you -
could it ? Taking control of your camera and understanding the effects each control has on your image and how to use that to create your desired results are key. This along with learning to see and use light are really the fundamentals that people need to know if they want to achieve a good standard in photography. http://rising.blackstar.com/sometimes-a-bad-image-isnt-the-cameras-fault-its-yours.html
BARGAIN TIME -- Amidst Economic Uncertainty, LiveBooks Offers Flexible Payment Plan for Photographers - In an effort to help photographers continue their marketing efforts in the midst of economic turmoil, LiveBooks, Inc., a provider of customized portfolio websites and marketing software for photographers, has created a 12-month financing option for new LiveBooks Professional clients.
http://www.pdngearguide.com/gearguide/content_display/news/e3if5f4f8d2ae5cf7f080a2ccf96a156ff6
KODAK: GOODBYE NASCAR. HELLO GOLF. The photography pioneer, betting its future on electronic imaging, said Monday the realignment fits better with a new effort to highlight its brand digitally, such as on PGA Tour scoreboards. Kodak also wants to engage more customers overseas since 60 per cent of its sales are outside the United States.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Motorsports/2008/10/27/7222886-ap.html
WHATS NEW? Hottest Advancements In Photography On Display At PhotoPlus Expo. For the last 25 years, if it's been something cutting edge that snaps a photo,or has anything to do with snapping a photo, it's been on display at the annual PhotoPlus Expo,
http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/87904/hottest-advancements-in-photography-on-display-at-photoplus-expo/Default.aspx?ap=1&Flash
FIRE SALE. Going Out For Business: All Images Must Go! - PhotoShelter's robust Personal Archive, which has a monthly service fee, that is offering shelter to current Digital Railroad members. So, while we contemplate the likelihood that Digital Railroad is (or is not) going out OF business, PhotoShelter is going out FOR YOUR business. More about what PhotoShelter is offering at Digital Railroad Special Offer & Website Customization Examples!
http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/10/going-out-for-business-all-images-must.html
TAKEAWAY: How long can an online photo gallery hold on until it busts at the seams and falls flat under its own weight?
JUPITER: –FLASH, -FLICKER –FADES, FAREWELL. The princess's price - At the eve of the PACA meeting, where small business owners of the RM and RF photo industry meet twice a year to complain about the state of the industry, Jupiter media just announced that it was dropping the ball and selling all to almighty Getty.
http://blog.melchersystem.com/2008/10/23/the-princesss-price/
TAKEAWAY: What a ride! Jupiter has finally self-extinguished. A rising meteor at one time, brash, self-assured and “leading the way.” Now, self-snuffed.
LOOKING AFTER YOU. -- A "New Deal" for Stock Photographers - "We want everyone to know that there is a stock company that is looking out for the individual photographer and artist," said Carroll Seghers, president of Image Warehouse. Note: Unlike many stock sites that do not allow “Google-bots” access to their images’ keywords, Image Warehouse keywords are visible and therefore provide “organic ranking” positioning in the Google “natural search” results area. http://www.stockphotographer.info/content/view/705/
TAKEAWAY: Good! Letting the Google bots come through and select your keywords is a necessity if you want to be listed upfront in a Google search.
This just in . . .
HAVE PHOTOGRAPHERS BEEN RAILROADED? If the news about bank collapses hasn't devastated you enough, ...here's another depressing one. This time it comes from the Internet, but is no less devastating for a good number of people, hopefully not including you.
As of Wednesday, if you go to the Web site of Digital Railroad you will be greeted with this:
To our valued Members and Partners:
We deeply regret to inform you that Digital Railroad (DRR) has shut down.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10078042-2.html
TAKEAWAY: Be careful where you store your images. The aftermath of an equipment or financial setback can be a catastrophe.
OUCH! Price: $15 ; USE: $15,000. Microstock in Hollywood - Watching The Nanny Diaries featuring Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney guess what I saw in the opening scene? Yep, my humble microstock photo up there on the big screen!
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/microstock-in-hollywood.html
TAKEAWAY: This may become a hidden profit center for the microstock industry -- similar to the way the loss of a transparency(s) during the film years could bring in $1500 each. Failure to not buy an Extended Use license might result in extra revenue to the photographer.
IT DISAPPEARS. Nature Conservancy Takes Your Copyright Exclusively - The photo contest for a 2010 calendar to raise funds to support The Hasssayampa River Preserve is a noble cause but under the rules of the contest, the Nature Conservancy not only gets to use your photo in any way it wants, you don't get to use it at all! http://www.photoattorney.com/
TAKEAWAY: Always read Rule #9 (Who owns the picture? if you win the trophy?)
PHOTOTERRORIST? Home Office guides plods on photography. Terror Laws due to be passed this autumn, (in UK) could provide Police with a new and significant power to stop individuals taking photographs. Names? Addresses? Photographs? Since almost every other item of anti-Terror law has eventually been broadened out beyond its original scope, there must be some concern that once in place, these new powers will be used to make life uncomfortable for anyone wishing to photograph police at demonstrations. Or just police anywhere?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/28/police_photography_guidance/
FOLLOW YOUR PHOTOS. -- Digimarc Releases New Version of Digimarc for Images Software for Adobe PhotoShop(R) - Coinciding with the release of Adobe Creative Suite(R) 4 (CS4), the new version of Digimarc for Images includes several enhancement in response to customer feedback.
http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=557660
GESUNDHEIT! -- Cough Captured on Film Using Supersonic Photography Technique. Using a technique more commonly used to image the supersonic shock cones forming around test aircraft in wind tunnels, a group of scientists say they've captured the dynamics of a cough on film.
http://gizmodo.com/5069798/cough-captured-on-film-using-supersonic-photography-technique
During times when the normal way of life is
interrupted, like we are experiencing now, trade
and commerce tend to change the rules in order to
adjust to the ebb and flow of the economy. In
some cases, they increase prices, and in other
cases they offer rebates and value coupons.
Here are some positive things about recessions and
whatever you would call what the economy is in
now.
Here at PhotoSource International, we've
seen more buyers coming to us, searching for
better ways, better prices, to meet their needs
and their budgets. Now that "digital" has arrived
and is utilized throughout the industry,
photobuyers have learned to go directly to the
source when they are in need of a particular
picture.
During a recession, photobuyer activity
increases, not decreases. (We've been through
three recessions since 1976 when we first
published our marketletter.) Another positive is
that businesses will tend to increase their
discounts, rebates, and coupons.
We are no different. Next week, for three days, November
5th, 6th, and 7th , we will offer a handsome
reduction in the price of our two marketletters,
the PhotoDAILY and the PhotoLetter. Watch for our
email to you next week -
Here's the sign place:
http://www.photosource.com/fallsale
KODAK: GOODBYE NASCAR. HELLO GOLF. The photography pioneer, betting its future on electronic imaging, said Monday the realignment fits better with a new effort to highlight its brand digitally, such as on PGA Tour scoreboards. Kodak also wants to engage more customers overseas since 60 per cent of its sales are outside the United States.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Motorsports/2008/10/27/7222886-ap.html
WHATS NEW? Hottest Advancements In Photography On Display At PhotoPlus Expo. For the last 25 years, if it's been something cutting edge that snaps a photo,or has anything to do with snapping a photo, it's been on display at the annual PhotoPlus Expo,
http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/87904/hottest-advancements-in-photography-on-display-at-photoplus-expo/Default.aspx?ap=1&Flash
THOSE PETS -- 22nd International Exhibition on Animals in Art. $1000 Best of Show award, as well as other
cash awards. One entry will be chosen to appear
on the cover of the Journal of the American
Veterinary Medical Association.
Open to all photographers and artists 18 years of age or older. All
media. Works must be original. All artwork must be priced and available for sale.
Deadline: January 9th 2009
For entry form:
http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/Web_pdfs/2009_Call_for_Entries.pdf
NOT NATURAL. -- Alert: Nature Conservancy Takes Your Copyright Exclusively - The photo contest for a 2010 calendar to raise funds to support The Hasssayampa River Preserve is a noble cause but under the rules of the contest, the Nature
Conservancy not only gets to use your photo in any way it wants, you don't
get to use it at all! http://www.photoattorney.com/
TAKEAWAY: Guess who the winner is in this contest?
VARNISHED FICTION? -- Too many stars in her eyes - Annie Leibovitz might be art royalty but her celebrity shots are mere varnished fiction. As a new London retrospective demonstrates, her photographs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/oct/26/leibovitz-exhibition
TAKEAWAY. As Huey Long said, “Just spell my name right.”
"When words become unclear, I shall focus on photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence." - Ansel Adams
1931 - October 7 - An infrared photograph (of a large group of people) taken in the dark with a short exposure was made in the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories in Rochester, NY.
The Feds Are
Your Partners
Advance Notes: Stock photographers can benefit from government regulations designed to help small businesses.
If you are serious about marketing your stock photography, you are missing out on some fine opportunities if you don't take advantage of the benefits offered to you by, yes, your benevolent government.
COPYRIGHT. The law states that you own the rights to your picture, not the person who "buys" it. This was emphasized by the well-known Tasini court case reversal. Your copyright stays with you, unless you sign something to the contrary at the time of the transaction. Place the copyright symbol on all of your work; it costs you nothing to do this – it's a gift from your government. Only if you register your picture (with the Library of Congress) will it cost a fee (at this writing: $35 -online, $45-paper).
MODEL RELEASES. Have you shackled yourself with the belief that you have to have a 'model release' for recognizable people or buildings in public? Not so, -it's your First Amendment Right not to have to get a model release if your picture is used for informing and educating the public. We live in a free society and the writers of our constitution early recognized that the free exchange of information was a right we should all enjoy. Unless you are a service photographer (industrial, architecture, fashion, advertising, etc.) and your pictures are used for promotion, endorsement, advertising, or other commercial and trade purposes, you won't need a model release. The only exception to this are cases where a picture might be in a sensitive area such as mental health, sex, or used in a compromising, unfair situation which could embarrass someone. Your book or magazine editor will advise you if these exceptions come into play when the picture is considered for publication.
PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTOS. These photos from government agencies (NASA, Dept. of Agriculture, FSA, etc.) are free. You or your parents paid for them with your tax dollars. Public Domain photos can be used for many purposes: in books, with lectures, researched and sent to photobuyers.
POSTAL SERVICE. Since correspondence lost or mislaid by a fallible postal worker has a way of being remembered and talked about, let's admit that errors can happen in any industry, and then ask, "What's good about the Post Office?" There are billions of pieces of mail handled yearly, flawlessly. The direct mail industry, despite the popularity of email, has learned that postal delivery of cards and letters is still effective and rewarding. Our postage system is cheaper than that in any other comparable industrialized nation. I've used the postal service in my business for more than 30 years and still recommend it.
Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes.
Digital Cameras Take the Lead
There’s no doubt – it’s almost all digital these days. Crank up your knowledge about digital cameras and what photobuyers expect in the way of image submissions.
And what's a new digital camera going to cost? It depends on your area of interest: social issues, sports, nature and landscapes.
One advantage to editorial stock photographers is that many of your pictures are going to be used 1/4 page or smaller, which means you could get by with $800+ (6 to 8 Megapixels). Of course if you expect to publish covers, your camera will cost $2500+ (10 and up Megapixels). If you plan to use it for commercial work, then expect to pay $9,000 and more (lenses, back, etc.)
If you can get by with an advanced point and shoot type model (Canon G9 for instance) where you do not have the option of changing lenses, the dent in your checking account will not be as big as if you need a Digital SLR, like the Canon 50D, 5DII, ID III, IDs III, a Fuji S5 Pro, a Nikon D300, or D3, and so on.
It's also in what you shoot. Action, real life as it happens, sports, demand a camera with little shutter lag and flexibility. For studio work, set-ups, portraits, quick responses from your camera aren't as crucial.
As always with equipment purchases, make sure the camera you are interested in fits you, your hands and your way of working. It doesn't matter how many bells and whistles a camera has if you can't easily reach and use the controls. Before making the digital leap, find out what specs your clients demand on digital images.
Keep up with the times by learning what photobuyers expect from you in the way of digital submissions. Check out Rohn Engh’s new ebook: How To Market Your Photos, which goes into submission parameters in depth.
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 18 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike[at]photosource[dot]com.
TRAVELERS
Photographers: We broadcast your foreign destinations along with contact information, departure date, length of stay, etc. Contact PhotoStockNotes (1 715 248-3800) at least two months in advance.
Photobuyers: Watch this column. For the e-mail address, phone or fax number of the traveling photographer, call the PhotoSource International office and ask for Rohn Engh (1 800 624-0266). For an expansion of this list: www.photosource.com and press the Travelers Abroad button, to learn of past international destinations of our photographers.
Terri Petri
Oct 17- Nov 2 2008
Johannesburg, Kruger Park, South Africa
Austin Cortez
Oct 22 – Oct 27, 2008
Brazil (Amazon)
Frederick Randall
Nov 2008 – May 2009
Caribbean, BWI
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Travelwriter Marketletter… for writers and photojournalists.
Travelwriter Marketletter is a monthly publication available online ( http://www.travelwriterml.com ) and in hard copy format. Travelwriter Marketletter is in its 29th year.
If you’re a travel writer or photographer, TWM tells you about new markets, pay scales, editors, specs and trips.
Contact Mimi Backhausen Phone: 571/214-9086 Fax: 208-988-7672 mimi[at]travelwriternl[dot]com
If you're a travel photographer, TWM will supply you with contact information about photobuyers.
If you’re in travel PR, TWM tells you which publications are likely targets.
If you’re a travel editor, TWM tells you about trips, and about your competitors.
If you’re a photo researcher TWM will direct you to travel photographers.
Request a sample copy of TWML: 571/214-9086.
FIND A BUSINESS --- Google Voice Local Search, is a free 411 service that users can call to request information on local businesses. The system is automated and uses voice recognition to determine what the caller is seeking. Simply saying the words "text message" to the automated system after receiving query results will prompt the system to send the user an SMS with those same results. Google Voice Local Search, is a free 411 service that users can call to request information on local businesses. The system is automated and uses voice recognition to determine what the caller is seeking. Try it. 1 800 466-4411.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070409-google-rolls-out-free-411-service.html
RESCUED HORSE featured in new photography book (NZ) A one-eyed horse rehabilitated by World Horse Welfare has been immortalized in print by award-winning photographer Tim Flach. The stunning image of 'Laddy', a 10-year-old Welsh cob, is one of a series of portraits featuring in Tim's new book 'Equus', released on October 13. Tim visited World Horse Welfare in Snetterton, Norfolk UK.
STOCK PHOTO AGENCIES can be an outlet for some of your pictures. Do agencies object to you marketing your own pictures when they also represent you? No, not the established ones. They encourage you to also market on your own. They want to share the sales with you, and also to share the setbacks. They know that a photographer who markets pictures on his/her own will understands the pitfalls (and glories) of selling and reselling pictures on the open market.
MODEL RELEASE. As an editorial photographer, will you need a model release pad in your photo bag or back pocket ? No, you won’t, and this video explains why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DevxX-e57j8
BAIL IN. ... -- ASMP & Their $1.3 - The $1.3 million distribution has the potential to do much good in its areas of use. ASMP set as a deadline of Monday, 10/20 as the deadline for the receipt of ideas. http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/10/asmp-their-13.html
POLLING POSTERITY. -- YouTube urges voters to ‘Video Your Vote’. “Shoot a video of your experience at the polls on Election Day. Document the energy and excitement, as well as any problems you may see,” YouTube said in a message last week. YouTube, a Google subsidiary, said in a statement, “This program aims to gather massive amounts of polling place video, with the Channel serving as an online library for Election Day footage. On November 4, the Channel will serve as the premier online destination for up-to-the-minute coverage from voters contributing videos straight from thousands of precincts across the country.”
KENTUCKY SAYS NO. Kentucky election officials are scrambling to get out the message that a national YouTube project with PBS that encourages people to video themselves voting on Nov. 4 would be illegal in Kentucky.
Grayson said Friday that voters should be encouraged to record a video diary about the experience at the polls after they're away from their voting precinct — at least 300 feet away. Those caught recording inside a polling place could be slapped with a misdemeanor. Kentucky's legislature outlawed video recording or using cell phones or cameras in the voting places in 2005 to avoid intimidating other voters.
http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/559416.html
TAKEAWAY: Commentators suggestions: - What gets photographed in Kentucky stays in Kentucky –in the clink.
-Step across the border and register in Georgia. Save your vote for posterity. Goodbye Kentucky! Hello Georgia!
-Didn’t I see a security camera at the polling place four years ago? Will that be dismantled? Or is this law only for Big Brother?
- Hold it! Georgia outlaws recording at a polling place. So do Florida and other places.
-If I’m photographing me, what’s the deal? Isn’t this part of my Freedom of the Press?
-We should have more photographing in polling places, not less. Maybe we would find out what’s going on there.
MEETING PLACE -- Interactive Flickr Now for everyone. Yahoo has finished a redesign of its Flickr home page that emphasizes the photo-sharing site's social aspects. The new home page shows off more of a user's own photos and more from the user's contacts, and it surfaces social activity such as comments on the user's photos, replies to comments the user made on others' photos, and new photos posted to the user's Flickr groups.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10068670-39.html?tag=mncol
UNIFIED -- Celeb Agencies. -- Rex Features and Berliner Merge U.S. Operations - Two small but storied celebrity photo agencies, Rex Features and Berliner, announced that they are combining their operations in North America.
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/editorial/e3ie08aadb553c2ade99578a08c8b103892
ANOTHER. New Rights-Managed Photography Breaks the Mold - Believing that there is a strong market for excellent rights managed photography, that photographers expect care and consideration and that creatives are seeking an alternative
source, International Collections Worldwide, Inc. today announces the creation of the new RM source ic.worldwide.
http://www.creativepro.com/article/new-rights-managed-photography-breaks-mold.
END OF THE LINE? ...---... Digital Railroad Likely Being Liquidated - The board has now retained Diablo Management, a firm known for liquidations, to shop the entire company, as is, around, or to sell off the company in parts. DRR's investors' final action was
to move CEO Charles Mauzy to a position of just another employee to
facilitate DRR's liquidation strategies. http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/10/digital-railroad-likely-being.html
REALLY? -- Fotolia Updates Affiliate Program but Sees No Need to Tell Affiliates - Not only did Fotolia update their affiliate program and not tell their affiliates, they also deactivated a large portion of existing referrals which weren't due to expire for 3 - 5 years. 20% of my referred photographers were deactivated from the affiliate program.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/fotolia-updates-affiliate-program-but-sees-no-need-to-tell-affiliates.html
WHAT HAPPENED TO ROCK ? Is Rock Photography Fading Fast? What has happened to great rock concert photography? Is it part of a bygone era, or has the music industry forgone photographers due to control issues? A mix of both, says Mark Paytress in Creative Review's article "Three Songs and Yer Out! The Dying Art of Gig Photography" (reprinted from a recent issue of M magazine). The "three songs" refers to an industry-wide guideline that photographers are allowed access to the artists only for the first three songs of a performance. The practice started as a courtesy to performers to keep distracting flash bulbs to a minimum. But then it worked its way around the scene and became the rule at most venues. Artists and their management blame the venues for enforcing the rule, while the venues insist they're just doing what they're told by the management.
http://www.utne.com/2008-10-16/Arts/Rock-Photography-Is-Fading-Fast.aspx?blogid=32
IS IT ART? Here we go again. Photography's meaning examined. Every person has his or her own preconceived notion of what photography is. We take our own photographs; we receive them; we can see them in books, advertising, on the Internet, etc. What we don't always understand about photography is that its meaning continually changes over time, resulting in conflicting views towards photography's fundamental properties. The new exhibit at the Davison Art Center (DAC), entitled "Documentary or Art? Photography in the Long 19th Century, 1839-1914" rises from this tension. http://www.wesleyanargus.com/article/6929
NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS. Client Meeting: An Interview with Audubon's Kim Hubbard - The photo editor of the award-winning nature magazine talks about the photography she
publishes, how she finds photographers, and what she does and doesn't like in photographers' promotions and portfolios.
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/pdn-online/e3ic3df70bc11b72c5251d8fc53af440908
The Life Of A Photograph,... Sam Abell, considered one of the foremost photographers of our time, showcases some of his most powerful and unforgettable images and answers the question, “What gives life to a photograph?” The book is organized around Abell’s perspectives on landcapes, still life, street scenes and the photography of daily life. Selections cover geography and wildlife from the Arctic to the Amazon, and cultures from Australia to the American West.
With each image Abell presents a master class in photographic thinking. In an original concept for a photography book, images are displayed in a unique, highly involving way that allows the viewer to be engaged in the photographic process.
Viewers see how subtle differences in point of view, framing, timing and perspective can lead to strikingly different photographs. By showing similar images side by side, or sequences of photogaphs of the same event, the viewer is placed in the field and in the editor’s chair.
(ISBN 978-1-4262-0329-9; $40) Contact: John McFeely, National Geographic Books,
2245 17th St NW, Washington DC 10036-4688. Phone: 202 857-7659. Email: jmcfeely[at]ngs[dot]org
During downturns in the economy, (we’ve been through four so far), photobuyers don’t like to spend precious time surfing the various picture sites, looking for a specific photo need.
Instead they place a listing on the PhotoDaily with us at 2pm (CT).
A subscriber who has the picture responds directly to the photobuyer. Not only does the member make a sale, but establishes a new contact with a photobuyer who seeks pictures in his/her photographic area of interest.
Another Plus: We call it "The Domino's" System."
In the past if you wanted a pizza, you went to the pizza store for it, --today, the pizza place comes to you. Digital photography is allowing this similar new stock photography trend.
When a photobuyer lists a particular photo need with us in the PhotoDaily or PhotoLetter, if it's a "next door" type of photo request, the photographer goes out and makes the picture on a "Domino's" basis by delivering the described image via the Net directly on a Light-Box to the photobyuer for consideration.
If the picture(s) doesn't hit the mark, the photographer adds it to his/her database and at the same time makes an excellent contact for future sales to that photobuyer.
Want to see a sample issue and/or information on how to sign up? http://www.PhotoSourcePix.com.
HASN’T HE HEARD ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHING FROM ROOFTOPS? -- This officer is passionate about capturing images of the city he patrols. Everett White sees every photograph as an opportunity to capture a split-second moment and preserve it forever.
The Fort Wayne native and city police officer has turned what was once a photography hobby into an obsession. It's not unusual for White, 26, to be seen scouring city rooftops or alleyways in search of the next best shot. http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081019/LOCAL07/810190409/1002/LOCAL
CAMERA CONNECTION How to use a vintage manual-focus camera lens with your DSLR camera for a fraction of the cost of newer auto-focus lenses. Using manual focus on those old lenses will slow you down a little. Not too much, just enough to make you think about your. You feel more connected to your camera and to the process of shooting.
http://lifehacker.com/5065371/vintage-camera-lenses-make-for-cheap-dslr-lenses
MORE PIX. -- HP & MySpace get to grips with photo printing.
In a deal sure to click with amateur photography enthusiasts, HP and MySpace are working together to let users print and distribute photos from the social networking site. The firms signed a letter of intent during HP's recent annual imaging and printing conference in San Diego. The collaboration will initially make it easier for users to print MySpace images on their own printers. http://www.techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=12689
106 CAMERA MODELS -- A great day for popular photography: Canon ships 100 millionth compact digital camera - Beginning with the PowerShot 600 in 1996, Canon has
delivered a total of 106 models around the world. http://www.ameinfo.com/171888.html
BLACK SILICON -- Could the discovery of black silicon change digital photography? In a New York Times article published recently, a Harvard physicist produced a new material, called black silicon, that could have a broad impact on technologies ranging from ultra sensitive sensors to photovoltaic cells. According to the article, Harvard plans to announce that it has licensed patents for black silicon to SiOnyx, a Massachusetts company.
http://www.dphoto.co.nz/news/8620/could-the-discovery-of-black-silicon-change-digital-photography
THE CROWD PREVAILS. -- Newspapers Consider Giving Up the Associated Press - Editor & Publisher reports that the Tribune company has given a two-year cancellation
notice to the Associated Press. Tribune owns nine newspapers that rely on the AP for news content.
http://www.pdnpulse.com/2008/10/newspapers-cons.html
VIDEO: CENTER STAGE. -- Get ready for change. Have your video camewra ready. Tastes are changing. Photography meets videography as camera technology advances. The latest trend in high-end digital cameras represents the latest example of convergence; in this case it is all about still and video cameras becoming one and the same. The impact on the pro photographer is far from insignificant. The Digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex Camera = very good camera, pro quality) market is driven by the publishing industry. Lots of different people use DSLRs but more cameras are sold to photographers for newspapers and magazines than any other use.
An interesting phenomenon is occurring in this market; the publishers are universally seeing falling numbers in news-stand and subscription sales, and increasing numbers of visitors to their web sites.
People visiting web sites are interested in seeing richer media than it is possible to deliver in papers or magazines. Simple video, a la YouTube, is the order of the day. So editors are beginning to ask their photo journalists to start to provide video clips along with their photos. http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/home/story.html?id=03879835-68df-4bc0-8ca2-276adba744a9
FROM THE HIP. -- Cell Phone Photography Exhibit in November 2008 Seeks Submissions Online.
Independent curator Daiv Whaley and longstanding Brandt Gallery of the Tremont District in Cleveland, Ohio, announce an open call for submissions of cell phone photographs for the first At The Cellular Level - Cell Phone Photography as Art. The exhibit, which will open in November 2008, will feature cell phone photography from professional and amateur artists from around the world and promises to be a stimulating visual dialogue on the use of convenience technology in the twenty-first century. Submissions can be mailed to cellphonephotoshow @ yahoo.com
ANOTHER RIGHTS GRAB ? -- Blackpool photography 'rights grab' furore (UK). A council has hit back at criticism over potential exploitation of photo competition entries, saying that use of amateur pictures is becoming 'commonplace' on TV and in other media.
Though rules for Blackpool Council's 'Love Blackpool' competition state that copyright remains with the entrant, they also grant the council 'a perpetual, royalty free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right and licence to use, exhibit, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, distribute... make available to the public and exercise all copyright and publicity rights...'
Among those livid at the rules is local resident Myk Ripley, one of Amateur Photographer's (AP) website forum moderators.
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Blackpool_photography_rights_grab_furore_news_269875.html
A DAY I N THE LIFE OF A POTATO. ---- A Peruvian and a Chinese photographer were announced today as winners of a world photography contest, launched by the United Nations to highlight the potato's key role in agriculture, the economy and world food security. Part of the International Year of the Potato celebrations in 2008, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) awarded first prizes in the contest - called "Focus on a global food" - to professional photographer Eitan Abramovich, and amateur photographer Xi Huang. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28597&Cr=FAO&Cr1=mdg
AN X-RAYTED LOOK AT LIFE -- For 15 years British photographer Nick Veasey has gotten under a lot of people's skin - but that's a good thing.
The 46-year-old artist, who has just been short-listed for a Lucie award, the equivalent of an Oscar in photography, has been using an X-ray machine to uncover the hidden beauty of organic and inanimate objects. http://www.nypost.com/seven/10192008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/an_x_rayted_look_at_life_134324.htm
SLIPPERY SLOPES: Roads Traveled: Ice Age Trail shows off state's subtle scenery. When I talked to Bart Smith this month, it wasn't all that long after he had finished a hike that took him at least 15,000 miles around the United States, including around 1,200 in Wisconsin. Bart is a photographer who has walked all eight of the National Park Service's national scenic trails. That includes the Ice Age Trail, established in 1980, and his "Along Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail" book (UW Press, $24.95) is a four-season tribute to the subtle beauty and bounty that distinguishes our part of the world. "I'd call it a mission -- tough but wonderful," he says of the project, and photography "has been a way for me to share my wonder about living in this amazing world."
http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20081019/CWS04/810190352
GETTING’ THERE, MAYBE. -- ALIPR - Image Recognition for Keywording - Here's one example of a fairly successful (but by no means exhaustive) result return, where I've checked the applicable keywords but are several others with less than stellar results. This technology is still in the early stages of development.
http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/10/alipr-image-recognition-for-keywording.html
UGH! NOT AGAIN. The world's photojournalists have been doing their best to find original ways to illustrate the global financial crisis. Some of their efforts have been commendable -- others, not.
The Best and Worst of Financial Crisis Photography. SPIEGEL ONLINE has collected the best of the best, and some of the worst. First things first: It would be difficult to pin the blame on the current financial crisis on the traders on the floor of the world's stock markets. It's not their fault. But seriously. How many more images of contorted, exasperated, horrified and desperate traders can we take? For the last two weeks, as the financial markets have remained frozen and the stock markets -- at least until this week -- plummeted to ever lower depths, newspapers, Web sites and television news have offered up a parade of faces buried in hands, mouths agape in dismay and arms flailing in the air as traders watch stock prices fall off a cliff. http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,584127,00.html
PUNK PHOTOGRAPHY -- Folks in the music industry love to throw around the phrase "back in the day" - a nod to how much more innovative and fresh and new things were at some undefinable point in the past. Few folks, however, can truly define "back in the day." Fewer still can claim to have been there. Photographer Theresa Kereakes is one of those people. Kereakes' life took a fabled turn when she did the first photo shoot for a friend's new band. That band? Punk legends The Germs. Shorty after that photo shoot, Kereakes became the default documenter of the Sunset Strip scene during the late '70s, photographing her close friends as they cumulatively wrote an important chapter in Rock History. The photographs of those friends - now icons and household names like Iggy Pop, Blondie, Joan Jett, Billy Idol The Dead Boys and more - have become the foremost collection of this classic, controversial time. As Kereakes herself puts it, "I was there. See?"
http://www.pluginmusic.com/news/archive.php?id=4041
HEART TO ART PHOTOGRAPHY -- Photographs by the California artist are beautiful, but the cameras he uses to take them are... let`s just say impressive. After the initial delight with digital photography, more and more people go back to classic, analogue cameras. Searching for a meaning, some go way back to the past. One of them is Wayne Martin Belger, born in California, who did all sorts of things in life, to be called an artist in the end. It is an understatement to say Belger does photography. He has a studious approach to the subject of his work, gets to know the subject, and then after having a perception of how their photograph should look like, Belger starts searching for the materials from which he will create the camera. If we quote him saying "All to witness and be a tool of the horrors of creation and the beauty of decay presented by the author light and time", it may be easier to accept the fact that he not only reached for wood and metal in the search, but for human remains as well.
http://www.javno.com/en/bestseller/clanak.php?id=191690
“Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be.”
- Edward Weston
1861 - October 24 – The first transcontinental telegraph line began operation on this date, when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Johnson Field, in California, sent a message to President Abraham Lincoln, in Washington, D.C. It cost the general public $6 to send 10 words from San Francisco to New York, and 75 cents for each additional word. The telegraph line was so successful that it quickly put the Pony Express out of business.
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October 15th 2008
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Anticipate
&
Adjust
Advance Notes: Successful marketing in any field involves knowing when to zig and when to zag. Photographers who find themselves betwixt and between in the transition to the “digital age” can check out the following pointers.
The secret of business success: anticipation. You position yourself where instinct tells you the action of the play is going to be. Where’s the action heading in this “digital age” we find ourselves in? Where are you going to position yourself? Translation: Where should you invest your photo business time and money in the digital age?
1. KNOW THY BUYER. Once the under-30 art directors take over the photobuyer scene, look for on-line services to supply buyers with discount generic pictures. But look for photobuyers to opt for your rights-managed (RM) photos because RF (royalty-free) photos won’t be specific enough for their quality publishing projects.
2. CONTENT-SPECIFIC pictures will always sell for higher fees (rights-managed). Most RF (royalty-free) pictures will sell for pennies. Informational magazines and books will require unique documentary pictures (rights-managed--RM). Since there are fewer of these specialized-content pictures, they’ll sell for high fees (supply and demand). The massive numbers of “exquisite cliché” (RF) photos will fall in price, because, well, there are so many of them. And the number keeps growing.
3. SPECIALIZE. Attorneys do it. Doctors do it. Musicians do it. You do it. You are much more valuable to a photobuyer if you can match that photobuyer’s “theme” area with your stock files
4. ANTICIPATE. Ever notice that book stores seem to know the current trend in reading matter? Most of the time. It's because publishers, who plan their press runs far in advance, do heavy market research. You can use book stores to inspire your next (specialized) self-assignment. Watch the window displays or the new shelf departments. You'll be ahead of the game.
5. DIGITIZE. Learn the new innovations in digital photography. Borrow the equipment if you can't buy it. But remember, the best word processing program can't produce a good story without a good author. Film is not quite dead, but it’s alive only in rare specialist corners.
6. RF has always been around in the form of Clip-Art – but there was not a way to produce massive digital versions of it. Now there is. Naturally, this reduces fees. Don't fight it. Royalty Free doesn’t always mean $1 pictures. Some buyers like to have all rights (RF) to the photo and will pay a high fee for them.
7. CD and DVD are delivery methods. They might become outmoded. However, your images (the content) will easily transfer to the newest on-line delivery methods. Your investment in CDs and DVDs will not be lost.
8. COPYRIGHT. You can expect we will see some new copyright laws coming along. But few will be enforceable. Foreign copyright infringement is rampant. As the saying goes, "Build a bigger lock and someone will build a bigger hammer." Put your energy to making more pictures, not fighting infringement that you may find.
9. MARKETING. Your marketing methods remain unchanged: Figure out what you love photographing. Find the markets that need photos in those interest areas of yours. Meet their needs. Stay on top of all the new delivery methods, so that you can deliver what your buyers need when they need it and how they need it. –RE
Rohn Engh is the best-selling author of “Sell & ReSell Your Photos” and ? ??sellphotos.com.” He has produced a new ebook, “How to Market Your Photos.” For more information and to receive a free eReport: “8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer,” visit http://www.sellphotos.com
VACANT ANSWERS. Can Intervention Save the Stock Photography Industry from Microstock? - I see only two options for traditional stock photographers to stay profitable in the face of the changes to the industry. The first is to differentiate on quality and create images that microstockers can't reproduce. The other is to drastically lower production values in order to compete with Microstockers.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/can-intervention-save-the-stock-photography-industry-from-microstock.html
TAKEAWAY: If you substitute the word “dance”, “sculpting”, “painting”, or any of the creative arts for the word “microstock”, you can see how these disciplines have no relevance to the situation.
NO RESPECT? -- How Can You Make A List Of Influential People And Not Include Photographers? - http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/10/02/how-can-you-make
-a-list-of-influential-people-and-not-include-photographers/
TAKEAWAY: My vote goes to Rick Smolan –RE
IS THE DYING BREED, DEAD? Yes, says this guy. The end of the stocker - It is not really the photo industry that is in danger of extinction, but rather a weird and strange animal that appeared about 50 to 60 years ago out of pure greed.
http://blog.melchersystem.com/2008/10/11/the-end-of-the-stocker/
TAKEAWAY. “Finally, the photo world will be repopulated by photographers that really enjoy taking pictures, rather than analyzing spreadsheets.” –Amen!
WHO SAYS MAGS ARE OUT? -- Hearst Shuts CosmoGirl, Prepares To Launch Food Magazine - Despite a shaky economy and a dim outlook for print publications, Hearst is moving forward with the launch of Food Network Magazine. Hearst said this week that the magazine will debut with two test issues, the first one was on October 14. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/editorial/e3ie470eaeef1dd69b19041671a9adfc93a
THE EYES OF THE WORLD is a proposition that promotes the
notion that citizens with a camera are just as eligible to
bring us visual reality as journeymen in the journalistic trade.
Here at PhotoStockNOTES you can share your newsworthy
information that applies to stock photography.
We welcome your participation.
PPPP -- Photograph Your Polling Place - The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year's primaries, caucuses and general election. http://www.creativepro.com/article/photograph-your-polling-place
TAKEAWAY: Be sure to vote first, lest a person with a shiny badge taps you on the shoulder and halls you off for an i.d. check.
ROUNDUP -- Want to become a press photographer? Associated Press and National Press Photographer pictures show a scrapbook of the perils of covering rallies and political events. http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/09/arrests.html
ICONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY. -- Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Lisette Model and Henri Cartier-Bresson. They are widely accepted as artists with a capital A, too, included in innumerable museum collections and enshrined in histories of photography and art. But broad recognition for them wasn't some accident of history. They needed champions and Nancy Newhall was among those with the vision to recognize the greatness of these and other photographers. Fortunately, she also had the ability and credibility to champion them in writing and exhibitions.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20081012-9999-1a12images.html
TAKEAWAY: They spent a lifetime perfecting their art. We spend a half a lifetime learning how they did it. And then go on from there.
QUARTER of a CENTURY! The Image Works Celebrates 25 Years - As part of its ongoing growth, The Image Works has announced the addition of four new collections to its archive. http://www.stockphotographer.info/content/view/703/92/
DOUBLE DUTY -- For the first time, professional-grade single-lens reflex cameras are gaining the ability to record high-definition video. That capability, photographers say, has the potential to transform both still photography and moviemaking -- and it's largely thanks to advances in the semiconductor technology used to make the image sensors inside these cameras.
"I think this is the Holy Grail for news photography," says Randall Greenwell, the director of photography for the Virginian-Pilot, a newspaper in Virginia.
Greenwell says photojournalists are already shooting both stills and video, but using separate equipment for each medium, which is awkward, cumbersome and requires additional training. With a single camera that can do both stills and video, he says, the job of the new-media journalist will be greatly simplified.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/new-chips-poise.html
RAW. -- Adobe Systems has updated Photoshop's ability to deal with raw-format images from several of the latest SLR cameras with its new version 4.6 of the Camera Raw plug-in. Adobe's John Nack has the download links. Less than a month after beginning beta testing, the final version is out with support for Canon's newer entry-level EOS Rebel XS, its brand-new midrange EOS 50D, Nikon's freshly released midrange D90 and full-frame D700, Pentax's newest entry-level model, the K2000, and Sony's ambitious 24-megapixel full-frame Alpha A900.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10063396-39.html?tag=mncol
ORGANIZE -- Photobucket has introduced two new features: a way to skin albums and an overhauled organizational tool that lets users drag and drop photos into various folders.
Of the two, the organizer is the biggest enhancement. Users are taken to a dark gray editing environment that lets them make changes without the entire page having to refresh. Everything is drag and drop, which is useful for ferrying photos and videos between albums, and reordering album arrangement. There's also support for batch operations, so you can quickly move, reorder, and rename multiple photos at once.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10062316-2.html?tag=mncol
PROMO at ADOBE -- Adobe offers Elements with Photoshop.com promo. Adobe Systems has begun shipping its enthusiast-oriented Photoshop Elements 7 image-editing software and Premiere Elements 7 video-editing software--and is offering a promotion to try to lure users to its online Photoshop.com site as well. The Elements software costs $99.99 each or $149.99 as a bundle. New with this version, Adobe also is offering a $179.99 price that includes a one-year Photoshop.com Plus membership. Ordinarily, a Photoshop.com Plus subscription costs $49.99 a year, so you're basically getting a $20 price break, at least until the time comes to renew for another year.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10058738-39.html?tag=mncol
TINY TOUCHES -- Miniature World Photography - Tilt Shift Makes Fantasy Videos from Real Life (VIDEO)
These images only look like they are of miniature models-these photographs are actually of real life places. They are created with a technique called tilt-shift, a really cool effect for still photography. It is a method of changing the lens of a camera to give it a very limited depth of field.
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/tilt-shift-makes-fantasy-videos-from-real-life
FINDING PHOTOS – This Penn State University study is using computer science to keyword photos so that researchers will locate them on the Net.
http://live.psu.edu/story/35158 . Contributor: Frank Nowikowski
TAKEAWAY. Professor Wang is on the right trail. Identifying photos by keywords is much easier on the eyes than searching for photos by visual means.
GET-A-GRANT -- Getty Images Editorial Grants Program Call for Entries - Both professional and student photojournalists have until November 15, 2008, to propose new projects for the next Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography to be announced in February, 2009.
http://www.creativepro.com/article/getty-images-editorial-grants-program-call-entries
CAPTURING SPIRIT. -- What celebrity photographs tell us about the famous, the photographers, and us. If you aspired to become photographer to the stars today, you'd be unlikely to follow the lead of Yousuf Karsh. Karsh, as the Museum of Fine Arts exhibit "Karsh 100: a Biography in Images" makes plain, is a dinosaur. Many of the legendary portrait photographer's images are wonderful. But there's no mistaking the fact that they belong to a distant era. So what has changed? Is it celebrity? Is it photography? Or is it us? Discussing the art of portrait photography in "The Mind's Eye," a book of his selected writings, the great Henri-Cartier Bresson talked about grasping "the interior silence of a willing victim." "It's very difficult," he wrote. "You must somehow position the camera between his shirt and his skin."
http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2008/10/12/talking_heads/
BURNING DESIRE Photo fanatic Brad Pitt. “Burn After Reading” star, Brad Pitt, is obsessed with photography and always strives to improve
the quality of his work, according to his partner Angelina Jolie.
http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=91423&fm=newsmain,narts
GET YOUR TICKETS -- A Big October for New York Photo Events - Fall Photo Week kicks off Monday October 20 with the Lucie Awards and continues with the annual PhotoPlus Conference and Expo from October 23 to 25. That will be followed by the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) International Conference and
picturehouse trade show. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/pdn-online/e3i69c4daba6cf2b7e5db597bfe0a6f82dc
FAST LANE -- Awesome High-Speed Photography. WebUrbanist has cool exhibit of photos and accompanying essays. Check it out at:
http://gawker.com/5062224/awesome-high+speed-photography
“In photography, the smallest thing can become a big subject, an insignificant human detail can become a leitmotiv. We see and we make seen as a witness to the world around us; the event, in its natural activity, generates an organic rhythm of forms.” - Henri Cartier Bresson
1927 – December 12th – One of the inventors of the microchip, Robert N. Noyce, was born, in Iowa.
CELEBRITY SNAPPER. -- William Claxton, Photographer, Is Dead at 80. Claxton, a photographer of the famous who used his charm to lure jazz musicians from their dark, smoky natural habitat to pose on sunny beaches and carousels, then made stunningly intimate images of legendary loners like Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra. Claxton's photographs shed light on entertainment world. Anyone who doubts the power of black-and-white photography must not have seen the work of William Claxton.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2008/10/13/2008-10-13_william_claxtons_photographs_shed_light_.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/arts/design/14claxton.html?em
today’s technology lets you sell your photos…
All Around The Globe
Advance Notes: You can make sales anywhere in the world, when you attract lots of visitors to your website. Buyers now are finding the photos they need using keyword searches, so get more traffic to your site by identifying each of your images with descriptive keywords.
The Internet is proving to be today’s image-delivery system. It is important for photographers everywhere to understand that their own influence, as photographers, and their capabilities to compete in the marketplace, are growing worldwide, as the Internet grows, whether they live in a high mountaintop cabin in Wyoming or a high-rise in Hong Kong.
More and more photobuyers are realizing the benefits the Internet affords them for photo research. More and more computer-literate photo editors come aboard the Net and utilize its search and photo-finding capabilities, and photographers who capitalize on this are flourishing.
The automobile, airplane, and the telephone launched huge leaps in communication among peoples of the world, and so do the capabilities of the amazing Internet delivery system. But the Internet goes even farther. It affords independent photographers the delivery power that was once the domain only of the large stock photo agencies.
As a photographer, now that your images can be both pre-viewed and transmitted electronically, you can open the curtain on a brand new horizon of opportunity for yourself.
The top dog major stock agencies are no longer, well, top dogs. In the past, creative persons, whether songwriters, musicians, photographers, filmmakers, etc., had no way of competing against the middleman agents and the large conglomerates. It was near impossible to break into the ranks and get the attention of the buyers directly.
The World Wide Web has changed all of this. For example, if a major publisher is producing a book, CD, magazine article, Web review, TV special, on agricultural advances in growing cucumbers in Venezuela, there would be no reason to turn to a large digital stock agency to seek the needed images. Using web search engine efficiency, a buyer can, in minutes, locate photos from independent freelancers, and save money by eliminating the middleman.
Also important, images from a corporate stock agency are usually 'generic' in commercial style (smiling, contented farm workers – usually models – shiny new equipment, set-up landscapes, etc.). This type of photo isn’t the primary choice of most editorial buyers at magazine and book publishers, who prefer real-life, on-the-scene images.
Furthermore, many agency images are at least 6 to 12 months old. (It takes that long for the corporate bureaucracy at most major stock photo agencies to acquire, edit, catalog, and process selections of images.)
The individual stock photographer not only has more recent photos, but can in many cases, within hours, produce the needed photo and deliver it to the buyer, in high resolution, from anywhere in the world, to anywhere in the world.
Because independent photographers are able to label their images, using key words, and with the power of search engines such as Google to offer delivery speed to buyers, photobuyers are realizing it's to their advantage to deal directly with independent stock photographers.
If you have a website, you can now increase your visitor rate by listing your images, labe ling each of them with several identifying keywords. “Web crawlers” from major search engines will then come in and capture these for their database information, that buyers tap into.
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of “Sell & ReSell Your Photos” and “sellphotos.com,” has helped scores of photographers launch their careers.
For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: “8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer,” visit http://www.sellphotos.com
Learning how photobuyers THINK can make for better sales. To listen to two recent interviews Rohn has made with photobuyers about dealing with photobuyers: http://www.photosource.com/interview
Let Google Spark
Your Imagination
At the heart of editorial photography is illustration. You illustrate a mood, a place, a city, a flower or whatever it might be, to complement a magazine article, book chapter, brochure, etc. To successfully illustrate, you need to know as much as you can about your subject. As you know, this is a powerful confirmation of the advantages of specializing, and you've no doubt experienced that it's a lifelong process to continually add to your knowledge in your special interest areas.
But sometimes knowing a lot about a topic or area isn't quite enough. Sometimes your imagination, not only your knowledge, can be your most useful tool.
Inspiration From The Web
These days, there is help available to get those creative juices flowing, swiftly and cheaply, and it’s right at your fingertips. Search engines are fast becoming the photographer’s most powerful idea tool.
If you find that you are running low on new creative ideas, browsing the work of others might be just the thing you need. In the past this would require a trip to the library and countless hours flipping through books and magazines.
Not so any more.
These days, all you need to do to browse the work of hundreds, if not thousands, of photographers, is to fire up your computer, get online and let a search engine such as Google work it's magic.
Go to www.google.com and select the “Images Tab”. Then key in whatever special area/topic you photograph. Click “Search” and you'll soon see what I mean. You will encounter a huge number of images from photographers in all corners of the earth.
Find inspiration
“Is this legal?” you ask.
Finding inspiration from the work of others is not illegal or morally wrong. (Unless you downright copy what you see, of course.) To browse the work of other photographers, painters, peers, to find inspiration, is not only perfectly O.K., it's also a great way to get your creativity kicked into high gear.
Study what others have produced. Think about how you would improve their concept or their images. Observe the symbols that were used. Try to understand the concepts that were incorporated in the production of the various images. This whole process can help you come up with new fresh ideas for your own photos.
Just around the corner
While in the past it was common to say that inspiration was lurking just around the corner, these days it might be more fitting to say that inspiration is waiting for you just within your next Web-search.
----
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 18 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike[at]photosource[dot]com.
Want To Invite Google to Index Your Web Page?
Popular search engines, such as Google, add and update new sites to their index each time they “crawl” the web. For example, Google invites you to submit your Web page’s URL. They don’t add all submitted URLs to their index, and they cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when your website would be indexed. But it’s worth giving it a try. To add your website to Google: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl.
Want to add your URL to other search engines for free? Go to: http://www.submitexpress.com/submit.h tml.
Also (for free) submit your site to the Open Directory: http://dmoz.org/add.html.
Note: Here at PhotoSource we have added the PhotoSourceBANK to all of the major search engines. Depending which search engine is your favorite, if you are a PhotoSourceBANK member, type in a keyword or key phrase in the search bar of your favorite search engine, a space, then the word Photosource.
If your page reference does not come up, try another search engine. There are many besides Google: Alta Vista, Ask Jeeves, MSN, Yahoo! etc. RE
NEW PICS NASA's Mercury spacecraft on course near Mercury today.
The highest priority images and data should begin arriving at APL at 1:49 a.m. Tuesday. But already the pictures used for navigation during the final approach have captured surface
features that have never been seen before.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-mercury1006,0,2393793.story?track=rss
EXPOSURE TIPS -- Getting Good Exposures: 10 Dos and Don'ts - Here are 10 things you can do to get better exposures with virtually any digital camera. http://rising.blackstar.com/getting-good-exposures-10-dos-and-donts.html
SHARE THEM EASILY -- We've all experienced it. You've taken a bunch of photos or a home video at a family gathering and now you're trying to figure out how to share your work with everyone in your family. It's possible to use online photo sites like Flickr, Shutterfly, or Photobucket, but what if you had a localized program that could share photos and videos immediately? Not all your relatives are as computer savvy as you, so you want a program that works quickly and with the fewest steps. You want a program that anyone in your family will be able to figure out.
If you've ever run into difficulties trying to find the solution to this problem before, you'll be glad to know we have the perfect program for the job. Memeo Share only takes a few steps to set up and makes it possible to share photos and videos with anyone you want.
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10054898-12.html?tag=mncol
More...
Editorial stock photographers can get by with only a small investment in camera equipment. Unlike the commercial/assignment service photographer who must be "versatile", the editorial stock photographer can get by easily with a professional digital camera and three lenses. If your excess equipment is gathering dust, sell it. Your stock in trade are your pictures, not your equipment.
NO MORE STATIC TRAVEL SHOTS? -- iTravelstock Launches - The iTravelstock collection addresses a growing trend of requests for "active travel" imagery, focusing on the features and characteristics of a location, but also including enthusiast activities that make the location a destination.http://www.creativepro.com/article/itravelstock-launches
SHOW ME THE $ $ -- Index Stock: A Colossal Mess in Need of an Arbitrator? - In a report issued September 30, Stock Artists Alliance has accused the Australian stock house Photolibrary of more foot-dragging in its efforts to settle royalty accounts with Index Stock contributors. http://www.pdnpulse.com/2008/10/index-stock-a-c.html
GETTING FEEDBACK ON YOUR PHOTOS -- A twisted tale of twin idolatry - It is now possible for photographers to finally see the reaction, if any to their images. And that should change the way photography is being used around the world. Few take advantage of this viral quality of photography and instead continue to edit based on a silent readership. The content continues to dominate rather than the image itself. http://blog.melchersystem.com/2008/09/30/a-twisted-tale-of-twin-idolatry/
TAKEAWAY. If it were only so (for the photographer who wants to sell). Be mindful if you want to sell in this stock photo industry, the old adage: “If you sell to the masses, you will live where the classes live; if you sell to the classes, you will live where the masses live….” The trick is to sell the photos you love to produce and hope they appeal to the masses..
VOICE YOUR OPINION -- Stock Artists Alliance Issues Orphan Works Alert - U.S. Senate has passed the Orphan Works legislation. If you don't approve, tell your congressional representatives now. http://www.creativepro.com/article/stock-artists-alliance-issues-orphan-works-alert
FINDERS KEEPERS-- Bert Stern Sues For Return of Marilyn Monroe Images - Photographer Bert Stern has filed a lawsuit seeking the return of images he shot of Marilyn Monroe in 1962. The attorney for the men being sued says the images were pulled out of the garbage in the 1970s and Stern's claims are without merit. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/legal-news/e3if7d131631929bba948fa5d4ebcc55a6a
Re-publication Permits
Privacy Suit to Proceed
Although the language of each state statute may vary, the use of a
person’s name, portrait or picture in a photograph cannot be used for
advertising, commercial or trade purposes, without the person’s written
consent.
This is called the Right to Privacy. The time to bring a lawsuit for
invasion of the Right to Privacy is one year from the first publication
in New York and most other states, but is subject to what is called the
single publication rule. Under this rule, the statute of limitations
begins to run on the date the material at issue is first published or
used. Accordingly, subsequent distributions or uses of the images does
not constitute a separate publication or continuing wrong which would
extend to the date the initial claim accrued.
The purpose of this rule is to avoid an endless tolling of the
limitations statute. For example, a distribution of a work to a library
would be the initial date for statute of limitations purposes, and that
initial date would not be extended each time the library loaned the work
out.
there is a republication, which happens when there is a separate
publication which is not merely a delayed circulation of the original
edition. The justification for this exception is that the subsequent
publication is extended to and actually reaches a new audience. Thus,
where the republication is in format intended to reach a new audience,
the statute of limitations will start over for purposes of the new
publication only.
A recent decision in New York Supreme Court dealt with this issue and
illustrates how this principal works n the marketplace.
The case concerned use of a photograph of the plaintiff playing football
in 1999. A copy of the photograph was first installed in defendant’s
sports clubs shortly thereafter and remains in such use today.
At some time later on, the image appeared on defendant’website.
Plaintiff then brought his lawsuit for invasion of privacy based upon the
subsequent website use. The defendant moved to dismiss the case on the
grounds that the one year statute of limitations had already expired.
The plaintiff conceded that his claim is time barred with respect to the
installation of the photo at defendant’club. However, he argued
that the website use was a republication and the court agreed.
The Court reasoned that the audience at defendant’club is
presumably intended primarily for the entertainment of the limited number
of existing members. On the other hand, the website use is presumably
directed at a far wider audience primarily comprised of non-members whom
the defendant is seeking to attract as new members.
Accordingly, unless the defendant could establish during the litigation
that the website use also dated back more than one year from the filing
of the complaint, it will be held responsible for invading the privacy of
plaintiff on the republication uses.
Attorney Joel L. Hecker lectures and writes extensively on issues of concern to the photography industry. His office is located at Russo & Burke, 600 Third Ave, New York NY 10016. Phone: 1 212 557-9600. E-mail: HeckerEsq[at]aol[dot]com.
WHAT YOU SEE -- Thinking in Images: Nine Tips for Communicating Visually - Visual forms of communication grab the attention of today's audiences. Graphic representations such as diagrams, charts, tables, illustrations and photographs not only catch the eye; they draw the viewer into the information being presented
http://rising.blackstar.com/thinking-in-images-nine-tips-for-communicating-visually-2.html
PEEKING FROM ABOVE -- Taxed from above – these counties use aerial photography to spy on homeowners. Aerial and satellite photography regularly helps our troops fight on the battlefield, but the same technology is now being used by cash-strapped counties to assess taxes. In Cape May County, New Jersey, county tax assessors are using photos to look for illegal additions to properties and to fine farmers for not farming enough. The county says the photos are a fantastic tool, but some people say the government has no business peeking into our backyards.
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39520/113/
BETTER VIDEOS COMING Canon, Nikon video-shooting SLR cameras ready for action
Two new SLRs can now shoot high-definition video, taking advantage of
the superior lenses (much better than video cameras,
way better than point-and-shoots) available for SLRs.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-10-01-slr-video_N.htm?csp=34
SMALL PACKAGE -- The Web-based tool, called Smush It, can perform multiple operations to shrink graphics file sizes without impairing visual appeal, Chris Heilmann of the Yahoo Developer Network said in a blog post after tool creators Nicole Sullivan and Stoyan Stefanov announced the tool at this week's Ajax Experience conference. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10057453-2.html?tag=mncol
PICASA EXPANDS Google has brought to Linux the beta version of its new Picasa 3 software for image editing, cataloging, and uploading. The new release catches the open-source operating system up with Windows, which got the Picasa 3 beta one month earlier. There's still no word about a Mac OS X version, although Mike Horowitz, Google's Picasa product manager, told me earlier that "Macs are important to us...We're always looking for new ways of making sure our users are happy, so it's something we're looking at."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10057452-39.html?tag=mncol
MORE SHRINKING -- Because these days pocket-size isn't small enough, ATP has redesigned its GPS Photo Finder into a key-chain-size receiver that you take shooting with you and a still-quite-small dock that sits at home and awaits a plug-in from the receiver and your flash-carded photos. Appropriately dubbed the GPS Photo Finder Mini, the system matches the history of location coordinates in the receiver with the timestamps on your photos to provide the geotags.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10054367-1.html?tag=mncol
Demographers tell us
If you have moved recently, it’s important to personally let your buyers and clients know your new address. Don’t rely on the U.S. Postal Service to do the job for you.
In our day and age, technology offers ways we can make sure to stay on top for our buyers, even during the transition of a move. Your email address and 800# can remain the same, independent of any changes in your mailing address. You won’t lose touch with your photobuyers if you have one or the other or both.
A while back, I experienced another way that photobuyers can find photographers.
Nancy Ritz, Photo coordinator at Prentice Hall, the book publishing company, wrote to me a while back, saying she was returning one of my photos (an original B&W 8X10) that her company had used in one of their textbooks. She pointed out that they’ve filed a digitized copy of the photo, and the number stamped on the back of the print is the database designation from the Corporate Digital Archive (CDA) of their parent company, Simon & Schuster. She said in her letter, “You are listed as the photographer.” In 2006, Simon & Schuster became a part of the CBS Corporation. Now my photo is indexed in the vaults of CBS,
It’s nice to know computers, databases, and mergers of large publishing houses can have a beneficial reward for independent photographers. My digitized photo will probably remain in their CDA a long time.
And it’s nice to know that photo, taken in 1978 (thirty years ago), is in an archive that might one day benefit not only me but also my grandchildren, and possibly their grandchildren. –RE
NUTTY PHOTOGRAPHY Microstock Celebrity - Kelly Cline - Kelly is a 'big time' microstocker. Her reputation as a 'food nut' is justified. She lives food, and thanks to great photographic skill, she makes her living taking photos of it. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/kelly-cline.html#comment-19185
WHERE THE FUNDS WENT -- And Nachtwey's TED Prize Project Is... - After days of mystery, today the photo project that James Nachtwey produced with funding from the $100,000 TED Prize was revealed on the TED site and elsewhere. What's the "shocking and underreported global crisis" that Nachtwey's been working on? Extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). http://www.pdnpulse.com/2008/10/and-nachtweys-t.html
AMATEUR REPORTERS -- Seth Shimkonis wants to help the orphans of Peru tell their own own story. In November, the 2000 South Western High School graduate will travel to Arequipa, Peru, for six months to teach the children of New Hope Children's Home the art of photography.
Eventually Shimkonis hopes to develop a program similar to Kids with Cameras. That program was created from the documentary film "Born into Brothels," which follows children who live in the red-light district of Calcutta. The children were given cameras to document their lives and surroundings, and the photos were then sold, with proceeds going toward the children's education.
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_10590573
“Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion…the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate.” - Dorothea Lange
1821 - October 17th - Photographer Alexander Gardner, who documented the Civil War and later the American West, was born in Paisley, Scotland.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY To Us! This month of October marks the start of our 33rd year as publishers of market information for photographers and photobuyers.
In 1976 we established the PhotoLetter marketletter. In 1983 we pioneered going on-line with email delivery of the PhotoLetter (using NewsNet) to better serve our subscribers. In 1984 and 1985 we launched the PhotoMarket and PhotoDaily marketletters; in 1988 we began fax delivery; in 1993 we created the PhotoStockNotes monthly informational newsletter.
Twelve years ago we established our website (www.photosource.com), now the most extensive and comprehensive site on the Internet for stock photographers, receiving more hits per day (average 45,000) than all other stock photo sites COMBINED.
In 1998 we established computer to computer (C2C) delivery of our marketletters, plus instituted the PhotoSourceBANK and PhotoSourceFOLIO, which provide photographers with their own web pages as a valuable marketing channel.
In 2000 we launched the email-delivered PhotoStockNOTES/PLUS newsletter for photographers, and PhotoResearcher Newsletter for photobuyers. In 2000, also, we developed PhotoSourceBOOK, an annual photographer directory for photobuyers.
Today we reach photographer-subscribers and photobuyers all across the country and around the globe. Here's to more great things to come. -RE
- - - - - - - - - -
October 1st 2008- - - - - - - - - - -
Vive L’Independence!
You Are A Consultant
It’ll be a long while before microstock or the BIG BOYS (Getty, Corbis, Alamy, Jupiter) will ever surpass the community of photographers known as independent stock photographers when it comes to selling photos.
Why? Let’s take a look at what’s happening.
The scenes: A large publishing house in New York; and a small photo research office in Omaha. A researcher in each location is handed an assignment on Monday morning.
The assignment reads like this: “Rail cars from either the Boston Green Line or Dallas Dart mass transit systems.”
Presumably, neither photo researcher is from Boston or Dallas. He or she goes to a portal or popular stock agency to search for the above photos.
Found it! Case closed!
No it isn’t – unknownst to the researchers, that style of rail cars was replaced by a new design this past summer.
Is it the researcher’s fault that an inaccurate photo got published on page 203 of the publisher’s textbook? Maybe during the last decade in the publishing industry, such a mistake would have been excusable –but not today – not in the digital world of “search.”
Rather than looking through tons of rail pictures, the photo researcher would have been better off – speed-wise – and accuracy-wise – by announcing his/her photo need on a daily search service like the PhotoDaily.
The photographers who respond will probably live in the city or its vicinity, and have more accurate knowledge about the subject.
Example of another photo need: “The small town of Imperial Valley, California, -any local highlights, street scenes, museums, tourist attractions, etc.”
Same problem exists. A lovely photo of this location is no doubt, on a portal, available for a low fee, and downloadable.
The problem: Since the photo on the microstock site was taken two years ago, the local church has burned down, and two new gift shops and a new City Hall have been built.
This would be embarrassing to the publisher.
A local photographer, familiar with the area, would have been able to warn the photo researcher as well as to suggest other shots.
Here’s one: “Need active bow hunting for wild turkeys.”
On the portals you’ll find many. But are they accurate and faithful to appropriate equipment and technique? Finding a photographer first who can advise with knowledgeable comments on hunting turkeys, is safer than guessing that the hunting picture to appear on a poster is authentic.
Things that can go wrong: the bow hunting equipment is illegal, the clothing worn by the hunter(s) is inappropriate, the age of the hunters is below the legal law in that particular state, the actual bow is out of style.
The average photo researcher would not recognize these factors. Contacting a photographer directly is a safer method of obtaining photos than ‘hoping and guessing’ using a portal or stock photo agency. And thanks to today’s technology, contacting a photographer is just as swift – or swifter – as searching all that time on a portal.
If you stick with a particular specialty in your stock photography, you are going to learn more about your subject. As an expert in that field, you are an important resource the photobuyer. .. whether they reside in NYC or Omaha, or Tokyo.
Photo researchers only have to be burned once, before they start turning to independent stock photographers to supply accurate images for their assignment.
Take advantage of your knowledge. Specialize to survive in today’s microstock world. Publishers are willing to pay for the confidence they can have in the content of your pictures and the additional consulting service you can provide.
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of "Sell & ReSell Your Photos" and "sellphotos.com," has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and learn how to sell pictures, and to receive this free report: "8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer," visit his website, PhotoSource International or call 800 624-0266.
Submitting to An
On-Line Gallery
If you intend to place images with your favorite on-line gallery, below are some guidelines that are important for stock photographers, to make sure your photos can be accepted and used by buyers.
(Note: These guidelines might appear to be stringent. There's a reason.
When photobuyers direct download a picture from the Internet, they require it to be "camera-ready," that is, no fuss, no bother, ready for publication. They soon cross you off the list if your images aren't in the correct format or don't exhibit the technical quality required.)
Digital Cameras
Pictures produced by point-and-shoot digital cameras are not acceptable.
Cameras need to have a minimum of 6 megapixels. If you are considering a particular camera and want to know if it is acceptable before you buy, you are welcome to contact me, Mike Karlsson, at mike[at]photosource[dot]com. The cameras listed below are acceptable.
Canon
40D
50D
5D Mark I and II
1D Mark II and III,
1Ds Mark I, II and III
Fuji
Fuji Finepix S5 Pro
Hasselblad
Any modern Hasselblad digital camera
Mamiya
Any modern Mamiya digital camera
Nikon
D60
D80
D200
D300
D700
D2X
D3
Digital backs for medium and large format cameras
Generally speaking - any modern fairly recently released – digital back will do very nicely indeed.
Scanners
Flatbed scanners are not acceptable unless you are scanning large negatives/slides. When selecting a film scanner, pick one with at least
2,800 dpi and always scan at the highest available resolution. We currently recommend the following scanners:
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 II
Nikon Coolscan V ED
Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED
Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED
Drum scanners are also acceptable. I strongly recommend that you look for a scanner with ICE or similar dust/scratch removal tools.
Image Editing Software
Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4 is king of the image editing software and is norm in the industry. The latest version at this writing, CS4, comes with a powerful RAW converter, all the tools you need to clean dust and dirt from your photos, and much more. It is the most complete of the image editing softwares available.
An alternative to the full Photoshop CS2 is Photoshop Elements. The latest version of Elements at this writing is version 7. Photoshop Elements is a "light" version of the full Photoshop, and the price reflects this.
Photoshop CS4 currently retails for $699.95, while Elements 7 can be found for $74.99.
If you want to keyword and caption your images and send high-resolution files directly to photobuyers, I highly recommend the full Photoshop CS4. If you envision yourself doing only light editing and only rarely will send high res images to photobuyers, you should be fine with Elements 7.
If the only editing of images you are doing is to submit images to
PhotoSourceGROUP, there is a free alternative called GIMP. Find it at
www.gimp.org
Cataloguing Software
Once your collection of digital images grows to over a few hundred, you'll start to appreciate having them all well organized from the beginning. I personally use Adobe Lightroom and Photo Mechanic (from Camerabits), and can recommend that warmly.
This list will be updated continuously. If y ou have a product you would like to recommend for inclusion on this list, please contact Mike Karlsson by email at mike[at]photosource[dot]com
* PhotoSourceGROUP handles all the administration of sales - you pay nothing to display your images and you receive 75% of each sale. Go to http://www.photosourcegroup.com to sign up.
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 18 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike[at]photosource[dot]com.
TRAVELERS
Photographers: We broadcast your foreign destinations along with contact information, departure date, length of stay, etc. Contact PhotoStockNotes (1 715 248-3800) at least two months in advance.
Photobuyers: Watch this column. For the e-mail address, phone or fax number of the traveling photographer, call the PhotoSource International office and ask for Rohn Engh (1 800 624-0266). For an expansion of this list: www.photosource.com and press the Travelers Abroad button, to learn of past international destinations of our photographers.
Joe Becker
June 24 – July 8, 2008
Scotland, London, Paris
Paul Sivley
Aug 30 – Sept 16, 2008
Namibia Africa
Fred and Carrie Schilling
Sept 8 – Sept 20, 2008
Croatia
Sally Weigand
August 31 – Sept 23, 2008
Eastern Europe
Terri Petri
Oct 17- Nov 2 2008
Johannesburg, Kruger Park, South Africa
Reggie Millette
Sep 16 - Oct 14, 2008
Britanny, France
Steven Lunetta
September 26 – October 6
Italy
Austin Cortez
Oct 22 – Oct 27, 2008
Brazil (Amazon)
Frederick Randall
Nov 2008 – May 2009
Caribbean, BWI
Lisa Kirchner
Oct 1st - Oct 15th
Paris
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Travelwriter Marketletter
Travelwriter Marketletter… for writers and photojournalists.
Travelwriter Marketletter is a monthly publication available online
( http://www.travelwriterml.com ) and in hard copy format. Travelwriter Marketletter is in its 29th year.
If you’re a travel writer or photographer, TWM tells you about new markets, pay scales, editors, specs and trips. Contact Mimi Backhausen Phone: 703-879-6814 Fax: 208-988-7672
If you’re in travel PR, TWM tells you which publications are likely targets.
If you’re a travel editor, TWM tells you about trips, and about your competitors.
If you’re a photo researcher TWM will direct you to travel photographers.
Request a sample copy of TWML: 703 879-6814.
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LEARNING CENTER. Adobe Announces Photoshop CS4 and NAPP Launches "The Photoshop CS4 Online Learning Center" - http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/2019
What Corbis and Getty don’t tell you. . .
Now You Know the Reason
Photobuyers Are Not Finding You
Thanks to Google and the other amazing search engines available to us now, you have been elevated to being an important resource for photobuyers worldwide.
WHAT? –you are asking.
In the recent past, many stock photographers felt intimidated and outplayed by the strength of stock photo powerhouses such as Bill Gates’ Corbis and Mark Getty’s Getty Images. Some photographers even gave up and went out of business. Little did these photographers know that they were sitting on a gold mine of images that can surpass the power of any of the large photo agencies.
I’m going to show you that you can compete with the large agencies.
In the last century, photographers believed that the way they had to sell their photos was to exhibit them. It was only natural that when the Internet came along, photographers rushed to display their pictures on their website or someone else’s website. This system works, but ever so slowly. Reason? Photobuyers who have a need for a specific photo don’t enjoy the strain on their eyeballs, to look at hundreds of images before they find the their specific needs.
Search engines have changed all this in the past couple of years. Rather than search for an image, photobuyers have now learned to search for the “source” of an image.
Let me illustrate. Let’s imagine you are an editor researching a story on the one-armed major league baseball pitcher, Jim Abbott. You might go to amazon.com to find books about him, and then contact the author of the book to ask who supplied the pictures.
But why not save oodles of time by going to the photographer immediately? Here’s how.
In the Google search bar, type in:
baseball pitcher Jim Abbott then a space and then type photosource
(spell everything correctly).
Click. Up comes a page of text with descriptions of photos. Your search will be highlighted in red. Accompanying this is a photographer's name & how to contact him/her. You get in touch with the photographer who places several images on a LightBox and e-mails them to you. Choose what you need, negotiate, and you’re in business.
Try this. You are a photo researcher and your client is doing a story on Socrates and needs a picture of poison hemlock (conium maculatum). Use the same method.
Here’s another example. An automotive book publisher is in need of a picture of a 1947 Labatt’s truck. Again, type this in, then a space, then the word photosource.
Will Corbis or Getty Images come up if you do the same thing, only replace the word photosource with either of their names? No. They can’t supply the picture.*
If you have not been putting extensive keywords (photo descriptions) to the photos on your website, begin today. Or you can join a service like our PhotoSourceBANK, and have your own web pages to list your photo descriptions. You are allowed 3,000 words or phrases. The major search engines all distribute ‘web crawlers’ to the trillions of websites on the Internet, to locate desired subjects. Yours will be included. You, in effect, will be a monopoly of one with your stock photo specialization.
Now you know why you've not been getting visitors to your website.
You can gain a marketing advantage if you put your keywords in your own web page in the PhotoSourceBANK, where hundreds of photobuyers search daily to find the source for their specific photo n eeds. Even though you think your photos might be obscure, you never know when you are going to get an inquiry from Hong Kong or Paris, Nashville or Toledo. The cost is only $4.95 per month to be a member of PhotoSourceBANK. Check out www.photosource.com/bank.
Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA. E-mail: info[at]photosource[dot]com . Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site: www.photosource.com .
*Why don’t Getty and Corbis supply such photos? Well, for most part, very specific content photos aren’t volume money-makers. For a big agency, and in addition, the major agencies work primarily with a different audience. They prefer to concentrate on the ad agencies and corporate markets. Your audience is the book and magazine market.
BUCKLE THE BELT Six Tips to Help Your Photography Business Survive in a Struggling Economy - With the financial markets and economy in turmoil, small businesses --
including photography businesses -- may be facing a rocky road ahead. Here's some advice for keeping your business in the black. http://rising.blackstar.com/six-tips-to-help-your-photography-b: usiness-survive-in-a-struggling-ec.html
TAKEAWAY: Be a winner. Here’s some good advice.
THAT FICKLED GOOGLE Search Engines And Your Website - your most important marketing tool is your website. That's a given. You probably submitted it to the search engines so you either are "found" for your search terms, or you're not. Then all of a sudden, you disappear., what happens?
http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/09/search-engines-and-your-website.html
TAKEAWAY: Getting on Page 1 of a Google search is possible but it’s also impossible. Learn here how elusive the experience can be.
2008 PICTURE PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR. ASPP has announced that Jerry Tavin as its Picture Professional of the Year. Jerry follows in the footsteps of previous award winners: Jane Kinne, Larry Levin, Anita Duncan, Niki Barrie, and Nancy Wolff, who all fulfilled the following criteria: being a current ASPP member who has demonstrated one or more of the following qualities --- significant contributions to photography, a single outstanding achievement and long-time service to the association or its members. More info about ASPP: Cathy Saks, http://www.aspp.com/.
BIG COLLECTION OF IMAGES New Site Offers Access to Millions of Iconic Photographs From Getty Images' and LIFE's Combined Photo Collections.
Time Inc. and Getty Images will jointly launch LIFE.com, the companies announced at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX Conference in New York City. LIFE.com will be jointly owned and operated by Time Inc. and Getty Images, and will provide access to the most comprehensive iconic and professional photography collections available anywhere online. Andy Blau, president of LIFE and SVP of Time Inc. Interactive, and Catherine Gluckstein, vice president of iStockphoto and Consumer Markets at Getty Images, will serve as CEO and CFO, respectively.
"LIFE.com brings together the two most-recognized brands in photography, making the defining images of our times even more accessible to people everywhere," said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. "We are thrilled to partner with Time Inc. on the launch of this exciting new venture."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/time-inc-getty-images-jointly/story.aspx?guid={1838B7CE-E567-45B4-BF9E-8C9BDA66B750}&dist=hppr
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GOODBYE MY FRIEND Nice, bright colors may soon be a memory - "It's a low-volume product; all volumes [of color film] are down," says spokesman Chris Veronda. For decades, Kodachrome was the standard choice for professional color photography and avant-garde filmmaking now die-hard fan Alex Webb is convinced the digital age soon will take his Kodachrome away.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/nation/29203989.html
JUST LIKE THAT Under Cover Of Night, During Financial Crisis, Senate Passes Orphan Works Act. "It's extremely tragic to see this legislation passed in such a manner, while the nation is at such an important economic precipice," National Press Photographers Association president Bob Carey said this morning when he learned the news. More than 70 organizations, including The National Press Photographers Association and the Imagery Alliance, and 100,000 visual artists have opposed the bill.
Note: It still has to get by the House.
An "orphan work" is a photograph or illustration that is protected by copyright but whose copyright owner cannot be identified or located. The purpose of the Orphan Works Act of 2008 is to unlock copyrighted works whose copyright owners are unknown or unable to be found, works that are said to be "orphaned.".
TAKEAWAY. The way Washington works. Are we surprised?
http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/09/orphan01.html
PHOTOS SHOW INFRACTIONS Local schools may soon view digital photos posted online as evidence of violation of student athletic codes of conduct. Certain photos online could mean trouble for school athletes. Since the explosion in popularity of Internet social networking Web sites, such as MySpace.com and Facebook.com, some students have posted photos of themselves or other students breaking the law and/or school rules, prompting the school districts in the Glove Cities to take action.
"The gist of it is we would consider using [those digital photos] posted on MySpace as well as someone seeing them or reporting them [to initiate disciplinary action]," Semione said.
http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/sep/27/0927_athletescode/
PHOTO SAFE II (PST-251). Photo Safe II from Digital Foci, lets you travel light and still quickly and securely save your digital photos where ever you go. No need to carry a laptop to download your photos for safe-keeping. Frees you from worry about losing important pictures or running out of memory card space while on the road. Provides portable on-the-road digital photo storage with 80GB and 160GB hard drives and built-in memory card readers. Photo Safe II copies the entire content of your memory card with a one-touch Auto Copy button. It works with all popular card formats, and is compatible with PC and Mac computers. For more information, see www.digitalfoci.com or
www.digitalfoci.com/photo_safe.html.
LIGHTING TECHNIQUES: for Middle Key Portrait Photography, by Norman Phillips. The author covers a little-expored area of photography, showing you how taking a conscious approach to each element in your middle key images can result in more cohesive and appealing portraits. The book includes images from more than a dozen top portrait photographers, with Phillips revealing the elements in each portrait that make it a success. Clear-cut diagrams show you how subtle changes can produce dramatic lighting changes, enhancing your ability to make every subject look their best. (ISBN-13: 978-1-58428-231-0; $34.95; 128 pgs) Contact: Kate Neaverth, Amherst Media, 175 Rano St, Ste 200, Buffalo, NY 14207. Phone: 800 622-3278; Fax: 800
622-3298. Email: kneaverth[at]amherstmedia[dot]com. Web: www.amherstmedia.com
HOLD IT! (From the Los Angeles Times Travel Section) Last fall, three friends and I flew from Lisbon to Los Angeles by way of Philadelphia. On the flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, I was showing them my new camera and took a few pictures of our surroundings. A flight attendant came to me and told me to show her the pictures, which I did. On our arrival, armed officers escorted us off the plane, separated us and made us wait for the authorities. They asked ridiculous questions ("What's your eye color?"), and in the end they let us go with no apologies.
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-spot14-2008sep14
TAKEAWAY: We live in jittery times. The only antidote for this kind of behavior from security guards, self-appointed security guards, and bona fide police personnel is to wear three cameras around your neck plus a badge, the kind you see museum personnel wear, and pay little attention to anyone until you get the photos you were after. Of course, if someone taps you on the shoulder, smile and be courteous. If they take your camera. Sue. –RE
HOMAGE – This is a long overdue homage to a woman who devoted her life to photography largely through writing. She gave modern language a new way of looking at this dynamic medium. A Literacy of Images: Nancy Newhall and the Art of Photography. Ms Newhall gave a lecture in early October at the Museum of Photographic Art in San Diego. Best known for writing text to accompany the photographs of Ansel Adams
and Edward Weston. Nancy Newhall was also a widely published writer on photography,
http://www.jewishjournal.com/community_calendar/item/a_literacy_of_images_nancy_newhall_and_the_art_of_photography_61259/
HOME OFFICE PERKS . . .
KNOWING THE ROPES
TO PUT MONEY IN YOUR POCKET
Advance Notes: If you’re self-employed, you’re eligible for specific tax deductions that can, in effect, “give yourself a raise.” There are many tax deductions you can claim that relate right to the place you probably do much of your work, your home. Here are some tips from the book, “422 Tax Deductions,” by Bernard Kamoroff, C.P.A.
The IRS accepts that a “home” office can be in a house, apartment, loft, condominium, trailer, mobile home, or boat. The term also includes any separate structure that is part of your residence, such as a garage or barn. You can deduct the expenses directly related to your home office, such as utilities, insurance, property taxes, etc. You must, however, meet certain requirements for your home work space to qualify as a “home office,” and be eligible for these deductions. (See below).
The home-office rules apply to sole proprietors, partners, and owners of an S corporation. The home-office rules do not apply to C corporations.
Regular and Exclusive Use: To be eligible for the home office deduction, a specific part of your home must be used regularly and exclusively for business. It can be a separate room or even part of a room, as long as the space is used for the business and nothing else. A TV set can be in the office if it is used in your stock photography work. Your office cannot double as a guestroom, poolroom, kids’ playroom, or anything else, even when you are not working.
Here’s an exception to the exclusive rule: If your home is your sole fixed location for a retail sales business, and if you regularly store your inventory (in this case, your stock photos) in your home, the expense of maintaining the storage area is deductible even if storage isn’t the exclusive use of the space.
Separate structure: If your home business is located not in the home, but in a freestanding structure such as a studio, garage or barn, you don’t have to meet the principal-place-of-business test. You are allowed deductions for upkeep of the space even if it is not your principal place of business. But the space still must be used regularly and exclusively for business, to qualify.
What’s Deductible: Deductible home-office expenses include a percentage of your rent if you rent your home or apartment, or a percentage of the depreciation if you own your home, and according to percent of space used, an appropriate percentage of home utilities, property tax, mortgage interest and insurance. You can determine the percentage based on any reasonable allocation. Most people use either square footage or number of rooms in the house.
Home repairs, such as a new roof or furnace, are also partly deductible (though if they are major, they must be depreciated).
The IRS specifically prohibits deductions for landscaping and lawn care, even if done solely to enhance the business (unless you are in the landscaping business).
Ed Note: As a stock photographer, you may be able to convince the IRS that landscaping, even flower or vegetable gardening, is essential to your business, if these be some of your photo specialties.
Carrying A Business Loss Forward: If your home business shows a loss for the year, part of your home office expenses are not deductible for that year. You may deduct all of your regular business expenses, e.g. phone, postage, stationery (other than expenses for the office space itself), and may deduct interest and property taxes on the office, regardless of profit and loss. But the remaining home office expenses (including rent or depreciation, insurance, utilities) may be deducted for th e year only to the extent that there is no loss. Any expenses you cannot deduct due to this limitation can be carried forward to the next year, and deducted again only up to the point where they do not create a loss for the year.
Homeowner Deductions -- Caution: If you are eligible for the home-office deduction, you might run into tax complications when you sell your house. In computing profit on the sale, you are required to reduce your home’s cost basis by the amount of the depreciation allowed (whether you take the depreciation or not!), which will increase your profit, and possibly your taxes, on the sale.
For more information, see IRS Publication 587, “Business Use of Your Home.”
Expense category: Home office expenses must be reported on Form 8829, “Expenses for Business Use of Your Home.” Note that you do not report home office depreciation, utilities, property taxes, or other home office expenses on the expense category tax form normally used for your business deductions. All home office expenses are reported on Form 8829.
Source: “422 Tax Deductions For Self-Employed Individuals,” by Bernard B. Kamoroff, C.P.A. ($16.95 plus $3 p&h) Bell Springs Publishing, Box 1240, Willits, CA 95490 (216 pages; ISBN 0-917510-11-9) 1 800 515-8050; Fax: 1 707 459-8614.
EVEN NEWER CONTROL FREAK LENS. Lensbaby, LLC has launched an entirely new system of “selective focus” lenses at the Photokina tradeshow in Cologne, Germany. Three new Lensbaby lenses - The Composer(tm), The Muse(tm) and The Control Freak(tm), - make up the new line of products. Each features the Lensbaby Optic Swap system. The new Muse and the new Control Freak replace the current Original, Lensbaby 2.0, and Lensbaby 3G lenses, which are being phased out.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080923005255&newsLang=en
A WEDDING -- Digital Anarchy, known for its creative software in the Photoshop market, has announced their full compatibility with Adobe Photoshop CS4. Digital Anarchy has released third party tools for Adobe Photoshop since 2003. These tools cover a range of uses from helping professional and hobbyist photographers to create a fully digital portrait studio to allowing graphic designers to create sophisticated visual effects.
http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=529038
HEAD SPINNING MATTER Controlling Light With Sound: New Liquid Camera Lens as Simple as Water and Vibration - Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have designed and tested an adaptive liquid lens that captures 250 pictures per second and requires considerably less energy to operate than competing technologies. http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports
/physics_astronomy/controlling_light_sound_
liquid_camera_lens_simple_118853.html
FASTER AND FASTER Lexar, a global provider of memory products for digital media, announced today that it has enhanced the performance of its Professional line of CompactFlash® (CF) memory cards to 233x, a speed advancement over the line's previous speed-rating of 133x. The Lexar Professional 233x CF memory cards are now UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access) enabled and capable of minimum-sustained read and write speeds of 35MB per second - a considerable improvement over the previous read and write speeds of 20MB per second.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080923005063&newsLang=en
STUDIO STUFF. --DALSA Extends Image Sensor Leadership in Medium Format Digital Photography With 6 Micron Pixel Platform. This year's Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany, sees the launch of groundbreaking new products by some of the most dominant players in medium format photography, and DALSA will provide their critical components-image sensors built on theirnew 6 micron pixel platform.
"These new image sensors continue DALSA's tradition of setting the standards by which all others are judged," said DALSA CEO Brian Doody. "Our 6 micron pixel platform enables medium format devices with 50, 60 megapixels and beyond, delivering unprecedented resolution and image quality for the world's most demanding commercial studio applications."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dalsa-extends-image-sensor-leadership/story.aspx?guid={F5B01D66-4EDB-4A71-87EA-6E81E3602F60}&dist=hppr
FIGURING OUT A STANDARD -- At Photokina 2008, industry- leading companies announced the Metadata Working Group, an organization formed in 2007 dedicated to solving key interoperability issues that make finding, organizing and searching for digital photos a challenge. Today, the Metadata Working Group has also introduced its first specification, which provides guidelines designed to increase interoperability and preservation of metadata in digital photographs.
"We've chosen to address the most common issues photographers face as we feel t his will make the biggest impact for the average photographer," Weisberg said. "Down the road, we will expand our work to include other metadata issues relevant to photographers."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/metadata-working-group-introduces-first/story.aspx?guid={0F66C536-2DDE-4AD9-A32D-878C7EFBF97F}&dist=hppr
HOW WAS SCHOOL TODAY? I’LL SHOW YOU. Photography-mad families in Germany are buying children their own cameras as gifts to celebrate the first day at school, an industry group said Wednesday at the Photokina trade show in Cologne.
Rainer Schmidt, secretary of the German photo industry federation PIV, said in an interview that the days when each family had only one camera, which was used mainly by the father, were over.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/
business/news/article_1432799.php/Photography
_before_you_learn_to_read_Trade_sees_new_trend
DIGITAL EVIDENCE European Spaceship's Death Plunge Caught on Film Program managers expect that photographic data from two aircraft ESA hired from NASA, and an imager aboard the international space station flying overhead at the time, will provide precise data on the amount of debris that survived reentry.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080929/sc_space/
europeanspaceshipsdeathplungecaughtonfilm
DO-IT-YOURSELF-CONTEST. Photrade.com has created a free platform that provides the tools for photographers of any skill level to customize their own photo contest,. Within a few minutes, they can flaunt their proudest pieces of art to family, friends or competitors across the world. The key difference between photrade's format from the other photo-hosting sites is the power it gives to the user. Once they've created the name of the contest, they can specify the rules, name the prize, stipulate the number of entries allowed, discuss the entries and post the submitted photos for a final vote. If contest rules permit, vote totals may include friends and family, and photrade provides the widgets to promote your pics on your blog or favorite social networking site.
http://www.marketingshift.com/2008/9/photradecom-launches-new-platform-photography.cfm
PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS A new initiative, in association with The Prince's Rainforests Project (PRP), was announced 22 September, at the launch of the second annual Sony World Photography Awards 2009 -- a global competition which honours both professional and amateur photographers. There are 12 categories for professional photographers and the nine categories for amateurs.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/sony-world-photography-awards-2009/story.aspx?guid={41CA0829-6AFB-4A62-A37E-EDCE7AFA8748}&dist=hppr
NOW YOU SEE IT. -- THEN IT’s GONE Altered States - Visual artist Josh Azzarella erases important elements of iconic news photographs. Read about how he does it. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/featured-in-print/e3i4f1bfc7cd3706a681e9e674eaa2b3c35
TAKEAWAY: Inches vs. millimeters. Can you get used to them? Documentary pictures vs. doctored pictures. Can you get used to them? It might take a generation or two before me make the transition to a different thought process. Here’s a start.
ACROSS THE GLOBE. National Geographic's 2008 All Roads Photography Winners Unite to Share Images From Across the Globe. All Roads, a National Geographic initiative created to provide an international platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture artists through the power of film and photography, today announced that National Geographic's 2008 All Roads Photography winners, seen at http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/allroads/photography.html, will be discussing their work during the Global Storytellers program and exhibiting at this year's All Roads Film Festivals .(http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/allroads/festival-events.html).
Don Ultang, Pioneer in Aerial Photography, Dies at 91
an early specialist in aerial photography who won the 1952 Pulitzer
Prize for photography...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/sports/football/27ultang.html
PACA will be presenting a "Celebration of Life" of Jane Kinne at their International Conference in NYC on Saturday October 25th, hosted by "Friends of Jane Kinne". For more information: exectdirector[at]pacaoffice[dot]org
30 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
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October 30th 2008
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29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Orphan Works . . .
Is Your Copyright
Still Safe?
On September 29, 2008, the U.S. Senate passed its version of an Orphan Works bill, S. 2913, entitled the “Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008.” This occurred by unanimous consent through a procedure called hotlining, which is utilized to move “non-controversial” legislation quickly through the Senate. Obviously the Senate seems to have a different definition of “non-controversial”given the extensive vocal opposition to it by a number of photography copyright owners and organizations.
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“If neither the Senate bill nor the House version or some other
bill on Orphan Work becomes law in the current Congress, it
undoubtedly will be brought up again in the spring.
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The final bill is similar to the one which had previously been debated in the Senate, with the addition of certain concessions made to favor copyright holders. The bill now contains a method to determine what would constitute a “diligent effort,” in connection with the required search to find a copyright owner. A search will now qualify when a diligent effort is made “that is reasonable under the circumstances to locate the owner of the infringed copyright prior to, and at a time reasonably proximate to, the infringement.”
This diligent effort requires, at a minimum, the following:
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• A search of the Copyright Office records available to the public through the Internet, which are relevant to identifying and locating copyright owners, provided there is sufficient identifying information on which to construct a search;
• A search of reasonably available sources of copyright authorship and ownership information and, where appropriate, licensor information;
• Use of appropriate technology tools, printed publications, and where reasonable, internal or external expert assistance;
• Use of appropriate databases, including databases that are available to the public through the Internet.
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The diligent efforts would also require “any actions that are reasonable and appropriate under the facts relevant to the search, including actions based on facts known at the start of the search and facts uncovered during the search, and including a review as appropriate of Copyright Office records not available to the public through the Internet that are reasonably likely to be useful in identifying and locating the copyright owner.”
The Copyright Office will still be required to draft recommended practices for conducting these searches. The bill also encourages the creation of private searchable registries through databases to be created with the Copyright Office to certify at least two such databases. The Act will become effective, if it becomes law in its present form, 30 days after such certification, or January 1, 2013, whichever comes first.
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Obviously the Senate seems to have a different
definition of “non-controversial”given the extensive
vocal opposition to it by a number of photography
copyright owners and organizations…
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Obviously the Senate seems to have a different
definition of “non-controversial”given the extensive
vocal opposition to it by a number of photography
copyright owners and organizations…
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What the House of Representatives will do is uncertain at this point. As of this writing, the members of House are either campaigning for reelection or otherwise occupying themselves on other matters, including those pertaining to the financial crisis.
The pending House bill, which has yet to be acted upon, was viewed by photographers as being more favorable to copyright owners than the version passed by the Senate since the House version would require an infringer to file a notice with the Copyright Office when the infringer intended to use what would be considered to be an Orphan Work.
If neither the Senate bill nor the House version or some other bill on Orphan Work becomes law in the current Congress, it undoubtedly will be brought up again in the spring. Given the broad support for the concept of an Orphan Works bill, it will probably become law in some form.
The various photography and artist organizations, such as the Advertising Photographers of America, the American Society of Media Photographers, and the Graphic Artists Guild, have encouraged their members to contact their House Representatives to push for retention of the additional requirement of filing with the Copyright Office.
Attorney Joel L. Hecker lectures and writes extensively on issues of concern to the photography industry. His office is located at Russo & Burke, 600 Third Ave, New York NY 10016. Phone: 1 212 557-9600. E-mail: HeckerEsq[at]aol[dot]com.
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
When Security Is a Security Risk
Yet another fake Windows Security Center is out there. Current Windows products include a Security Center that warns you of dangerous conditions, like whether you have a firewall installed, if you’ve turned off Window’s Automatic Updates and the status of your anti-virus program.
This trojan modifies certain Windows settings, and uses the Security Center to falsely warn you of missing anti-virus protection. Of course, the real issue is the fake Security Center warning. It tells you to download a specific product (the real Security Center does not specify products by name), which costs forty bucks.
Just like the protection rackets of decades ago (yes, I know they still exist in the world), you are to pay to clean up a mess (or prevent one) that is not of your making. This trojan instructs you to download WinDefender 2008.’ And to help ensure that you do, it blocks outgoing Internet connections so you can’t download a legitimate program, and continually harasses you to download (and pay for) their program. By the way, the real name of Microsoft’s program is Windows Defender.
Read more about it here: http://tinyurl.com/3m8mdh If you’re in doubt, here is the full URL: http://community.ca.com/blogs/securityadvisor/archive/2008/10/14/twogoodlookingwindowssecuritycentersonefakeonereal.aspx
Tiny URL
Did you notice that neat trick I just did? I converted a very long URL (it contained 129 characters) into a very short URL containing just 25 characters total. If you have need to do the same, such as avoiding very long URLs in an email, get your free tiny URL here: www.tinyurl.com
The instructions are simple. Type in the long URL and click on the Make TinyURL button. You also have the option of creating/using a Preview TinyURL, which allows users to preview the translated URL before clicking on the TinyURL link. There are only a few sensible rules, like not using it for spamming or illegal activities.
Foldershare
An easy way to automatically sync folders across and between Mac and Windows platforms is to use the free foldershare program from Microsoft (Microsoft bought the company a few years ago). Check it out at http://www.foldershare.com
Public Service Announcement
The rules-of-the-road generally require that you pull to the right side of the road and stop when an emergency vehicle with flashing lights and siren approaches your location.
I’ve noticed over the last few years in my major metropolitan area that drivers are taking an ambivalent approach to this requirement. The majority of drivers just stop wherever they are on the road, or worse, just slow down a little while staying in their lane, forcing emergency crews to expend precious time weaving in and out of this man-made obstacle course. So, do us all a favor, and pull to the right and stop to allow safe and quick movement of emergency vehicles. Remember, the life you help save may be someone you know.
Bill Hopkins is the Webmaster of PhotoSourceFolio, where photographers
display photos and a regular contributor to PhotoStockNotes. Send comments to Bill via email.
For on-line questions, contact Bill on the Kracker Barrel. Display 6 of your images at www.photosourcefolio.com
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Your
Digital Lightbox
When a photobuyer wants to see a selection of your images, he or she up to this point in time would typically ask for low-resolution previews by email. Now, an alternative to email is quickly gaining ground and becoming more and more popular: namely a Digital Lightbox, sometimes called a viewing platform.
When a photobuyer requests to see a digital lightbox, the photobuyer
wants you to put up a selection of images for viewing on your website. (Compared to a traditional lightbox that you use to view your slides.)
A digital lightbox doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. It
can be something as simple as a separate page on your website that you can direct the photobuyer to. The important thing here is to enable the
photobuyer to view selections of your work side by side.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SHARING
Another crucial detail when it comes to digital lightboxes is to make it easy for the photobuyer to share the lightbox with other decision-makers or clients. It is obviously much easier for a photobuyer to send a single URL to others, compared to e-mailing 20 or more low-res digital photos to one or more individuals.
Most photobuyers will need to share the images with at least one other individual before a final image selection is made. Make it easy for the photobuyer to share your lightbox and you will keep the photobuyer happy.
If you want to limit access to your digital lightbox, you can
absolutely password-protect it on your website, but make sure that you tell the photobuyer that he/she can share the password with anyone they need to haveaccess to the images.
DON'T RUSH
A common mistake among photographers is that lightboxes get taken down (deleted) way too quickly. Allow plenty of time for the photobuyer to view your lightbox and to share it with others. As you know, image selection can take time, especially for book-publishers.
Personally, I give photobuyers at least twice the amount of
time I think it will take them to look at and select from the lightbox.
Then, I email the photobuyer and ask them if they have made a final selection or if they need the lightbox to stay active for a while longer.
My own policy is that I don't delete the lightbox until I know a final selection has indeed been made, and the photobuyer has sent requests for high-res images. This way it is easy for me to bring
the lightbox back to life in case the photobuyer needs to make
any last-minute changes.
HOW-TO
How-to instructions for setting up a digital lightbox are hard to give since the details will vary with the software you use for your site. However, there are a number of details that are important in every case:
One. Make sure your contact info is placed both up front and at the
end of the lightbox.
Two. Keep it as simple as possible. Lightboxes should load very quickly and be as easy as possible to navigate.
Three. Make sure that you mention if you have variations of the images you place on the lightbox for a buyer. State how the photobuyer should contact you and ask for variations.
Four. Keep copyright warnings, watermarks and so on to a bare minimum, if at all. These don't create a trusting welcome to your potential buyer.
Five. Include caption info for all photos.
I have made a sample lightbox on the PhotoSource website as a reference. This lightbox will stay up for a while, and please feel free to visit it and have a look at how simple it can be to make a digital lightbox. The url is http://www.photosource.com/101/samplelightbox.pdf and the various items should be self-explanatory.
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 26 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States
in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and writes a how to photograph column for PhotoStockNOTES. To reach Mikael --> email --> Mikael via email.
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
SLIM DOWN AT THE CORBIS PAYROLL BOOTH: Hard Times for Stock Continues: Corbis to Cut Royalty Rate - Corbis executives said Saturday that the stock licensing industry will decline over the next four years, and the company will cut the royalty rate it pays most rights-managed contributors.
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/stock-and-syndication/e3ia353f77f11f28ab92c10a57f2ca22e4f
TAKEAWAY: The USE of photos will rise more than ever. The sales figures will decline.
WHERE DO YOU FIT? PDN's 2008 Editorial Survey Results - “When we began surveying editorial photographers in August, our goal was to find out how their business is faring: what editorial fees are like, what contribution editorial work makes to photographers' incomes, and how well editorial photographers are managing to cover expenses such as retirement savings and healthcare.”
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/photojournalism/e3i89939c96ea2a724cec1fa4fe7518b3fe
KEY: READ THE MANUAL. Sometimes a Bad Image Isn't the Camera's Fault -- It's Yours - After spending a bunch of money on a new camera or lens, you are less than thrilled - in fact, your images actually appear worse! It couldn't be you -
could it ? Taking control of your camera and understanding the effects each control has on your image and how to use that to create your desired results are key. This along with learning to see and use light are really the fundamentals that people need to know if they want to achieve a good standard in photography. http://rising.blackstar.com/sometimes-a-bad-image-isnt-the-cameras-fault-its-yours.html
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
BARGAIN TIME -- Amidst Economic Uncertainty, LiveBooks Offers Flexible Payment Plan for Photographers - In an effort to help photographers continue their marketing efforts in the midst of economic turmoil, LiveBooks, Inc., a provider of customized portfolio websites and marketing software for photographers, has created a 12-month financing option for new LiveBooks Professional clients.
http://www.pdngearguide.com/gearguide/content_display/news/e3if5f4f8d2ae5cf7f080a2ccf96a156ff6
KODAK: GOODBYE NASCAR. HELLO GOLF. The photography pioneer, betting its future on electronic imaging, said Monday the realignment fits better with a new effort to highlight its brand digitally, such as on PGA Tour scoreboards. Kodak also wants to engage more customers overseas since 60 per cent of its sales are outside the United States.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Motorsports/2008/10/27/7222886-ap.html
WHATS NEW? Hottest Advancements In Photography On Display At PhotoPlus Expo. For the last 25 years, if it's been something cutting edge that snaps a photo,or has anything to do with snapping a photo, it's been on display at the annual PhotoPlus Expo,
http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/87904/hottest-advancements-in-photography-on-display-at-photoplus-expo/Default.aspx?ap=1&Flash
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
FIRE SALE. Going Out For Business: All Images Must Go! - PhotoShelter's robust Personal Archive, which has a monthly service fee, that is offering shelter to current Digital Railroad members. So, while we contemplate the likelihood that Digital Railroad is (or is not) going out OF business, PhotoShelter is going out FOR YOUR business. More about what PhotoShelter is offering at Digital Railroad Special Offer & Website Customization Examples!
http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/10/going-out-for-business-all-images-must.html
TAKEAWAY: How long can an online photo gallery hold on until it busts at the seams and falls flat under its own weight?
JUPITER: –FLASH, -FLICKER –FADES, FAREWELL. The princess's price - At the eve of the PACA meeting, where small business owners of the RM and RF photo industry meet twice a year to complain about the state of the industry, Jupiter media just announced that it was dropping the ball and selling all to almighty Getty.
http://blog.melchersystem.com/2008/10/23/the-princesss-price/
TAKEAWAY: What a ride! Jupiter has finally self-extinguished. A rising meteor at one time, brash, self-assured and “leading the way.” Now, self-snuffed.
LOOKING AFTER YOU. -- A "New Deal" for Stock Photographers - "We want everyone to know that there is a stock company that is looking out for the individual photographer and artist," said Carroll Seghers, president of Image Warehouse. Note: Unlike many stock sites that do not allow “Google-bots” access to their images’ keywords, Image Warehouse keywords are visible and therefore provide “organic ranking” positioning in the Google “natural search” results area. http://www.stockphotographer.info/content/view/705/
TAKEAWAY: Good! Letting the Google bots come through and select your keywords is a necessity if you want to be listed upfront in a Google search.
This just in . . .
HAVE PHOTOGRAPHERS BEEN RAILROADED? If the news about bank collapses hasn't devastated you enough, ...here's another depressing one. This time it comes from the Internet, but is no less devastating for a good number of people, hopefully not including you.
As of Wednesday, if you go to the Web site of Digital Railroad you will be greeted with this:
To our valued Members and Partners:
We deeply regret to inform you that Digital Railroad (DRR) has shut down.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10078042-2.html
TAKEAWAY: Be careful where you store your images. The aftermath of an equipment or financial setback can be a catastrophe.
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
OUCH! Price: $15 ; USE: $15,000. Microstock in Hollywood - Watching The Nanny Diaries featuring Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney guess what I saw in the opening scene? Yep, my humble microstock photo up there on the big screen!
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/microstock-in-hollywood.html
TAKEAWAY: This may become a hidden profit center for the microstock industry -- similar to the way the loss of a transparency(s) during the film years could bring in $1500 each. Failure to not buy an Extended Use license might result in extra revenue to the photographer.
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
IT DISAPPEARS. Nature Conservancy Takes Your Copyright Exclusively - The photo contest for a 2010 calendar to raise funds to support The Hasssayampa River Preserve is a noble cause but under the rules of the contest, the Nature Conservancy not only gets to use your photo in any way it wants, you don't get to use it at all! http://www.photoattorney.com/
TAKEAWAY: Always read Rule #9 (Who owns the picture? if you win the trophy?)
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
PHOTOTERRORIST? Home Office guides plods on photography. Terror Laws due to be passed this autumn, (in UK) could provide Police with a new and significant power to stop individuals taking photographs. Names? Addresses? Photographs? Since almost every other item of anti-Terror law has eventually been broadened out beyond its original scope, there must be some concern that once in place, these new powers will be used to make life uncomfortable for anyone wishing to photograph police at demonstrations. Or just police anywhere?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/28/police_photography_guidance/
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
FOLLOW YOUR PHOTOS. -- Digimarc Releases New Version of Digimarc for Images Software for Adobe PhotoShop(R) - Coinciding with the release of Adobe Creative Suite(R) 4 (CS4), the new version of Digimarc for Images includes several enhancement in response to customer feedback.
http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=557660
GESUNDHEIT! -- Cough Captured on Film Using Supersonic Photography Technique. Using a technique more commonly used to image the supersonic shock cones forming around test aircraft in wind tunnels, a group of scientists say they've captured the dynamics of a cough on film.
http://gizmodo.com/5069798/cough-captured-on-film-using-supersonic-photography-technique
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
During times when the normal way of life is
interrupted, like we are experiencing now, trade
and commerce tend to change the rules in order to
adjust to the ebb and flow of the economy. In
some cases, they increase prices, and in other
cases they offer rebates and value coupons.
Here are some positive things about recessions and
whatever you would call what the economy is in
now.
Here at PhotoSource International, we've
seen more buyers coming to us, searching for
better ways, better prices, to meet their needs
and their budgets. Now that "digital" has arrived
and is utilized throughout the industry,
photobuyers have learned to go directly to the
source when they are in need of a particular
picture.
During a recession, photobuyer activity
increases, not decreases. (We've been through
three recessions since 1976 when we first
published our marketletter.) Another positive is
that businesses will tend to increase their
discounts, rebates, and coupons.
We are no different. Next week, for three days, November
5th, 6th, and 7th , we will offer a handsome
reduction in the price of our two marketletters,
the PhotoDAILY and the PhotoLetter. Watch for our
email to you next week -
Here's the sign place:
http://www.photosource.com/fallsale
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
KODAK: GOODBYE NASCAR. HELLO GOLF. The photography pioneer, betting its future on electronic imaging, said Monday the realignment fits better with a new effort to highlight its brand digitally, such as on PGA Tour scoreboards. Kodak also wants to engage more customers overseas since 60 per cent of its sales are outside the United States.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Motorsports/2008/10/27/7222886-ap.html
WHATS NEW? Hottest Advancements In Photography On Display At PhotoPlus Expo. For the last 25 years, if it's been something cutting edge that snaps a photo,or has anything to do with snapping a photo, it's been on display at the annual PhotoPlus Expo,
http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/87904/hottest-advancements-in-photography-on-display-at-photoplus-expo/Default.aspx?ap=1&Flash
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
THOSE PETS -- 22nd International Exhibition on Animals in Art. $1000 Best of Show award, as well as other
cash awards. One entry will be chosen to appear
on the cover of the Journal of the American
Veterinary Medical Association.
Open to all photographers and artists 18 years of age or older. All
media. Works must be original. All artwork must be priced and available for sale.
Deadline: January 9th 2009
For entry form:
http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/Web_pdfs/2009_Call_for_Entries.pdf
NOT NATURAL. -- Alert: Nature Conservancy Takes Your Copyright Exclusively - The photo contest for a 2010 calendar to raise funds to support The Hasssayampa River Preserve is a noble cause but under the rules of the contest, the Nature
Conservancy not only gets to use your photo in any way it wants, you don't
get to use it at all! http://www.photoattorney.com/
TAKEAWAY: Guess who the winner is in this contest?
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
VARNISHED FICTION? -- Too many stars in her eyes - Annie Leibovitz might be art royalty but her celebrity shots are mere varnished fiction. As a new London retrospective demonstrates, her photographs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/oct/26/leibovitz-exhibition
TAKEAWAY. As Huey Long said, “Just spell my name right.”
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
"When words become unclear, I shall focus on photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence." - Ansel Adams
29 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
1931 - October 7 - An infrared photograph (of a large group of people) taken in the dark with a short exposure was made in the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories in Rochester, NY.
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
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October 22nd 2008
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October 22nd 2008
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22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
The Feds Are
Your Partners
Advance Notes: Stock photographers can benefit from government regulations designed to help small businesses.
If you are serious about marketing your stock photography, you are missing out on some fine opportunities if you don't take advantage of the benefits offered to you by, yes, your benevolent government.
COPYRIGHT. The law states that you own the rights to your picture, not the person who "buys" it. This was emphasized by the well-known Tasini court case reversal. Your copyright stays with you, unless you sign something to the contrary at the time of the transaction. Place the copyright symbol on all of your work; it costs you nothing to do this – it's a gift from your government. Only if you register your picture (with the Library of Congress) will it cost a fee (at this writing: $35 -online, $45-paper).
MODEL RELEASES. Have you shackled yourself with the belief that you have to have a 'model release' for recognizable people or buildings in public? Not so, -it's your First Amendment Right not to have to get a model release if your picture is used for informing and educating the public. We live in a free society and the writers of our constitution early recognized that the free exchange of information was a right we should all enjoy. Unless you are a service photographer (industrial, architecture, fashion, advertising, etc.) and your pictures are used for promotion, endorsement, advertising, or other commercial and trade purposes, you won't need a model release. The only exception to this are cases where a picture might be in a sensitive area such as mental health, sex, or used in a compromising, unfair situation which could embarrass someone. Your book or magazine editor will advise you if these exceptions come into play when the picture is considered for publication.
PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTOS. These photos from government agencies (NASA, Dept. of Agriculture, FSA, etc.) are free. You or your parents paid for them with your tax dollars. Public Domain photos can be used for many purposes: in books, with lectures, researched and sent to photobuyers.
POSTAL SERVICE. Since correspondence lost or mislaid by a fallible postal worker has a way of being remembered and talked about, let's admit that errors can happen in any industry, and then ask, "What's good about the Post Office?" There are billions of pieces of mail handled yearly, flawlessly. The direct mail industry, despite the popularity of email, has learned that postal delivery of cards and letters is still effective and rewarding. Our postage system is cheaper than that in any other comparable industrialized nation. I've used the postal service in my business for more than 30 years and still recommend it.
Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes.
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Digital Cameras Take the Lead
There’s no doubt – it’s almost all digital these days. Crank up your knowledge about digital cameras and what photobuyers expect in the way of image submissions.
And what's a new digital camera going to cost? It depends on your area of interest: social issues, sports, nature and landscapes.
One advantage to editorial stock photographers is that many of your pictures are going to be used 1/4 page or smaller, which means you could get by with $800+ (6 to 8 Megapixels). Of course if you expect to publish covers, your camera will cost $2500+ (10 and up Megapixels). If you plan to use it for commercial work, then expect to pay $9,000 and more (lenses, back, etc.)
If you can get by with an advanced point and shoot type model (Canon G9 for instance) where you do not have the option of changing lenses, the dent in your checking account will not be as big as if you need a Digital SLR, like the Canon 50D, 5DII, ID III, IDs III, a Fuji S5 Pro, a Nikon D300, or D3, and so on.
It's also in what you shoot. Action, real life as it happens, sports, demand a camera with little shutter lag and flexibility. For studio work, set-ups, portraits, quick responses from your camera aren't as crucial.
As always with equipment purchases, make sure the camera you are interested in fits you, your hands and your way of working. It doesn't matter how many bells and whistles a camera has if you can't easily reach and use the controls. Before making the digital leap, find out what specs your clients demand on digital images.
Keep up with the times by learning what photobuyers expect from you in the way of digital submissions. Check out Rohn Engh’s new ebook: How To Market Your Photos, which goes into submission parameters in depth.
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 18 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike[at]photosource[dot]com.
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
TRAVELERS
Photographers: We broadcast your foreign destinations along with contact information, departure date, length of stay, etc. Contact PhotoStockNotes (1 715 248-3800) at least two months in advance.
Photobuyers: Watch this column. For the e-mail address, phone or fax number of the traveling photographer, call the PhotoSource International office and ask for Rohn Engh (1 800 624-0266). For an expansion of this list: www.photosource.com and press the Travelers Abroad button, to learn of past international destinations of our photographers.
Terri Petri
Oct 17- Nov 2 2008
Johannesburg, Kruger Park, South Africa
Austin Cortez
Oct 22 – Oct 27, 2008
Brazil (Amazon)
Frederick Randall
Nov 2008 – May 2009
Caribbean, BWI
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Travelwriter Marketletter… for writers and photojournalists.
Travelwriter Marketletter is a monthly publication available online ( http://www.travelwriterml.com ) and in hard copy format. Travelwriter Marketletter is in its 29th year.
If you’re a travel writer or photographer, TWM tells you about new markets, pay scales, editors, specs and trips.
Contact Mimi Backhausen Phone: 571/214-9086 Fax: 208-988-7672 mimi[at]travelwriternl[dot]com
If you're a travel photographer, TWM will supply you with contact information about photobuyers.
If you’re in travel PR, TWM tells you which publications are likely targets.
If you’re a travel editor, TWM tells you about trips, and about your competitors.
If you’re a photo researcher TWM will direct you to travel photographers.
Request a sample copy of TWML: 571/214-9086.
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
FIND A BUSINESS --- Google Voice Local Search, is a free 411 service that users can call to request information on local businesses. The system is automated and uses voice recognition to determine what the caller is seeking. Simply saying the words "text message" to the automated system after receiving query results will prompt the system to send the user an SMS with those same results. Google Voice Local Search, is a free 411 service that users can call to request information on local businesses. The system is automated and uses voice recognition to determine what the caller is seeking. Try it. 1 800 466-4411.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070409-google-rolls-out-free-411-service.html
RESCUED HORSE featured in new photography book (NZ) A one-eyed horse rehabilitated by World Horse Welfare has been immortalized in print by award-winning photographer Tim Flach. The stunning image of 'Laddy', a 10-year-old Welsh cob, is one of a series of portraits featuring in Tim's new book 'Equus', released on October 13. Tim visited World Horse Welfare in Snetterton, Norfolk UK.
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
STOCK PHOTO AGENCIES can be an outlet for some of your pictures. Do agencies object to you marketing your own pictures when they also represent you? No, not the established ones. They encourage you to also market on your own. They want to share the sales with you, and also to share the setbacks. They know that a photographer who markets pictures on his/her own will understands the pitfalls (and glories) of selling and reselling pictures on the open market.
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
MODEL RELEASE. As an editorial photographer, will you need a model release pad in your photo bag or back pocket ? No, you won’t, and this video explains why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DevxX-e57j8
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
BAIL IN. ... -- ASMP & Their $1.3 - The $1.3 million distribution has the potential to do much good in its areas of use. ASMP set as a deadline of Monday, 10/20 as the deadline for the receipt of ideas. http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/10/asmp-their-13.html
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
POLLING POSTERITY. -- YouTube urges voters to ‘Video Your Vote’. “Shoot a video of your experience at the polls on Election Day. Document the energy and excitement, as well as any problems you may see,” YouTube said in a message last week. YouTube, a Google subsidiary, said in a statement, “This program aims to gather massive amounts of polling place video, with the Channel serving as an online library for Election Day footage. On November 4, the Channel will serve as the premier online destination for up-to-the-minute coverage from voters contributing videos straight from thousands of precincts across the country.”
KENTUCKY SAYS NO. Kentucky election officials are scrambling to get out the message that a national YouTube project with PBS that encourages people to video themselves voting on Nov. 4 would be illegal in Kentucky.
Grayson said Friday that voters should be encouraged to record a video diary about the experience at the polls after they're away from their voting precinct — at least 300 feet away. Those caught recording inside a polling place could be slapped with a misdemeanor. Kentucky's legislature outlawed video recording or using cell phones or cameras in the voting places in 2005 to avoid intimidating other voters.
http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/559416.html
TAKEAWAY: Commentators suggestions: - What gets photographed in Kentucky stays in Kentucky –in the clink.
-Step across the border and register in Georgia. Save your vote for posterity. Goodbye Kentucky! Hello Georgia!
-Didn’t I see a security camera at the polling place four years ago? Will that be dismantled? Or is this law only for Big Brother?
- Hold it! Georgia outlaws recording at a polling place. So do Florida and other places.
-If I’m photographing me, what’s the deal? Isn’t this part of my Freedom of the Press?
-We should have more photographing in polling places, not less. Maybe we would find out what’s going on there.
MEETING PLACE -- Interactive Flickr Now for everyone. Yahoo has finished a redesign of its Flickr home page that emphasizes the photo-sharing site's social aspects. The new home page shows off more of a user's own photos and more from the user's contacts, and it surfaces social activity such as comments on the user's photos, replies to comments the user made on others' photos, and new photos posted to the user's Flickr groups.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10068670-39.html?tag=mncol
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
UNIFIED -- Celeb Agencies. -- Rex Features and Berliner Merge U.S. Operations - Two small but storied celebrity photo agencies, Rex Features and Berliner, announced that they are combining their operations in North America.
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/editorial/e3ie08aadb553c2ade99578a08c8b103892
ANOTHER. New Rights-Managed Photography Breaks the Mold - Believing that there is a strong market for excellent rights managed photography, that photographers expect care and consideration and that creatives are seeking an alternative
source, International Collections Worldwide, Inc. today announces the creation of the new RM source ic.worldwide.
http://www.creativepro.com/article/new-rights-managed-photography-breaks-mold.
END OF THE LINE? ...---... Digital Railroad Likely Being Liquidated - The board has now retained Diablo Management, a firm known for liquidations, to shop the entire company, as is, around, or to sell off the company in parts. DRR's investors' final action was
to move CEO Charles Mauzy to a position of just another employee to
facilitate DRR's liquidation strategies. http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/10/digital-railroad-likely-being.html
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
REALLY? -- Fotolia Updates Affiliate Program but Sees No Need to Tell Affiliates - Not only did Fotolia update their affiliate program and not tell their affiliates, they also deactivated a large portion of existing referrals which weren't due to expire for 3 - 5 years. 20% of my referred photographers were deactivated from the affiliate program.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/fotolia-updates-affiliate-program-but-sees-no-need-to-tell-affiliates.html
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
WHAT HAPPENED TO ROCK ? Is Rock Photography Fading Fast? What has happened to great rock concert photography? Is it part of a bygone era, or has the music industry forgone photographers due to control issues? A mix of both, says Mark Paytress in Creative Review's article "Three Songs and Yer Out! The Dying Art of Gig Photography" (reprinted from a recent issue of M magazine). The "three songs" refers to an industry-wide guideline that photographers are allowed access to the artists only for the first three songs of a performance. The practice started as a courtesy to performers to keep distracting flash bulbs to a minimum. But then it worked its way around the scene and became the rule at most venues. Artists and their management blame the venues for enforcing the rule, while the venues insist they're just doing what they're told by the management.
http://www.utne.com/2008-10-16/Arts/Rock-Photography-Is-Fading-Fast.aspx?blogid=32
IS IT ART? Here we go again. Photography's meaning examined. Every person has his or her own preconceived notion of what photography is. We take our own photographs; we receive them; we can see them in books, advertising, on the Internet, etc. What we don't always understand about photography is that its meaning continually changes over time, resulting in conflicting views towards photography's fundamental properties. The new exhibit at the Davison Art Center (DAC), entitled "Documentary or Art? Photography in the Long 19th Century, 1839-1914" rises from this tension. http://www.wesleyanargus.com/article/6929
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS. Client Meeting: An Interview with Audubon's Kim Hubbard - The photo editor of the award-winning nature magazine talks about the photography she
publishes, how she finds photographers, and what she does and doesn't like in photographers' promotions and portfolios.
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/pdn-online/e3ic3df70bc11b72c5251d8fc53af440908
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
The Life Of A Photograph,... Sam Abell, considered one of the foremost photographers of our time, showcases some of his most powerful and unforgettable images and answers the question, “What gives life to a photograph?” The book is organized around Abell’s perspectives on landcapes, still life, street scenes and the photography of daily life. Selections cover geography and wildlife from the Arctic to the Amazon, and cultures from Australia to the American West.
With each image Abell presents a master class in photographic thinking. In an original concept for a photography book, images are displayed in a unique, highly involving way that allows the viewer to be engaged in the photographic process.
Viewers see how subtle differences in point of view, framing, timing and perspective can lead to strikingly different photographs. By showing similar images side by side, or sequences of photogaphs of the same event, the viewer is placed in the field and in the editor’s chair.
(ISBN 978-1-4262-0329-9; $40) Contact: John McFeely, National Geographic Books,
2245 17th St NW, Washington DC 10036-4688. Phone: 202 857-7659. Email: jmcfeely[at]ngs[dot]org
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
During downturns in the economy, (we’ve been through four so far), photobuyers don’t like to spend precious time surfing the various picture sites, looking for a specific photo need.
Instead they place a listing on the PhotoDaily with us at 2pm (CT).
A subscriber who has the picture responds directly to the photobuyer. Not only does the member make a sale, but establishes a new contact with a photobuyer who seeks pictures in his/her photographic area of interest.
Another Plus: We call it "The Domino's" System."
In the past if you wanted a pizza, you went to the pizza store for it, --today, the pizza place comes to you. Digital photography is allowing this similar new stock photography trend.
When a photobuyer lists a particular photo need with us in the PhotoDaily or PhotoLetter, if it's a "next door" type of photo request, the photographer goes out and makes the picture on a "Domino's" basis by delivering the described image via the Net directly on a Light-Box to the photobyuer for consideration.
If the picture(s) doesn't hit the mark, the photographer adds it to his/her database and at the same time makes an excellent contact for future sales to that photobuyer.
Want to see a sample issue and/or information on how to sign up? http://www.PhotoSourcePix.com.
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
HASN’T HE HEARD ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHING FROM ROOFTOPS? -- This officer is passionate about capturing images of the city he patrols. Everett White sees every photograph as an opportunity to capture a split-second moment and preserve it forever.
The Fort Wayne native and city police officer has turned what was once a photography hobby into an obsession. It's not unusual for White, 26, to be seen scouring city rooftops or alleyways in search of the next best shot. http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081019/LOCAL07/810190409/1002/LOCAL
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
CAMERA CONNECTION How to use a vintage manual-focus camera lens with your DSLR camera for a fraction of the cost of newer auto-focus lenses. Using manual focus on those old lenses will slow you down a little. Not too much, just enough to make you think about your. You feel more connected to your camera and to the process of shooting.
http://lifehacker.com/5065371/vintage-camera-lenses-make-for-cheap-dslr-lenses
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
MORE PIX. -- HP & MySpace get to grips with photo printing.
In a deal sure to click with amateur photography enthusiasts, HP and MySpace are working together to let users print and distribute photos from the social networking site. The firms signed a letter of intent during HP's recent annual imaging and printing conference in San Diego. The collaboration will initially make it easier for users to print MySpace images on their own printers. http://www.techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=12689
106 CAMERA MODELS -- A great day for popular photography: Canon ships 100 millionth compact digital camera - Beginning with the PowerShot 600 in 1996, Canon has
delivered a total of 106 models around the world. http://www.ameinfo.com/171888.html
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
BLACK SILICON -- Could the discovery of black silicon change digital photography? In a New York Times article published recently, a Harvard physicist produced a new material, called black silicon, that could have a broad impact on technologies ranging from ultra sensitive sensors to photovoltaic cells. According to the article, Harvard plans to announce that it has licensed patents for black silicon to SiOnyx, a Massachusetts company.
http://www.dphoto.co.nz/news/8620/could-the-discovery-of-black-silicon-change-digital-photography
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
THE CROWD PREVAILS. -- Newspapers Consider Giving Up the Associated Press - Editor & Publisher reports that the Tribune company has given a two-year cancellation
notice to the Associated Press. Tribune owns nine newspapers that rely on the AP for news content.
http://www.pdnpulse.com/2008/10/newspapers-cons.html
VIDEO: CENTER STAGE. -- Get ready for change. Have your video camewra ready. Tastes are changing. Photography meets videography as camera technology advances. The latest trend in high-end digital cameras represents the latest example of convergence; in this case it is all about still and video cameras becoming one and the same. The impact on the pro photographer is far from insignificant. The Digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex Camera = very good camera, pro quality) market is driven by the publishing industry. Lots of different people use DSLRs but more cameras are sold to photographers for newspapers and magazines than any other use.
An interesting phenomenon is occurring in this market; the publishers are universally seeing falling numbers in news-stand and subscription sales, and increasing numbers of visitors to their web sites.
People visiting web sites are interested in seeing richer media than it is possible to deliver in papers or magazines. Simple video, a la YouTube, is the order of the day. So editors are beginning to ask their photo journalists to start to provide video clips along with their photos. http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/home/story.html?id=03879835-68df-4bc0-8ca2-276adba744a9
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
FROM THE HIP. -- Cell Phone Photography Exhibit in November 2008 Seeks Submissions Online.
Independent curator Daiv Whaley and longstanding Brandt Gallery of the Tremont District in Cleveland, Ohio, announce an open call for submissions of cell phone photographs for the first At The Cellular Level - Cell Phone Photography as Art. The exhibit, which will open in November 2008, will feature cell phone photography from professional and amateur artists from around the world and promises to be a stimulating visual dialogue on the use of convenience technology in the twenty-first century. Submissions can be mailed to cellphonephotoshow @ yahoo.com
ANOTHER RIGHTS GRAB ? -- Blackpool photography 'rights grab' furore (UK). A council has hit back at criticism over potential exploitation of photo competition entries, saying that use of amateur pictures is becoming 'commonplace' on TV and in other media.
Though rules for Blackpool Council's 'Love Blackpool' competition state that copyright remains with the entrant, they also grant the council 'a perpetual, royalty free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right and licence to use, exhibit, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, distribute... make available to the public and exercise all copyright and publicity rights...'
Among those livid at the rules is local resident Myk Ripley, one of Amateur Photographer's (AP) website forum moderators.
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Blackpool_photography_rights_grab_furore_news_269875.html
A DAY I N THE LIFE OF A POTATO. ---- A Peruvian and a Chinese photographer were announced today as winners of a world photography contest, launched by the United Nations to highlight the potato's key role in agriculture, the economy and world food security. Part of the International Year of the Potato celebrations in 2008, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) awarded first prizes in the contest - called "Focus on a global food" - to professional photographer Eitan Abramovich, and amateur photographer Xi Huang. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28597&Cr=FAO&Cr1=mdg
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
AN X-RAYTED LOOK AT LIFE -- For 15 years British photographer Nick Veasey has gotten under a lot of people's skin - but that's a good thing.
The 46-year-old artist, who has just been short-listed for a Lucie award, the equivalent of an Oscar in photography, has been using an X-ray machine to uncover the hidden beauty of organic and inanimate objects. http://www.nypost.com/seven/10192008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/an_x_rayted_look_at_life_134324.htm
SLIPPERY SLOPES: Roads Traveled: Ice Age Trail shows off state's subtle scenery. When I talked to Bart Smith this month, it wasn't all that long after he had finished a hike that took him at least 15,000 miles around the United States, including around 1,200 in Wisconsin. Bart is a photographer who has walked all eight of the National Park Service's national scenic trails. That includes the Ice Age Trail, established in 1980, and his "Along Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail" book (UW Press, $24.95) is a four-season tribute to the subtle beauty and bounty that distinguishes our part of the world. "I'd call it a mission -- tough but wonderful," he says of the project, and photography "has been a way for me to share my wonder about living in this amazing world."
http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20081019/CWS04/810190352
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
GETTING’ THERE, MAYBE. -- ALIPR - Image Recognition for Keywording - Here's one example of a fairly successful (but by no means exhaustive) result return, where I've checked the applicable keywords but are several others with less than stellar results. This technology is still in the early stages of development.
http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/10/alipr-image-recognition-for-keywording.html
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
UGH! NOT AGAIN. The world's photojournalists have been doing their best to find original ways to illustrate the global financial crisis. Some of their efforts have been commendable -- others, not.
The Best and Worst of Financial Crisis Photography. SPIEGEL ONLINE has collected the best of the best, and some of the worst. First things first: It would be difficult to pin the blame on the current financial crisis on the traders on the floor of the world's stock markets. It's not their fault. But seriously. How many more images of contorted, exasperated, horrified and desperate traders can we take? For the last two weeks, as the financial markets have remained frozen and the stock markets -- at least until this week -- plummeted to ever lower depths, newspapers, Web sites and television news have offered up a parade of faces buried in hands, mouths agape in dismay and arms flailing in the air as traders watch stock prices fall off a cliff. http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,584127,00.html
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
PUNK PHOTOGRAPHY -- Folks in the music industry love to throw around the phrase "back in the day" - a nod to how much more innovative and fresh and new things were at some undefinable point in the past. Few folks, however, can truly define "back in the day." Fewer still can claim to have been there. Photographer Theresa Kereakes is one of those people. Kereakes' life took a fabled turn when she did the first photo shoot for a friend's new band. That band? Punk legends The Germs. Shorty after that photo shoot, Kereakes became the default documenter of the Sunset Strip scene during the late '70s, photographing her close friends as they cumulatively wrote an important chapter in Rock History. The photographs of those friends - now icons and household names like Iggy Pop, Blondie, Joan Jett, Billy Idol The Dead Boys and more - have become the foremost collection of this classic, controversial time. As Kereakes herself puts it, "I was there. See?"
http://www.pluginmusic.com/news/archive.php?id=4041
HEART TO ART PHOTOGRAPHY -- Photographs by the California artist are beautiful, but the cameras he uses to take them are... let`s just say impressive. After the initial delight with digital photography, more and more people go back to classic, analogue cameras. Searching for a meaning, some go way back to the past. One of them is Wayne Martin Belger, born in California, who did all sorts of things in life, to be called an artist in the end. It is an understatement to say Belger does photography. He has a studious approach to the subject of his work, gets to know the subject, and then after having a perception of how their photograph should look like, Belger starts searching for the materials from which he will create the camera. If we quote him saying "All to witness and be a tool of the horrors of creation and the beauty of decay presented by the author light and time", it may be easier to accept the fact that he not only reached for wood and metal in the search, but for human remains as well.
http://www.javno.com/en/bestseller/clanak.php?id=191690
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
“Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be.”
- Edward Weston
22 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
1861 - October 24 – The first transcontinental telegraph line began operation on this date, when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Johnson Field, in California, sent a message to President Abraham Lincoln, in Washington, D.C. It cost the general public $6 to send 10 words from San Francisco to New York, and 75 cents for each additional word. The telegraph line was so successful that it quickly put the Pony Express out of business.
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
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October 15th 2008
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15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Anticipate
&
Adjust
Advance Notes: Successful marketing in any field involves knowing when to zig and when to zag. Photographers who find themselves betwixt and between in the transition to the “digital age” can check out the following pointers.
The secret of business success: anticipation. You position yourself where instinct tells you the action of the play is going to be. Where’s the action heading in this “digital age” we find ourselves in? Where are you going to position yourself? Translation: Where should you invest your photo business time and money in the digital age?
1. KNOW THY BUYER. Once the under-30 art directors take over the photobuyer scene, look for on-line services to supply buyers with discount generic pictures. But look for photobuyers to opt for your rights-managed (RM) photos because RF (royalty-free) photos won’t be specific enough for their quality publishing projects.
2. CONTENT-SPECIFIC pictures will always sell for higher fees (rights-managed). Most RF (royalty-free) pictures will sell for pennies. Informational magazines and books will require unique documentary pictures (rights-managed--RM). Since there are fewer of these specialized-content pictures, they’ll sell for high fees (supply and demand). The massive numbers of “exquisite cliché” (RF) photos will fall in price, because, well, there are so many of them. And the number keeps growing.
3. SPECIALIZE. Attorneys do it. Doctors do it. Musicians do it. You do it. You are much more valuable to a photobuyer if you can match that photobuyer’s “theme” area with your stock files
4. ANTICIPATE. Ever notice that book stores seem to know the current trend in reading matter? Most of the time. It's because publishers, who plan their press runs far in advance, do heavy market research. You can use book stores to inspire your next (specialized) self-assignment. Watch the window displays or the new shelf departments. You'll be ahead of the game.
5. DIGITIZE. Learn the new innovations in digital photography. Borrow the equipment if you can't buy it. But remember, the best word processing program can't produce a good story without a good author. Film is not quite dead, but it’s alive only in rare specialist corners.
6. RF has always been around in the form of Clip-Art – but there was not a way to produce massive digital versions of it. Now there is. Naturally, this reduces fees. Don't fight it. Royalty Free doesn’t always mean $1 pictures. Some buyers like to have all rights (RF) to the photo and will pay a high fee for them.
7. CD and DVD are delivery methods. They might become outmoded. However, your images (the content) will easily transfer to the newest on-line delivery methods. Your investment in CDs and DVDs will not be lost.
8. COPYRIGHT. You can expect we will see some new copyright laws coming along. But few will be enforceable. Foreign copyright infringement is rampant. As the saying goes, "Build a bigger lock and someone will build a bigger hammer." Put your energy to making more pictures, not fighting infringement that you may find.
9. MARKETING. Your marketing methods remain unchanged: Figure out what you love photographing. Find the markets that need photos in those interest areas of yours. Meet their needs. Stay on top of all the new delivery methods, so that you can deliver what your buyers need when they need it and how they need it. –RE
Rohn Engh is the best-selling author of “Sell & ReSell Your Photos” and ? ??sellphotos.com.” He has produced a new ebook, “How to Market Your Photos.” For more information and to receive a free eReport: “8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer,” visit http://www.sellphotos.com
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
VACANT ANSWERS. Can Intervention Save the Stock Photography Industry from Microstock? - I see only two options for traditional stock photographers to stay profitable in the face of the changes to the industry. The first is to differentiate on quality and create images that microstockers can't reproduce. The other is to drastically lower production values in order to compete with Microstockers.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/can-intervention-save-the-stock-photography-industry-from-microstock.html
TAKEAWAY: If you substitute the word “dance”, “sculpting”, “painting”, or any of the creative arts for the word “microstock”, you can see how these disciplines have no relevance to the situation.
NO RESPECT? -- How Can You Make A List Of Influential People And Not Include Photographers? - http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/10/02/how-can-you-make
-a-list-of-influential-people-and-not-include-photographers/
TAKEAWAY: My vote goes to Rick Smolan –RE
IS THE DYING BREED, DEAD? Yes, says this guy. The end of the stocker - It is not really the photo industry that is in danger of extinction, but rather a weird and strange animal that appeared about 50 to 60 years ago out of pure greed.
http://blog.melchersystem.com/2008/10/11/the-end-of-the-stocker/
TAKEAWAY. “Finally, the photo world will be repopulated by photographers that really enjoy taking pictures, rather than analyzing spreadsheets.” –Amen!
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
WHO SAYS MAGS ARE OUT? -- Hearst Shuts CosmoGirl, Prepares To Launch Food Magazine - Despite a shaky economy and a dim outlook for print publications, Hearst is moving forward with the launch of Food Network Magazine. Hearst said this week that the magazine will debut with two test issues, the first one was on October 14. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/editorial/e3ie470eaeef1dd69b19041671a9adfc93a
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
THE EYES OF THE WORLD is a proposition that promotes the
notion that citizens with a camera are just as eligible to
bring us visual reality as journeymen in the journalistic trade.
Here at PhotoStockNOTES you can share your newsworthy
information that applies to stock photography.
We welcome your participation.
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PPPP -- Photograph Your Polling Place - The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year's primaries, caucuses and general election. http://www.creativepro.com/article/photograph-your-polling-place
TAKEAWAY: Be sure to vote first, lest a person with a shiny badge taps you on the shoulder and halls you off for an i.d. check.
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
ROUNDUP -- Want to become a press photographer? Associated Press and National Press Photographer pictures show a scrapbook of the perils of covering rallies and political events. http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/09/arrests.html
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
ICONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY. -- Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Lisette Model and Henri Cartier-Bresson. They are widely accepted as artists with a capital A, too, included in innumerable museum collections and enshrined in histories of photography and art. But broad recognition for them wasn't some accident of history. They needed champions and Nancy Newhall was among those with the vision to recognize the greatness of these and other photographers. Fortunately, she also had the ability and credibility to champion them in writing and exhibitions.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20081012-9999-1a12images.html
TAKEAWAY: They spent a lifetime perfecting their art. We spend a half a lifetime learning how they did it. And then go on from there.
QUARTER of a CENTURY! The Image Works Celebrates 25 Years - As part of its ongoing growth, The Image Works has announced the addition of four new collections to its archive. http://www.stockphotographer.info/content/view/703/92/
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
DOUBLE DUTY -- For the first time, professional-grade single-lens reflex cameras are gaining the ability to record high-definition video. That capability, photographers say, has the potential to transform both still photography and moviemaking -- and it's largely thanks to advances in the semiconductor technology used to make the image sensors inside these cameras.
"I think this is the Holy Grail for news photography," says Randall Greenwell, the director of photography for the Virginian-Pilot, a newspaper in Virginia.
Greenwell says photojournalists are already shooting both stills and video, but using separate equipment for each medium, which is awkward, cumbersome and requires additional training. With a single camera that can do both stills and video, he says, the job of the new-media journalist will be greatly simplified.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/new-chips-poise.html
RAW. -- Adobe Systems has updated Photoshop's ability to deal with raw-format images from several of the latest SLR cameras with its new version 4.6 of the Camera Raw plug-in. Adobe's John Nack has the download links. Less than a month after beginning beta testing, the final version is out with support for Canon's newer entry-level EOS Rebel XS, its brand-new midrange EOS 50D, Nikon's freshly released midrange D90 and full-frame D700, Pentax's newest entry-level model, the K2000, and Sony's ambitious 24-megapixel full-frame Alpha A900.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10063396-39.html?tag=mncol
ORGANIZE -- Photobucket has introduced two new features: a way to skin albums and an overhauled organizational tool that lets users drag and drop photos into various folders.
Of the two, the organizer is the biggest enhancement. Users are taken to a dark gray editing environment that lets them make changes without the entire page having to refresh. Everything is drag and drop, which is useful for ferrying photos and videos between albums, and reordering album arrangement. There's also support for batch operations, so you can quickly move, reorder, and rename multiple photos at once.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10062316-2.html?tag=mncol
PROMO at ADOBE -- Adobe offers Elements with Photoshop.com promo. Adobe Systems has begun shipping its enthusiast-oriented Photoshop Elements 7 image-editing software and Premiere Elements 7 video-editing software--and is offering a promotion to try to lure users to its online Photoshop.com site as well. The Elements software costs $99.99 each or $149.99 as a bundle. New with this version, Adobe also is offering a $179.99 price that includes a one-year Photoshop.com Plus membership. Ordinarily, a Photoshop.com Plus subscription costs $49.99 a year, so you're basically getting a $20 price break, at least until the time comes to renew for another year.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10058738-39.html?tag=mncol
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
TINY TOUCHES -- Miniature World Photography - Tilt Shift Makes Fantasy Videos from Real Life (VIDEO)
These images only look like they are of miniature models-these photographs are actually of real life places. They are created with a technique called tilt-shift, a really cool effect for still photography. It is a method of changing the lens of a camera to give it a very limited depth of field.
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/tilt-shift-makes-fantasy-videos-from-real-life
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
FINDING PHOTOS – This Penn State University study is using computer science to keyword photos so that researchers will locate them on the Net.
http://live.psu.edu/story/35158 . Contributor: Frank Nowikowski
TAKEAWAY. Professor Wang is on the right trail. Identifying photos by keywords is much easier on the eyes than searching for photos by visual means.
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
GET-A-GRANT -- Getty Images Editorial Grants Program Call for Entries - Both professional and student photojournalists have until November 15, 2008, to propose new projects for the next Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography to be announced in February, 2009.
http://www.creativepro.com/article/getty-images-editorial-grants-program-call-entries
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
CAPTURING SPIRIT. -- What celebrity photographs tell us about the famous, the photographers, and us. If you aspired to become photographer to the stars today, you'd be unlikely to follow the lead of Yousuf Karsh. Karsh, as the Museum of Fine Arts exhibit "Karsh 100: a Biography in Images" makes plain, is a dinosaur. Many of the legendary portrait photographer's images are wonderful. But there's no mistaking the fact that they belong to a distant era. So what has changed? Is it celebrity? Is it photography? Or is it us? Discussing the art of portrait photography in "The Mind's Eye," a book of his selected writings, the great Henri-Cartier Bresson talked about grasping "the interior silence of a willing victim." "It's very difficult," he wrote. "You must somehow position the camera between his shirt and his skin."
http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2008/10/12/talking_heads/
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
BURNING DESIRE Photo fanatic Brad Pitt. “Burn After Reading” star, Brad Pitt, is obsessed with photography and always strives to improve
the quality of his work, according to his partner Angelina Jolie.
http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=91423&fm=newsmain,narts
GET YOUR TICKETS -- A Big October for New York Photo Events - Fall Photo Week kicks off Monday October 20 with the Lucie Awards and continues with the annual PhotoPlus Conference and Expo from October 23 to 25. That will be followed by the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) International Conference and
picturehouse trade show. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/pdn-online/e3i69c4daba6cf2b7e5db597bfe0a6f82dc
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
FAST LANE -- Awesome High-Speed Photography. WebUrbanist has cool exhibit of photos and accompanying essays. Check it out at:
http://gawker.com/5062224/awesome-high+speed-photography
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
“In photography, the smallest thing can become a big subject, an insignificant human detail can become a leitmotiv. We see and we make seen as a witness to the world around us; the event, in its natural activity, generates an organic rhythm of forms.” - Henri Cartier Bresson
15 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
1927 – December 12th – One of the inventors of the microchip, Robert N. Noyce, was born, in Iowa.
14 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
CELEBRITY SNAPPER. -- William Claxton, Photographer, Is Dead at 80. Claxton, a photographer of the famous who used his charm to lure jazz musicians from their dark, smoky natural habitat to pose on sunny beaches and carousels, then made stunningly intimate images of legendary loners like Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra. Claxton's photographs shed light on entertainment world. Anyone who doubts the power of black-and-white photography must not have seen the work of William Claxton.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2008/10/13/2008-10-13_william_claxtons_photographs_shed_light_.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/arts/design/14claxton.html?em
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
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October 8th 2008
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October 8th 2008
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08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
today’s technology lets you sell your photos…
All Around The Globe
Advance Notes: You can make sales anywhere in the world, when you attract lots of visitors to your website. Buyers now are finding the photos they need using keyword searches, so get more traffic to your site by identifying each of your images with descriptive keywords.
The Internet is proving to be today’s image-delivery system. It is important for photographers everywhere to understand that their own influence, as photographers, and their capabilities to compete in the marketplace, are growing worldwide, as the Internet grows, whether they live in a high mountaintop cabin in Wyoming or a high-rise in Hong Kong.
More and more photobuyers are realizing the benefits the Internet affords them for photo research. More and more computer-literate photo editors come aboard the Net and utilize its search and photo-finding capabilities, and photographers who capitalize on this are flourishing.
The automobile, airplane, and the telephone launched huge leaps in communication among peoples of the world, and so do the capabilities of the amazing Internet delivery system. But the Internet goes even farther. It affords independent photographers the delivery power that was once the domain only of the large stock photo agencies.
As a photographer, now that your images can be both pre-viewed and transmitted electronically, you can open the curtain on a brand new horizon of opportunity for yourself.
The top dog major stock agencies are no longer, well, top dogs. In the past, creative persons, whether songwriters, musicians, photographers, filmmakers, etc., had no way of competing against the middleman agents and the large conglomerates. It was near impossible to break into the ranks and get the attention of the buyers directly.
The World Wide Web has changed all of this. For example, if a major publisher is producing a book, CD, magazine article, Web review, TV special, on agricultural advances in growing cucumbers in Venezuela, there would be no reason to turn to a large digital stock agency to seek the needed images. Using web search engine efficiency, a buyer can, in minutes, locate photos from independent freelancers, and save money by eliminating the middleman.
Also important, images from a corporate stock agency are usually 'generic' in commercial style (smiling, contented farm workers – usually models – shiny new equipment, set-up landscapes, etc.). This type of photo isn’t the primary choice of most editorial buyers at magazine and book publishers, who prefer real-life, on-the-scene images.
HOW OLD ?
Furthermore, many agency images are at least 6 to 12 months old. (It takes that long for the corporate bureaucracy at most major stock photo agencies to acquire, edit, catalog, and process selections of images.)
The individual stock photographer not only has more recent photos, but can in many cases, within hours, produce the needed photo and deliver it to the buyer, in high resolution, from anywhere in the world, to anywhere in the world.
Because independent photographers are able to label their images, using key words, and with the power of search engines such as Google to offer delivery speed to buyers, photobuyers are realizing it's to their advantage to deal directly with independent stock photographers.
If you have a website, you can now increase your visitor rate by listing your images, labe ling each of them with several identifying keywords. “Web crawlers” from major search engines will then come in and capture these for their database information, that buyers tap into.
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of “Sell & ReSell Your Photos” and “sellphotos.com,” has helped scores of photographers launch their careers.
For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: “8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer,” visit http://www.sellphotos.com
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Learning how photobuyers THINK can make for better sales. To listen to two recent interviews Rohn has made with photobuyers about dealing with photobuyers: http://www.photosource.com/interview
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Let Google Spark
Your Imagination
At the heart of editorial photography is illustration. You illustrate a mood, a place, a city, a flower or whatever it might be, to complement a magazine article, book chapter, brochure, etc. To successfully illustrate, you need to know as much as you can about your subject. As you know, this is a powerful confirmation of the advantages of specializing, and you've no doubt experienced that it's a lifelong process to continually add to your knowledge in your special interest areas.
But sometimes knowing a lot about a topic or area isn't quite enough. Sometimes your imagination, not only your knowledge, can be your most useful tool.
Inspiration From The Web
These days, there is help available to get those creative juices flowing, swiftly and cheaply, and it’s right at your fingertips. Search engines are fast becoming the photographer’s most powerful idea tool.
If you find that you are running low on new creative ideas, browsing the work of others might be just the thing you need. In the past this would require a trip to the library and countless hours flipping through books and magazines.
Not so any more.
These days, all you need to do to browse the work of hundreds, if not thousands, of photographers, is to fire up your computer, get online and let a search engine such as Google work it's magic.
Go to www.google.com and select the “Images Tab”. Then key in whatever special area/topic you photograph. Click “Search” and you'll soon see what I mean. You will encounter a huge number of images from photographers in all corners of the earth.
Find inspiration
“Is this legal?” you ask.
Finding inspiration from the work of others is not illegal or morally wrong. (Unless you downright copy what you see, of course.) To browse the work of other photographers, painters, peers, to find inspiration, is not only perfectly O.K., it's also a great way to get your creativity kicked into high gear.
Study what others have produced. Think about how you would improve their concept or their images. Observe the symbols that were used. Try to understand the concepts that were incorporated in the production of the various images. This whole process can help you come up with new fresh ideas for your own photos.
Just around the corner
While in the past it was common to say that inspiration was lurking just around the corner, these days it might be more fitting to say that inspiration is waiting for you just within your next Web-search.
----
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 18 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike[at]photosource[dot]com.
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Want To Invite Google to Index Your Web Page?
Popular search engines, such as Google, add and update new sites to their index each time they “crawl” the web. For example, Google invites you to submit your Web page’s URL. They don’t add all submitted URLs to their index, and they cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when your website would be indexed. But it’s worth giving it a try. To add your website to Google: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl.
Want to add your URL to other search engines for free? Go to: http://www.submitexpress.com/submit.h tml.
Also (for free) submit your site to the Open Directory: http://dmoz.org/add.html.
Note: Here at PhotoSource we have added the PhotoSourceBANK to all of the major search engines. Depending which search engine is your favorite, if you are a PhotoSourceBANK member, type in a keyword or key phrase in the search bar of your favorite search engine, a space, then the word Photosource.
If your page reference does not come up, try another search engine. There are many besides Google: Alta Vista, Ask Jeeves, MSN, Yahoo! etc. RE
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
NEW PICS NASA's Mercury spacecraft on course near Mercury today.
The highest priority images and data should begin arriving at APL at 1:49 a.m. Tuesday. But already the pictures used for navigation during the final approach have captured surface
features that have never been seen before.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-mercury1006,0,2393793.story?track=rss
EXPOSURE TIPS -- Getting Good Exposures: 10 Dos and Don'ts - Here are 10 things you can do to get better exposures with virtually any digital camera. http://rising.blackstar.com/getting-good-exposures-10-dos-and-donts.html
SHARE THEM EASILY -- We've all experienced it. You've taken a bunch of photos or a home video at a family gathering and now you're trying to figure out how to share your work with everyone in your family. It's possible to use online photo sites like Flickr, Shutterfly, or Photobucket, but what if you had a localized program that could share photos and videos immediately? Not all your relatives are as computer savvy as you, so you want a program that works quickly and with the fewest steps. You want a program that anyone in your family will be able to figure out.
If you've ever run into difficulties trying to find the solution to this problem before, you'll be glad to know we have the perfect program for the job. Memeo Share only takes a few steps to set up and makes it possible to share photos and videos with anyone you want.
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10054898-12.html?tag=mncol
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
More...
Editorial stock photographers can get by with only a small investment in camera equipment. Unlike the commercial/assignment service photographer who must be "versatile", the editorial stock photographer can get by easily with a professional digital camera and three lenses. If your excess equipment is gathering dust, sell it. Your stock in trade are your pictures, not your equipment.
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
NO MORE STATIC TRAVEL SHOTS? -- iTravelstock Launches - The iTravelstock collection addresses a growing trend of requests for "active travel" imagery, focusing on the features and characteristics of a location, but also including enthusiast activities that make the location a destination.http://www.creativepro.com/article/itravelstock-launches
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
SHOW ME THE $ $ -- Index Stock: A Colossal Mess in Need of an Arbitrator? - In a report issued September 30, Stock Artists Alliance has accused the Australian stock house Photolibrary of more foot-dragging in its efforts to settle royalty accounts with Index Stock contributors. http://www.pdnpulse.com/2008/10/index-stock-a-c.html
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
GETTING FEEDBACK ON YOUR PHOTOS -- A twisted tale of twin idolatry - It is now possible for photographers to finally see the reaction, if any to their images. And that should change the way photography is being used around the world. Few take advantage of this viral quality of photography and instead continue to edit based on a silent readership. The content continues to dominate rather than the image itself. http://blog.melchersystem.com/2008/09/30/a-twisted-tale-of-twin-idolatry/
TAKEAWAY. If it were only so (for the photographer who wants to sell). Be mindful if you want to sell in this stock photo industry, the old adage: “If you sell to the masses, you will live where the classes live; if you sell to the classes, you will live where the masses live….” The trick is to sell the photos you love to produce and hope they appeal to the masses..
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
VOICE YOUR OPINION -- Stock Artists Alliance Issues Orphan Works Alert - U.S. Senate has passed the Orphan Works legislation. If you don't approve, tell your congressional representatives now. http://www.creativepro.com/article/stock-artists-alliance-issues-orphan-works-alert
FINDERS KEEPERS-- Bert Stern Sues For Return of Marilyn Monroe Images - Photographer Bert Stern has filed a lawsuit seeking the return of images he shot of Marilyn Monroe in 1962. The attorney for the men being sued says the images were pulled out of the garbage in the 1970s and Stern's claims are without merit. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/legal-news/e3if7d131631929bba948fa5d4ebcc55a6a
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Re-publication Permits
Privacy Suit to Proceed
Although the language of each state statute may vary, the use of a
person’s name, portrait or picture in a photograph cannot be used for
advertising, commercial or trade purposes, without the person’s written
consent.
This is called the Right to Privacy. The time to bring a lawsuit for
invasion of the Right to Privacy is one year from the first publication
in New York and most other states, but is subject to what is called the
single publication rule. Under this rule, the statute of limitations
begins to run on the date the material at issue is first published or
used. Accordingly, subsequent distributions or uses of the images does
not constitute a separate publication or continuing wrong which would
extend to the date the initial claim accrued.
The purpose of this rule is to avoid an endless tolling of the
limitations statute. For example, a distribution of a work to a library
would be the initial date for statute of limitations purposes, and that
initial date would not be extended each time the library loaned the work
out.
THE RE-PUBLICATION RULE
There is an exception to this single publication rule. This occurs wherethere is a republication, which happens when there is a separate
publication which is not merely a delayed circulation of the original
edition. The justification for this exception is that the subsequent
publication is extended to and actually reaches a new audience. Thus,
where the republication is in format intended to reach a new audience,
the statute of limitations will start over for purposes of the new
publication only.
A recent decision in New York Supreme Court dealt with this issue and
illustrates how this principal works n the marketplace.
The case concerned use of a photograph of the plaintiff playing football
in 1999. A copy of the photograph was first installed in defendant’s
sports clubs shortly thereafter and remains in such use today.
At some time later on, the image appeared on defendant’website.
Plaintiff then brought his lawsuit for invasion of privacy based upon the
subsequent website use. The defendant moved to dismiss the case on the
grounds that the one year statute of limitations had already expired.
The plaintiff conceded that his claim is time barred with respect to the
installation of the photo at defendant’club. However, he argued
that the website use was a republication and the court agreed.
The Court reasoned that the audience at defendant’club is
presumably intended primarily for the entertainment of the limited number
of existing members. On the other hand, the website use is presumably
directed at a far wider audience primarily comprised of non-members whom
the defendant is seeking to attract as new members.
Accordingly, unless the defendant could establish during the litigation
that the website use also dated back more than one year from the filing
of the complaint, it will be held responsible for invading the privacy of
plaintiff on the republication uses.
Attorney Joel L. Hecker lectures and writes extensively on issues of concern to the photography industry. His office is located at Russo & Burke, 600 Third Ave, New York NY 10016. Phone: 1 212 557-9600. E-mail: HeckerEsq[at]aol[dot]com.
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
WHAT YOU SEE -- Thinking in Images: Nine Tips for Communicating Visually - Visual forms of communication grab the attention of today's audiences. Graphic representations such as diagrams, charts, tables, illustrations and photographs not only catch the eye; they draw the viewer into the information being presented
http://rising.blackstar.com/thinking-in-images-nine-tips-for-communicating-visually-2.html
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
PEEKING FROM ABOVE -- Taxed from above – these counties use aerial photography to spy on homeowners. Aerial and satellite photography regularly helps our troops fight on the battlefield, but the same technology is now being used by cash-strapped counties to assess taxes. In Cape May County, New Jersey, county tax assessors are using photos to look for illegal additions to properties and to fine farmers for not farming enough. The county says the photos are a fantastic tool, but some people say the government has no business peeking into our backyards.
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39520/113/
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
BETTER VIDEOS COMING Canon, Nikon video-shooting SLR cameras ready for action
Two new SLRs can now shoot high-definition video, taking advantage of
the superior lenses (much better than video cameras,
way better than point-and-shoots) available for SLRs.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-10-01-slr-video_N.htm?csp=34
SMALL PACKAGE -- The Web-based tool, called Smush It, can perform multiple operations to shrink graphics file sizes without impairing visual appeal, Chris Heilmann of the Yahoo Developer Network said in a blog post after tool creators Nicole Sullivan and Stoyan Stefanov announced the tool at this week's Ajax Experience conference. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10057453-2.html?tag=mncol
PICASA EXPANDS Google has brought to Linux the beta version of its new Picasa 3 software for image editing, cataloging, and uploading. The new release catches the open-source operating system up with Windows, which got the Picasa 3 beta one month earlier. There's still no word about a Mac OS X version, although Mike Horowitz, Google's Picasa product manager, told me earlier that "Macs are important to us...We're always looking for new ways of making sure our users are happy, so it's something we're looking at."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10057452-39.html?tag=mncol
MORE SHRINKING -- Because these days pocket-size isn't small enough, ATP has redesigned its GPS Photo Finder into a key-chain-size receiver that you take shooting with you and a still-quite-small dock that sits at home and awaits a plug-in from the receiver and your flash-carded photos. Appropriately dubbed the GPS Photo Finder Mini, the system matches the history of location coordinates in the receiver with the timestamps on your photos to provide the geotags.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10054367-1.html?tag=mncol
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Demographers tell us
If you have moved recently, it’s important to personally let your buyers and clients know your new address. Don’t rely on the U.S. Postal Service to do the job for you.
In our day and age, technology offers ways we can make sure to stay on top for our buyers, even during the transition of a move. Your email address and 800# can remain the same, independent of any changes in your mailing address. You won’t lose touch with your photobuyers if you have one or the other or both.
A while back, I experienced another way that photobuyers can find photographers.
Nancy Ritz, Photo coordinator at Prentice Hall, the book publishing company, wrote to me a while back, saying she was returning one of my photos (an original B&W 8X10) that her company had used in one of their textbooks. She pointed out that they’ve filed a digitized copy of the photo, and the number stamped on the back of the print is the database designation from the Corporate Digital Archive (CDA) of their parent company, Simon & Schuster. She said in her letter, “You are listed as the photographer.” In 2006, Simon & Schuster became a part of the CBS Corporation. Now my photo is indexed in the vaults of CBS,
It’s nice to know computers, databases, and mergers of large publishing houses can have a beneficial reward for independent photographers. My digitized photo will probably remain in their CDA a long time.
And it’s nice to know that photo, taken in 1978 (thirty years ago), is in an archive that might one day benefit not only me but also my grandchildren, and possibly their grandchildren. –RE
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
NUTTY PHOTOGRAPHY Microstock Celebrity - Kelly Cline - Kelly is a 'big time' microstocker. Her reputation as a 'food nut' is justified. She lives food, and thanks to great photographic skill, she makes her living taking photos of it. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/kelly-cline.html#comment-19185
WHERE THE FUNDS WENT -- And Nachtwey's TED Prize Project Is... - After days of mystery, today the photo project that James Nachtwey produced with funding from the $100,000 TED Prize was revealed on the TED site and elsewhere. What's the "shocking and underreported global crisis" that Nachtwey's been working on? Extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). http://www.pdnpulse.com/2008/10/and-nachtweys-t.html
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
AMATEUR REPORTERS -- Seth Shimkonis wants to help the orphans of Peru tell their own own story. In November, the 2000 South Western High School graduate will travel to Arequipa, Peru, for six months to teach the children of New Hope Children's Home the art of photography.
Eventually Shimkonis hopes to develop a program similar to Kids with Cameras. That program was created from the documentary film "Born into Brothels," which follows children who live in the red-light district of Calcutta. The children were given cameras to document their lives and surroundings, and the photos were then sold, with proceeds going toward the children's education.
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_10590573
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
“Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion…the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate.” - Dorothea Lange
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
1821 - October 17th - Photographer Alexander Gardner, who documented the Civil War and later the American West, was born in Paisley, Scotland.
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
HAPPY BIRTHDAY To Us! This month of October marks the start of our 33rd year as publishers of market information for photographers and photobuyers.
In 1976 we established the PhotoLetter marketletter. In 1983 we pioneered going on-line with email delivery of the PhotoLetter (using NewsNet) to better serve our subscribers. In 1984 and 1985 we launched the PhotoMarket and PhotoDaily marketletters; in 1988 we began fax delivery; in 1993 we created the PhotoStockNotes monthly informational newsletter.
Twelve years ago we established our website (www.photosource.com), now the most extensive and comprehensive site on the Internet for stock photographers, receiving more hits per day (average 45,000) than all other stock photo sites COMBINED.
In 1998 we established computer to computer (C2C) delivery of our marketletters, plus instituted the PhotoSourceBANK and PhotoSourceFOLIO, which provide photographers with their own web pages as a valuable marketing channel.
In 2000 we launched the email-delivered PhotoStockNOTES/PLUS newsletter for photographers, and PhotoResearcher Newsletter for photobuyers. In 2000, also, we developed PhotoSourceBOOK, an annual photographer directory for photobuyers.
Today we reach photographer-subscribers and photobuyers all across the country and around the globe. Here's to more great things to come. -RE
08 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
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October 1st 2008
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Vive L’Independence!
You Are A Consultant
It’ll be a long while before microstock or the BIG BOYS (Getty, Corbis, Alamy, Jupiter) will ever surpass the community of photographers known as independent stock photographers when it comes to selling photos.
Why? Let’s take a look at what’s happening.
The scenes: A large publishing house in New York; and a small photo research office in Omaha. A researcher in each location is handed an assignment on Monday morning.
The assignment reads like this: “Rail cars from either the Boston Green Line or Dallas Dart mass transit systems.”
Presumably, neither photo researcher is from Boston or Dallas. He or she goes to a portal or popular stock agency to search for the above photos.
Found it! Case closed!
No it isn’t – unknownst to the researchers, that style of rail cars was replaced by a new design this past summer.
Is it the researcher’s fault that an inaccurate photo got published on page 203 of the publisher’s textbook? Maybe during the last decade in the publishing industry, such a mistake would have been excusable –but not today – not in the digital world of “search.”
Rather than looking through tons of rail pictures, the photo researcher would have been better off – speed-wise – and accuracy-wise – by announcing his/her photo need on a daily search service like the PhotoDaily.
The photographers who respond will probably live in the city or its vicinity, and have more accurate knowledge about the subject.
Example of another photo need: “The small town of Imperial Valley, California, -any local highlights, street scenes, museums, tourist attractions, etc.”
Same problem exists. A lovely photo of this location is no doubt, on a portal, available for a low fee, and downloadable.
The problem: Since the photo on the microstock site was taken two years ago, the local church has burned down, and two new gift shops and a new City Hall have been built.
This would be embarrassing to the publisher.
A local photographer, familiar with the area, would have been able to warn the photo researcher as well as to suggest other shots.
Here’s one: “Need active bow hunting for wild turkeys.”
On the portals you’ll find many. But are they accurate and faithful to appropriate equipment and technique? Finding a photographer first who can advise with knowledgeable comments on hunting turkeys, is safer than guessing that the hunting picture to appear on a poster is authentic.
Things that can go wrong: the bow hunting equipment is illegal, the clothing worn by the hunter(s) is inappropriate, the age of the hunters is below the legal law in that particular state, the actual bow is out of style.
The average photo researcher would not recognize these factors. Contacting a photographer directly is a safer method of obtaining photos than ‘hoping and guessing’ using a portal or stock photo agency. And thanks to today’s technology, contacting a photographer is just as swift – or swifter – as searching all that time on a portal.
YOU ARE A CONSULTANT
If you stick with a particular specialty in your stock photography, you are going to learn more about your subject. As an expert in that field, you are an important resource the photobuyer. .. whether they reside in NYC or Omaha, or Tokyo.
Photo researchers only have to be burned once, before they start turning to independent stock photographers to supply accurate images for their assignment.
Take advantage of your knowledge. Specialize to survive in today’s microstock world. Publishers are willing to pay for the confidence they can have in the content of your pictures and the additional consulting service you can provide.
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of "Sell & ReSell Your Photos" and "sellphotos.com," has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and learn how to sell pictures, and to receive this free report: "8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer," visit his website, PhotoSource International or call 800 624-0266.
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Submitting to An
On-Line Gallery
If you intend to place images with your favorite on-line gallery, below are some guidelines that are important for stock photographers, to make sure your photos can be accepted and used by buyers.
(Note: These guidelines might appear to be stringent. There's a reason.
When photobuyers direct download a picture from the Internet, they require it to be "camera-ready," that is, no fuss, no bother, ready for publication. They soon cross you off the list if your images aren't in the correct format or don't exhibit the technical quality required.)
Digital Cameras
Pictures produced by point-and-shoot digital cameras are not acceptable.
Cameras need to have a minimum of 6 megapixels. If you are considering a particular camera and want to know if it is acceptable before you buy, you are welcome to contact me, Mike Karlsson, at mike[at]photosource[dot]com. The cameras listed below are acceptable.
Canon
40D
50D
5D Mark I and II
1D Mark II and III,
1Ds Mark I, II and III
Fuji
Fuji Finepix S5 Pro
Hasselblad
Any modern Hasselblad digital camera
Mamiya
Any modern Mamiya digital camera
Nikon
D60
D80
D200
D300
D700
D2X
D3
Digital backs for medium and large format cameras
Generally speaking - any modern fairly recently released – digital back will do very nicely indeed.
Scanners
Flatbed scanners are not acceptable unless you are scanning large negatives/slides. When selecting a film scanner, pick one with at least
2,800 dpi and always scan at the highest available resolution. We currently recommend the following scanners:
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 II
Nikon Coolscan V ED
Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED
Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED
Drum scanners are also acceptable. I strongly recommend that you look for a scanner with ICE or similar dust/scratch removal tools.
Image Editing Software
Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4 is king of the image editing software and is norm in the industry. The latest version at this writing, CS4, comes with a powerful RAW converter, all the tools you need to clean dust and dirt from your photos, and much more. It is the most complete of the image editing softwares available.
An alternative to the full Photoshop CS2 is Photoshop Elements. The latest version of Elements at this writing is version 7. Photoshop Elements is a "light" version of the full Photoshop, and the price reflects this.
Photoshop CS4 currently retails for $699.95, while Elements 7 can be found for $74.99.
If you want to keyword and caption your images and send high-resolution files directly to photobuyers, I highly recommend the full Photoshop CS4. If you envision yourself doing only light editing and only rarely will send high res images to photobuyers, you should be fine with Elements 7.
If the only editing of images you are doing is to submit images to
PhotoSourceGROUP, there is a free alternative called GIMP. Find it at
www.gimp.org
Cataloguing Software
Once your collection of digital images grows to over a few hundred, you'll start to appreciate having them all well organized from the beginning. I personally use Adobe Lightroom and Photo Mechanic (from Camerabits), and can recommend that warmly.
This list will be updated continuously. If y ou have a product you would like to recommend for inclusion on this list, please contact Mike Karlsson by email at mike[at]photosource[dot]com
* PhotoSourceGROUP handles all the administration of sales - you pay nothing to display your images and you receive 75% of each sale. Go to http://www.photosourcegroup.com to sign up.
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 18 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike[at]photosource[dot]com.
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
TRAVELERS
Photographers: We broadcast your foreign destinations along with contact information, departure date, length of stay, etc. Contact PhotoStockNotes (1 715 248-3800) at least two months in advance.
Photobuyers: Watch this column. For the e-mail address, phone or fax number of the traveling photographer, call the PhotoSource International office and ask for Rohn Engh (1 800 624-0266). For an expansion of this list: www.photosource.com and press the Travelers Abroad button, to learn of past international destinations of our photographers.
Joe Becker
June 24 – July 8, 2008
Scotland, London, Paris
Paul Sivley
Aug 30 – Sept 16, 2008
Namibia Africa
Fred and Carrie Schilling
Sept 8 – Sept 20, 2008
Croatia
Sally Weigand
August 31 – Sept 23, 2008
Eastern Europe
Terri Petri
Oct 17- Nov 2 2008
Johannesburg, Kruger Park, South Africa
Reggie Millette
Sep 16 - Oct 14, 2008
Britanny, France
Steven Lunetta
September 26 – October 6
Italy
Austin Cortez
Oct 22 – Oct 27, 2008
Brazil (Amazon)
Frederick Randall
Nov 2008 – May 2009
Caribbean, BWI
Lisa Kirchner
Oct 1st - Oct 15th
Paris
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Travelwriter Marketletter
Travelwriter Marketletter… for writers and photojournalists.
Travelwriter Marketletter is a monthly publication available online
( http://www.travelwriterml.com ) and in hard copy format. Travelwriter Marketletter is in its 29th year.
If you’re a travel writer or photographer, TWM tells you about new markets, pay scales, editors, specs and trips. Contact Mimi Backhausen Phone: 703-879-6814 Fax: 208-988-7672
If you’re in travel PR, TWM tells you which publications are likely targets.
If you’re a travel editor, TWM tells you about trips, and about your competitors.
If you’re a photo researcher TWM will direct you to travel photographers.
Request a sample copy of TWML: 703 879-6814.
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01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
LEARNING CENTER. Adobe Announces Photoshop CS4 and NAPP Launches "The Photoshop CS4 Online Learning Center" - http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/2019
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
What Corbis and Getty don’t tell you. . .
Now You Know the Reason
Photobuyers Are Not Finding You
Thanks to Google and the other amazing search engines available to us now, you have been elevated to being an important resource for photobuyers worldwide.
WHAT? –you are asking.
In the recent past, many stock photographers felt intimidated and outplayed by the strength of stock photo powerhouses such as Bill Gates’ Corbis and Mark Getty’s Getty Images. Some photographers even gave up and went out of business. Little did these photographers know that they were sitting on a gold mine of images that can surpass the power of any of the large photo agencies.
I’m going to show you that you can compete with the large agencies.
In the last century, photographers believed that the way they had to sell their photos was to exhibit them. It was only natural that when the Internet came along, photographers rushed to display their pictures on their website or someone else’s website. This system works, but ever so slowly. Reason? Photobuyers who have a need for a specific photo don’t enjoy the strain on their eyeballs, to look at hundreds of images before they find the their specific needs.
Search engines have changed all this in the past couple of years. Rather than search for an image, photobuyers have now learned to search for the “source” of an image.
FIND THE SOURCE
Let me illustrate. Let’s imagine you are an editor researching a story on the one-armed major league baseball pitcher, Jim Abbott. You might go to amazon.com to find books about him, and then contact the author of the book to ask who supplied the pictures.
But why not save oodles of time by going to the photographer immediately? Here’s how.
In the Google search bar, type in:
baseball pitcher Jim Abbott then a space and then type photosource
(spell everything correctly).
Click. Up comes a page of text with descriptions of photos. Your search will be highlighted in red. Accompanying this is a photographer's name & how to contact him/her. You get in touch with the photographer who places several images on a LightBox and e-mails them to you. Choose what you need, negotiate, and you’re in business.
Try this. You are a photo researcher and your client is doing a story on Socrates and needs a picture of poison hemlock (conium maculatum). Use the same method.
Here’s another example. An automotive book publisher is in need of a picture of a 1947 Labatt’s truck. Again, type this in, then a space, then the word photosource.
WEB DEMOCRACY
Will Corbis or Getty Images come up if you do the same thing, only replace the word photosource with either of their names? No. They can’t supply the picture.*
If you have not been putting extensive keywords (photo descriptions) to the photos on your website, begin today. Or you can join a service like our PhotoSourceBANK, and have your own web pages to list your photo descriptions. You are allowed 3,000 words or phrases. The major search engines all distribute ‘web crawlers’ to the trillions of websites on the Internet, to locate desired subjects. Yours will be included. You, in effect, will be a monopoly of one with your stock photo specialization.
Now you know why you've not been getting visitors to your website.
You can gain a marketing advantage if you put your keywords in your own web page in the PhotoSourceBANK, where hundreds of photobuyers search daily to find the source for their specific photo n eeds. Even though you think your photos might be obscure, you never know when you are going to get an inquiry from Hong Kong or Paris, Nashville or Toledo. The cost is only $4.95 per month to be a member of PhotoSourceBANK. Check out www.photosource.com/bank.
Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA. E-mail: info[at]photosource[dot]com . Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site: www.photosource.com .
*Why don’t Getty and Corbis supply such photos? Well, for most part, very specific content photos aren’t volume money-makers. For a big agency, and in addition, the major agencies work primarily with a different audience. They prefer to concentrate on the ad agencies and corporate markets. Your audience is the book and magazine market.
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
BUCKLE THE BELT Six Tips to Help Your Photography Business Survive in a Struggling Economy - With the financial markets and economy in turmoil, small businesses --
including photography businesses -- may be facing a rocky road ahead. Here's some advice for keeping your business in the black. http://rising.blackstar.com/six-tips-to-help-your-photography-b: usiness-survive-in-a-struggling-ec.html
TAKEAWAY: Be a winner. Here’s some good advice.
THAT FICKLED GOOGLE Search Engines And Your Website - your most important marketing tool is your website. That's a given. You probably submitted it to the search engines so you either are "found" for your search terms, or you're not. Then all of a sudden, you disappear., what happens?
http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/09/search-engines-and-your-website.html
TAKEAWAY: Getting on Page 1 of a Google search is possible but it’s also impossible. Learn here how elusive the experience can be.
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
2008 PICTURE PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR. ASPP has announced that Jerry Tavin as its Picture Professional of the Year. Jerry follows in the footsteps of previous award winners: Jane Kinne, Larry Levin, Anita Duncan, Niki Barrie, and Nancy Wolff, who all fulfilled the following criteria: being a current ASPP member who has demonstrated one or more of the following qualities --- significant contributions to photography, a single outstanding achievement and long-time service to the association or its members. More info about ASPP: Cathy Saks, http://www.aspp.com/.
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
BIG COLLECTION OF IMAGES New Site Offers Access to Millions of Iconic Photographs From Getty Images' and LIFE's Combined Photo Collections.
Time Inc. and Getty Images will jointly launch LIFE.com, the companies announced at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX Conference in New York City. LIFE.com will be jointly owned and operated by Time Inc. and Getty Images, and will provide access to the most comprehensive iconic and professional photography collections available anywhere online. Andy Blau, president of LIFE and SVP of Time Inc. Interactive, and Catherine Gluckstein, vice president of iStockphoto and Consumer Markets at Getty Images, will serve as CEO and CFO, respectively.
"LIFE.com brings together the two most-recognized brands in photography, making the defining images of our times even more accessible to people everywhere," said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. "We are thrilled to partner with Time Inc. on the launch of this exciting new venture."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/time-inc-getty-images-jointly/story.aspx?guid={1838B7CE-E567-45B4-BF9E-8C9BDA66B750}&dist=hppr
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01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
GOODBYE MY FRIEND Nice, bright colors may soon be a memory - "It's a low-volume product; all volumes [of color film] are down," says spokesman Chris Veronda. For decades, Kodachrome was the standard choice for professional color photography and avant-garde filmmaking now die-hard fan Alex Webb is convinced the digital age soon will take his Kodachrome away.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/nation/29203989.html
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
JUST LIKE THAT Under Cover Of Night, During Financial Crisis, Senate Passes Orphan Works Act. "It's extremely tragic to see this legislation passed in such a manner, while the nation is at such an important economic precipice," National Press Photographers Association president Bob Carey said this morning when he learned the news. More than 70 organizations, including The National Press Photographers Association and the Imagery Alliance, and 100,000 visual artists have opposed the bill.
Note: It still has to get by the House.
An "orphan work" is a photograph or illustration that is protected by copyright but whose copyright owner cannot be identified or located. The purpose of the Orphan Works Act of 2008 is to unlock copyrighted works whose copyright owners are unknown or unable to be found, works that are said to be "orphaned.".
TAKEAWAY. The way Washington works. Are we surprised?
http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/09/orphan01.html
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
PHOTOS SHOW INFRACTIONS Local schools may soon view digital photos posted online as evidence of violation of student athletic codes of conduct. Certain photos online could mean trouble for school athletes. Since the explosion in popularity of Internet social networking Web sites, such as MySpace.com and Facebook.com, some students have posted photos of themselves or other students breaking the law and/or school rules, prompting the school districts in the Glove Cities to take action.
"The gist of it is we would consider using [those digital photos] posted on MySpace as well as someone seeing them or reporting them [to initiate disciplinary action]," Semione said.
http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/sep/27/0927_athletescode/
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
PHOTO SAFE II (PST-251). Photo Safe II from Digital Foci, lets you travel light and still quickly and securely save your digital photos where ever you go. No need to carry a laptop to download your photos for safe-keeping. Frees you from worry about losing important pictures or running out of memory card space while on the road. Provides portable on-the-road digital photo storage with 80GB and 160GB hard drives and built-in memory card readers. Photo Safe II copies the entire content of your memory card with a one-touch Auto Copy button. It works with all popular card formats, and is compatible with PC and Mac computers. For more information, see www.digitalfoci.com or
www.digitalfoci.com/photo_safe.html.
LIGHTING TECHNIQUES: for Middle Key Portrait Photography, by Norman Phillips. The author covers a little-expored area of photography, showing you how taking a conscious approach to each element in your middle key images can result in more cohesive and appealing portraits. The book includes images from more than a dozen top portrait photographers, with Phillips revealing the elements in each portrait that make it a success. Clear-cut diagrams show you how subtle changes can produce dramatic lighting changes, enhancing your ability to make every subject look their best. (ISBN-13: 978-1-58428-231-0; $34.95; 128 pgs) Contact: Kate Neaverth, Amherst Media, 175 Rano St, Ste 200, Buffalo, NY 14207. Phone: 800 622-3278; Fax: 800
622-3298. Email: kneaverth[at]amherstmedia[dot]com. Web: www.amherstmedia.com
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
HOLD IT! (From the Los Angeles Times Travel Section) Last fall, three friends and I flew from Lisbon to Los Angeles by way of Philadelphia. On the flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, I was showing them my new camera and took a few pictures of our surroundings. A flight attendant came to me and told me to show her the pictures, which I did. On our arrival, armed officers escorted us off the plane, separated us and made us wait for the authorities. They asked ridiculous questions ("What's your eye color?"), and in the end they let us go with no apologies.
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-spot14-2008sep14
TAKEAWAY: We live in jittery times. The only antidote for this kind of behavior from security guards, self-appointed security guards, and bona fide police personnel is to wear three cameras around your neck plus a badge, the kind you see museum personnel wear, and pay little attention to anyone until you get the photos you were after. Of course, if someone taps you on the shoulder, smile and be courteous. If they take your camera. Sue. –RE
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
HOMAGE – This is a long overdue homage to a woman who devoted her life to photography largely through writing. She gave modern language a new way of looking at this dynamic medium. A Literacy of Images: Nancy Newhall and the Art of Photography. Ms Newhall gave a lecture in early October at the Museum of Photographic Art in San Diego. Best known for writing text to accompany the photographs of Ansel Adams
and Edward Weston. Nancy Newhall was also a widely published writer on photography,
http://www.jewishjournal.com/community_calendar/item/a_literacy_of_images_nancy_newhall_and_the_art_of_photography_61259/
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
HOME OFFICE PERKS . . .
KNOWING THE ROPES
TO PUT MONEY IN YOUR POCKET
Advance Notes: If you’re self-employed, you’re eligible for specific tax deductions that can, in effect, “give yourself a raise.” There are many tax deductions you can claim that relate right to the place you probably do much of your work, your home. Here are some tips from the book, “422 Tax Deductions,” by Bernard Kamoroff, C.P.A.
The IRS accepts that a “home” office can be in a house, apartment, loft, condominium, trailer, mobile home, or boat. The term also includes any separate structure that is part of your residence, such as a garage or barn. You can deduct the expenses directly related to your home office, such as utilities, insurance, property taxes, etc. You must, however, meet certain requirements for your home work space to qualify as a “home office,” and be eligible for these deductions. (See below).
The home-office rules apply to sole proprietors, partners, and owners of an S corporation. The home-office rules do not apply to C corporations.
Regular and Exclusive Use: To be eligible for the home office deduction, a specific part of your home must be used regularly and exclusively for business. It can be a separate room or even part of a room, as long as the space is used for the business and nothing else. A TV set can be in the office if it is used in your stock photography work. Your office cannot double as a guestroom, poolroom, kids’ playroom, or anything else, even when you are not working.
Here’s an exception to the exclusive rule: If your home is your sole fixed location for a retail sales business, and if you regularly store your inventory (in this case, your stock photos) in your home, the expense of maintaining the storage area is deductible even if storage isn’t the exclusive use of the space.
Separate structure: If your home business is located not in the home, but in a freestanding structure such as a studio, garage or barn, you don’t have to meet the principal-place-of-business test. You are allowed deductions for upkeep of the space even if it is not your principal place of business. But the space still must be used regularly and exclusively for business, to qualify.
What’s Deductible: Deductible home-office expenses include a percentage of your rent if you rent your home or apartment, or a percentage of the depreciation if you own your home, and according to percent of space used, an appropriate percentage of home utilities, property tax, mortgage interest and insurance. You can determine the percentage based on any reasonable allocation. Most people use either square footage or number of rooms in the house.
Home repairs, such as a new roof or furnace, are also partly deductible (though if they are major, they must be depreciated).
The IRS specifically prohibits deductions for landscaping and lawn care, even if done solely to enhance the business (unless you are in the landscaping business).
Ed Note: As a stock photographer, you may be able to convince the IRS that landscaping, even flower or vegetable gardening, is essential to your business, if these be some of your photo specialties.
Carrying A Business Loss Forward: If your home business shows a loss for the year, part of your home office expenses are not deductible for that year. You may deduct all of your regular business expenses, e.g. phone, postage, stationery (other than expenses for the office space itself), and may deduct interest and property taxes on the office, regardless of profit and loss. But the remaining home office expenses (including rent or depreciation, insurance, utilities) may be deducted for th e year only to the extent that there is no loss. Any expenses you cannot deduct due to this limitation can be carried forward to the next year, and deducted again only up to the point where they do not create a loss for the year.
Homeowner Deductions -- Caution: If you are eligible for the home-office deduction, you might run into tax complications when you sell your house. In computing profit on the sale, you are required to reduce your home’s cost basis by the amount of the depreciation allowed (whether you take the depreciation or not!), which will increase your profit, and possibly your taxes, on the sale.
For more information, see IRS Publication 587, “Business Use of Your Home.”
Expense category: Home office expenses must be reported on Form 8829, “Expenses for Business Use of Your Home.” Note that you do not report home office depreciation, utilities, property taxes, or other home office expenses on the expense category tax form normally used for your business deductions. All home office expenses are reported on Form 8829.
Source: “422 Tax Deductions For Self-Employed Individuals,” by Bernard B. Kamoroff, C.P.A. ($16.95 plus $3 p&h) Bell Springs Publishing, Box 1240, Willits, CA 95490 (216 pages; ISBN 0-917510-11-9) 1 800 515-8050; Fax: 1 707 459-8614.
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
EVEN NEWER CONTROL FREAK LENS. Lensbaby, LLC has launched an entirely new system of “selective focus” lenses at the Photokina tradeshow in Cologne, Germany. Three new Lensbaby lenses - The Composer(tm), The Muse(tm) and The Control Freak(tm), - make up the new line of products. Each features the Lensbaby Optic Swap system. The new Muse and the new Control Freak replace the current Original, Lensbaby 2.0, and Lensbaby 3G lenses, which are being phased out.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080923005255&newsLang=en
A WEDDING -- Digital Anarchy, known for its creative software in the Photoshop market, has announced their full compatibility with Adobe Photoshop CS4. Digital Anarchy has released third party tools for Adobe Photoshop since 2003. These tools cover a range of uses from helping professional and hobbyist photographers to create a fully digital portrait studio to allowing graphic designers to create sophisticated visual effects.
http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=529038
HEAD SPINNING MATTER Controlling Light With Sound: New Liquid Camera Lens as Simple as Water and Vibration - Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have designed and tested an adaptive liquid lens that captures 250 pictures per second and requires considerably less energy to operate than competing technologies. http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports
/physics_astronomy/controlling_light_sound_
liquid_camera_lens_simple_118853.html
FASTER AND FASTER Lexar, a global provider of memory products for digital media, announced today that it has enhanced the performance of its Professional line of CompactFlash® (CF) memory cards to 233x, a speed advancement over the line's previous speed-rating of 133x. The Lexar Professional 233x CF memory cards are now UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access) enabled and capable of minimum-sustained read and write speeds of 35MB per second - a considerable improvement over the previous read and write speeds of 20MB per second.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080923005063&newsLang=en
STUDIO STUFF. --DALSA Extends Image Sensor Leadership in Medium Format Digital Photography With 6 Micron Pixel Platform. This year's Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany, sees the launch of groundbreaking new products by some of the most dominant players in medium format photography, and DALSA will provide their critical components-image sensors built on theirnew 6 micron pixel platform.
"These new image sensors continue DALSA's tradition of setting the standards by which all others are judged," said DALSA CEO Brian Doody. "Our 6 micron pixel platform enables medium format devices with 50, 60 megapixels and beyond, delivering unprecedented resolution and image quality for the world's most demanding commercial studio applications."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dalsa-extends-image-sensor-leadership/story.aspx?guid={F5B01D66-4EDB-4A71-87EA-6E81E3602F60}&dist=hppr
FIGURING OUT A STANDARD -- At Photokina 2008, industry- leading companies announced the Metadata Working Group, an organization formed in 2007 dedicated to solving key interoperability issues that make finding, organizing and searching for digital photos a challenge. Today, the Metadata Working Group has also introduced its first specification, which provides guidelines designed to increase interoperability and preservation of metadata in digital photographs.
"We've chosen to address the most common issues photographers face as we feel t his will make the biggest impact for the average photographer," Weisberg said. "Down the road, we will expand our work to include other metadata issues relevant to photographers."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/metadata-working-group-introduces-first/story.aspx?guid={0F66C536-2DDE-4AD9-A32D-878C7EFBF97F}&dist=hppr
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
HOW WAS SCHOOL TODAY? I’LL SHOW YOU. Photography-mad families in Germany are buying children their own cameras as gifts to celebrate the first day at school, an industry group said Wednesday at the Photokina trade show in Cologne.
Rainer Schmidt, secretary of the German photo industry federation PIV, said in an interview that the days when each family had only one camera, which was used mainly by the father, were over.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/
business/news/article_1432799.php/Photography
_before_you_learn_to_read_Trade_sees_new_trend
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
DIGITAL EVIDENCE European Spaceship's Death Plunge Caught on Film Program managers expect that photographic data from two aircraft ESA hired from NASA, and an imager aboard the international space station flying overhead at the time, will provide precise data on the amount of debris that survived reentry.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080929/sc_space/
europeanspaceshipsdeathplungecaughtonfilm
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
DO-IT-YOURSELF-CONTEST. Photrade.com has created a free platform that provides the tools for photographers of any skill level to customize their own photo contest,. Within a few minutes, they can flaunt their proudest pieces of art to family, friends or competitors across the world. The key difference between photrade's format from the other photo-hosting sites is the power it gives to the user. Once they've created the name of the contest, they can specify the rules, name the prize, stipulate the number of entries allowed, discuss the entries and post the submitted photos for a final vote. If contest rules permit, vote totals may include friends and family, and photrade provides the widgets to promote your pics on your blog or favorite social networking site.
http://www.marketingshift.com/2008/9/photradecom-launches-new-platform-photography.cfm
PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS A new initiative, in association with The Prince's Rainforests Project (PRP), was announced 22 September, at the launch of the second annual Sony World Photography Awards 2009 -- a global competition which honours both professional and amateur photographers. There are 12 categories for professional photographers and the nine categories for amateurs.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/sony-world-photography-awards-2009/story.aspx?guid={41CA0829-6AFB-4A62-A37E-EDCE7AFA8748}&dist=hppr
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
NOW YOU SEE IT. -- THEN IT’s GONE Altered States - Visual artist Josh Azzarella erases important elements of iconic news photographs. Read about how he does it. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/featured-in-print/e3i4f1bfc7cd3706a681e9e674eaa2b3c35
TAKEAWAY: Inches vs. millimeters. Can you get used to them? Documentary pictures vs. doctored pictures. Can you get used to them? It might take a generation or two before me make the transition to a different thought process. Here’s a start.
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
ACROSS THE GLOBE. National Geographic's 2008 All Roads Photography Winners Unite to Share Images From Across the Globe. All Roads, a National Geographic initiative created to provide an international platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture artists through the power of film and photography, today announced that National Geographic's 2008 All Roads Photography winners, seen at http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/allroads/photography.html, will be discussing their work during the Global Storytellers program and exhibiting at this year's All Roads Film Festivals .(http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/allroads/festival-events.html).
01 Oct, 2008 | Posted by: psn
Don Ultang, Pioneer in Aerial Photography, Dies at 91
an early specialist in aerial photography who won the 1952 Pulitzer
Prize for photography...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/sports/football/27ultang.html
PACA will be presenting a "Celebration of Life" of Jane Kinne at their International Conference in NYC on Saturday October 25th, hosted by "Friends of Jane Kinne". For more information: exectdirector[at]pacaoffice[dot]org
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