July 2, 2007
PPSOP Launches Stock Submission Service
The Perfect Picture School of Photography announced the launch of a new Web site, ppsop.com, to assist photographers with submitting images to Corbis and FogStock.
Established a year ago by Bryan F. Peterson, an award-winning commercial photographer and the author of four books on photography, PPSOP specializes in online photography classes.
Each month, PPSOP submits the work of its clubhouse members to three stock agencies. Corbis gets first pick; images not selected by Corbis editors are then submitted to the Portland, Oregon-based FogStock. Images not selected by either agency are submitted to a microstock provider that has yet to be named, although the PPSOP Web site names "Corbis Microstock" as third in line.
Photographers whose work is chosen and subsequently sold receive the entire commission paid by the stock agency. PPSOP charges clubhouse members a monthly fee of $22.95 and handles all the paperwork, communications and payment arrangements associated with submitting to stock agencies.
In addition to the submission service, clubhouse membership provides participating photographers with an online portfolio gallery of up to 1,000 images and access to member-only site features, including cash-prize contests, tips and techniques, DVD lessons by Peterson and discussion forums. Membership is open to both amateur and professional photographers.
Google Experiments With Photo-led News
By: Julia Dudnik Stern
Google News now has an Image VersionImage Version in which photos dominate the screen. Corresponding headlines are presented in a smaller space on the side. Placing the mouse over an image brings up additional text. Google expects the new service will have most relevance for sports news, a stock-image niche currently dominated by Getty Images.
Masterfile Enhances Search With User Stats
By: Julia Dudnik Stern
Masterfile has integrated years of site visitor data into its stock-image search engine. The new "People's Choice" search option ranks images by popularity, based on the combined actions of previous clients. Masterfile views this as another way to provide clients with a faster, more intuitive way of finding images in the agency's rapidly growing collection.
Yahoo! Image Search Integrates Flickr Photos
By: Julia Dudnik Stern
According to a report by the Search Engine Journal, Yahoo! Image Search is now indexing 300 million Flickr photos. Yahoo! has owned Flickr since 2005 and is obtaining indexing information via a live feed - providing much more accurate image search results than other engines, which rely on crawlers. Though Yahoo! has been struggling, this integration gives it a slight competitive edge, which could become even more significant, should the speculation about Flickr's entry into the stock-image market prove true