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Alamy Signs Global Distribution Deal With ZUMA Press

ZUMA Press, the California-based news agency is now supplying Alamy's live news feed with images from its global network of 3,000 photojournalists. Owned and run by renowned photojournalist Scott Mc Kiernan, ZUMA has also made its back catalogue available online through Alamy’s

living4media Images Available In 43 Countries

living4media, the new home and living image agency, is expanding fast. Launched in April 2011 in Germany, the online collection is already available in 43 countries. This rapid growth can be put down to the long experience and established global distribution network of the agency’s parent company, StockFood, the world’s leading food media agency.

Juice Images Exceeds 30,000 Wholly-Owned Images

Juice Images, the UK-based, high-end, RF image producer has just exceeded the 30,000 image mark. The images span a range of in-demand categories including Business, Industry, Education and Medical as well as more general Lifestyle.

VII Members Receive Awards in 2012 World Press Photo Contest

VII has announced that two of its member received top awards in two of the 9 categories in the 2012 World Press Photo Contest. Stephanie Sinclair, received a First Prize for Conterporary Issues stories and Donald Weber a First Price for Portaits.

New Recommendations For Dealing With Educational Use Requests

The Editorial Relations Committee of PACA (Picture Archive Council of America) has released updated suggestions for dealing with educational publishers. Digital technology is rapidly changing the way educational materials are being developed and used. During this transition period image licensors need to be particularly vigilant if they hope to receive reasonable compensation for the long range use of their imagery.

Microstock Group 2011 Industry Survey Results

Microstock Group has published the preliminary results of its 2011 survey of microstock contributors. So far more that 700 people have responded, but there is still time for anyone involved in microstock to add additional information before the final results are tallied.

Corbis Images Launches OnDemand: Entertainment Subscriptions

Corbis Images has launched OnDemand: Entertainment, a flexible entertainment subscription service. The entertainment subscriptions provide customers with exclusive access to the industry’s most comprehensive collection of breaking entertainment and iconic celebrity imagery. The service will be available to customers worldwide searching for compelling creative content to showcase their celebrity and entertainment related news.

Opportunity For Photography Students

Since September 2011 photography and illustration students have submitted more than 3,000 images to Alamy, the world's largest online stock photography agency. For the next two years these contributors will receive 100% of all money collected for the licensing of their images.

Graphic Design; Illustration Share Of Microstock Sales

One thing that has intrigued me about the microstock business is the role designers and illustrators play as content creators and how their participation on the seller side of the market influences imagery supply and demand. Shutterstock recently reported that in 2011 32% of the company’s total downloads were vector illustrations and that in the last 5 years customers have trended to move away from using photographs to illustrate certain concepts and toward the use of very graphic illustrations.

iStockphotos Offers Free Valentine eCards On Facebook

iStockphoto has announced a new app that lets anyone create fast, fun and free e-cards for use on Facebook. Customer surveys have revealed that e-cards have become more acceptable and often preferred to traditional cards.

Crestock Offers Celebrity Photos For Editorial Use

Crestock has launched a collection of celebrity photos at microstock prices at http://www.crestock.com/celebrities/. The collection contains real time coverage of popular stars from coast to coast supplied by top entertainment photographers, supplemented with an archive of past celebrity events – all from ImageCollect/Los Angeles.

Corbis and AP Launch “Perceptions”: New Marketing Strategy

Corbis Images (www.corbisimages.com) and The Associated Press (www.ap.org) are rolling out a monthlong social media photo showcase called “Perceptions.” The showcase on Facebook seeks commentary from people who view selected images from the cross-distribution collaboration between the two companies announced in January.

Shutterstock Surpasses 200 Million Global Stock Image Downloads

Shutterstock (www.shutterstock.com) has delivered more than 200 million licensed image downloads to its customers since its founding in 2004. This number far exceeds that of any other company licensing rights to stock photography. The company’s closest competitor in the microstock arena is iStockphoto. According to the latest figures from istockcharts.multimedia.de iStock has licensed 116,134,740+ downloads. (The + probably represents a few thousands above this number.)

Arius3D Agreement To Acquire Masterfile Extended Again

Arius3D Corp. and Masterfile Corporation have agreed to extend to March 31, 2012 the closing of the previously announced proposed acquisition by Arius3D of all of the issued and outstanding securities of Masterfile
.

ImageState To Close – Again!

Imagestate Media Ltd and Imagestate Media Partners Ltd has ceased trading through its website and as of February 1, 2012 has entered Administration. The assets of the above companies have been acquired by a new investor. The ongoing business of Imagestate will be managed by Impact Photos. Heritage Images will operate separately.

Leasing Photos For Product Uses

Ninety percent of new products fail for a variety of reasons. When photographs are an inherent part of the product it is often difficult to decide what to charge for the use. When a product is first being designed and launched it is impossible to determine how successful it will be. Often product developers are under funded. Here's an explanation of how leasing rather than a one-time licensing fee may be the answer to making the sale.

Copyright: An Idea vs A Visual Representation Of The Idea

In the U.S. it is possible to copyright a specific visual representation of a concept, not the concept itself. In what may be a precedent setting decision in the Patents County Court in London His honour Judge Birss QC has decided that a concept, or visual technique can also be copyrighted.

Pinterest.com And Copyright

There’s a lot of buzz on the Internet about a new “social media” site Pinterest.com. It is designed to let people organize and share pictures they find on the web. “People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.” Users can browse pinboards created by others, discover new things and get inspiration from people who share their interests -- all without paying a penny to use the pictures.

Floor Price For RM

Recently, a stock agent suggested that the industry needs to establish a floor price for Rights Managed (RM) images to stop the continued decline in license fees. He is frustrated because his overseas distributors seem to be making an increasing volume of sales at prices that are “close to microstock pricing.”

How Will Mobile Devices Change The Photography Market?

Mobile communication is rapidly changing the way the world gets information. More and more of the information we need will be delivered via mobile devices. This shift is likely to change the demand for visual materials. Here are some things to consider as you plan for the future.

Cordon Press Acquires Latinstock Spain

Cordón Press (www.cordonpress.com), Spain’s number one editorial agency, has just
announced the acquisition of Latinstock Spain (www.latinstock.es) for an undisclosed amount.

From Printed Textbooks To iPads

In an effort to go after a share of the $15 billion educational textbook market Apple Inc. has launched iBooks2 software with an aim to quicken the adoption of the iPad in the educational market. The company has been working with Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to produce digital textbooks that can be delivered on the iPad. Currently, these three companies are responsible for 90% of the textbooks sold in the US.

Online Ad Spending

According to an eMarketer study in 2012 U.S. marketers are expected to spend more on online advertising than on newspaper and magazine ads combined. Marketers are expected to spend $39.5 billion this year compared to $33.8 billion on print.

SOPA And PIPA Legislation Postponed

Earlier today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would delay a cloture vote on the Protect IP (Intellectual Property) Act (PIPA) bill and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) announced he will postpone further action on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). On January 14th the White House’s announced its refusal to support the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

Fine Art Photographers Take Aim At Commercial Market

Fotolia has added 3128 fine art images from the deviantArt (dA) collection to its offering. (Click here to see the images.) The images are available exclusively at Fotolia.com.

ASMP Submits Comments On Copyright Small Claims

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) has submitted its comments on “Remedies for Copyright Small Claims” to the U.S. Copyright Office. The Office asked for comments related to a study it is undertaking at the request of Congress to assess whether and how the current legal system hinders or prevents copyright owners from pursuing copyright infringement claims that have a relatively small economic value. The Office also asked for potential alternatives to improve the settlement of these claims.

Adapting To Changing Business Ethics

It seems to me that 30 or so years ago photographers could have verbal agreements (a handshake, if you will) with others in business and both sides would feel an ethical obligation to honor the agreement.
Today, honoring agreements is often secondary to maximizing profit.

White House Speaks Out Against SOPA

The White House says the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) goes too far. "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," leaders from the Obama Administration officially responded Saturday morning on whitehouse.gov. "We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet."

The Changing Photography Business

The photography business has changed dramatically -- and at a very rapid pace. Kodak is near bankruptcy and trying to sell off its photographic patents. Most of the photo labs that used to process film and make prints have long since gone out of business. Locally, Penn Camera Exchange the largest photo equipment supplier in the region is closing 5 out of its 8 stores. Professional photographers aren’t the only ones who are hurting.

Giving Creators Control Of Pricing

After reading my story on “Who Controls The Price” Terri Petrie of Greenhighlander.co.uk asked, “How could a stock agency allow for more creator control of prices?”

Stock Footage Market Estimated At $394 Million

The Association of Commercial Stock Image Licensors (ACSIL) and Thriving Archives have released the results of the ACSIL Global Survey of Stock Footage Companies 2 (AGS2). The AGS2 is a comprehensive examination of current business conditions within today's footage industry, providing strategic, action-oriented information and insights to footage industry leaders.

Continuing Your Photography Education

Not too long ago the primary way to keep up with new trends in photography and what the industry leaders were doing of thinking was to attend industry events. This often meant traveling to New York, Chicago, Las Vegas or New Orleans (in the U.S. – I’m not sure where all in Europe) and fitting into the schedule of the event organizer. Now, it is becoming possible to participate in such educational programs while sitting at your desk and often at your own convenience in terms of time. This story offers a few examples.

What To Shoot

After reading "Licensing Images in Today's Market" a reader asked, “What are the right photos to shoot? What subject matter sells best in today’s market?&rdquo. This story will help you decide what to shoot if your goal is to make money selling your pictures.

Return Per Image From Microstock

Most photographers considering marketing their images as microstock want to know what they can expect in the way of return-per-image (RPI) from their accepted images. The question is impossible to answer because so many variables are involved. However, by extrapolating from the data we have gathered over more than 2 years on 195 of the top selling iStockphoto photographers we get an interesting picture of the range of possibilities.

Associated Press Images Available On Corbis

Corbis Images (www.corbisimages.com) and The Associated Press (www.ap.org) have launched their Media offering that provides customers with more than 10 million images covering a range of breaking news, sports and entertainment, archival and creative images.

iStockphoto 2012: Semi-Annual Analysis

Our semi-annual analysis of iStockphoto sales has once again produced interesting results. As of January 2, 1012 istockcharts was tracking the sales of 38,163 of the more than 100,000 iStock contributors. More than 90% of the images in the iStock collection belong to this group of contributor. Combined these contributors have had a minimum of 114,875,519+ downloads since each started working with iStock. During 2011 alone a minimum of 18,615,558+ images (and probably about 21.5 million) were licensed for use.

Stock Photo Market Trends in 2011

For those looking for statistical and trend information related to stock photo industry this story provides links to a series of articles produced over the past year that examine various aspect of the subject.

Authors Coalition Has Money For You

The Authors Coalition of America, LLC, has identified a number of American authors who may be due royalty payments from non-U.S. sources. These royalties have been received to compensate authors for the foreign reprographic use of U.S. copyrighted materials.

Best Of Photojournalism 2012 Contest: Just Around The Corner

The National Press Photographers Association has made several significant announcements about its annual Best Of Photojournalism contest, including a reorganization of the competition as visual journalism moves into a new era. Along with a new and easier way to enter, there's also some category revisions plus some new categories, and winners will be picked using a mixture of online and on-site judging.

Is Reality In Photojournalism Extinct?

The concept of a realistic still photograph that provides an accurate representation of a news event may be an impossible dream. Many people blame Photoshop for making it so easy to “clean up” and “adjust” photographs. Photographers lose their jobs if they “overuse” Photoshop. But that is only a small part of the problem.

4.2 Million Stock Photo Customers Use Dreamstime

The microstock community Dreamstime has announced that it saw consistent strong growth throughout 2011. Since 2007, Dreamstime’s customer base has grown from 350,000 to the more than 4.2 million customers. With this rapid growth, Dreamstime has positioned itself as a supplier of high quality digital images to the second largest community of registered stock image users. (It is believed that Shutterstock has the largest community of image users.)

iPhoneography: The Future??

The core business of providing pictures for commercial and consumer use has moved from hiring a professional photographer to shoot an assignment, to RM stock, to RF and then to microstock. The next paradigm shift will be iPhoneography. Learn how this may impact you. Check out Jack Hollingsworth's two day workshop on the subject

Design Pics Inc. Acquires First Light

Design Pics Inc., has acquired of First Light Associated Photographers Ltd., a Canadian based photo agency. The agency was originally founded in 1984 by Pierre Guevremont, Ron Watts and Brian Milne. First Light has been based in Toronto. Design Pics is located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Pond5: 900,000 Stock Video Clips And Counting

In 2011 Pond5’s collection grew to over 900,000 and is expected to reach 1 million by early 2012. Currently this is largest collection of video clips on the web. In addition, the site offers 7.6 million still photos, 677,000 illustrations, and one of the deepest audio collections in the world, with more than 200,000 sound effects and 100,000 music tracks. Pond5 also has a small collection of customizable After Effects templates.

Tobias Names SVP Commercial Products At Corbis

Corbis Images has named Edie Tobias as Senior Vice President of Commercial Products. Based in Los Angeles, Tobias will be responsible for leading the Commercial product group and growing the Corbis and Veer businesses globally.

Licensing Images In Today’s Market

I’m regularly contacted by photographers, some with excellent portfolios, wanting to know how they can license rights to their images in today’s market. Recently, I was contacted by a nature and wildlife photographer whose work was excellent. This photographer regularly conducts Photo Workshops where he teaches others how to take great scenic and wildlife pictures. Here’s what I told him.

Design Pics Inc. Acquires Pacific Stock

Design Pics Inc., headquartered in Edmonton, Canada announces the acquisition of Pacific Stock, a Hawaii based photo agency. The agency was originally founded in 1987 by Barbara Brundage.

Editorial Microstock

Microstock sites are usually thought of as places to go to find generic commercial images, not editorial coverage. But, recently several microstock sites have started accepting unreleased, editorial images. Dreamstime has provided links to images related to some of the major events its contributors covered in 2011.

Yuri Arcurs' Photographer Bootcamp

One-hundred-thirty aspiring commercial photographers from all over the world will descend on Cape Town, South Africa on 3 January 2012 to participate in the Yuri Arcurs International Commercial Photography Academy Bootcamp.

Does Print Have A Future: Statistics

Some argue that there will always be plenty of print publications and demand for images to be used in print. This story provides some statistics on the Magazine industry, Printing Industry, Newspapers and the Internet that provide a depressing picture of where the demand for still photography is headed.