Advantages | Design and Photography Highlights

Search like a Pro for outstanding imagery at Cutcaster

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Sep 282011

Cutcaster’s improved search feature, which uses contextual filtering, lets you easily refine your searches to find images that meet very specific parameters. You get the image you need quickly, with the assurance that you’ve seen all the images that fit your parameters.

1. Type a keyword or phrase in the search field, and click Search. Our search engine parses language for context, so be as specific as you can.

Keywords can include of what you are looking for, such as flower or tree, concepts like growth, or emotions like excitement.

For example, if you search for ‘yellow flower,” results include all images with both of those keywords.

2. Filter your search to narrow your results:

Roll over your search terms, which appear at the top of your results, to choose a more specific contextual filter. In this example, you can clarify the context of “flower.”

Choose your word meaning

Make selections using the filters that appear in the column to the left of your search results. You can filter for image orientation, file type, size, and so on.

3. Experiment with adding and removing keywords to specify your results quickly.

Type keywords in the fields to the left of your search results. In the “yellow flower” example, if you want a woman to appear in your photo, type “woman” in the Add Keywords field. If you don’t want that woman to be a bride, type “bride” in the Remove Keywords field. Click Apply to see the filtered results, which will include just images with the keywords “yellow,” “flower” and “woman” and NOT the keyword “bride.”

Filter your search result

4. Broaden your results if necessary.

At any point, if you’ve narrowed your results too much, you can broaden them by removing filters.

Each filter or keyword you specify appears at the top of your search results. Click the “x” next to any filter to expand your search results.

Broaden your search results

The simplest image search around

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Feb 092011

Our main goals for Cutcaster’s complete overhaul were to make the user experience unbeatable compared to our peers and drastically improve how people searched for images within our image library. Balancing the complexities that go into building a highly intuitive search system with an easy to understand and simple to use search interface for the image searcher is a challenge we met head on. The result is one of the fastest, most accurate and easiest to use image search engines online.

Using our search engine is so easy that it doesn’t need instructions. However we wanted to add some tips and tricks that will get you searching like a professional no matter who you are. It’s finally time to spend less time searching and more time creating.

In addition, we created a new feature just for our image buyers. It’s called “Grouping” and allows you to instantly see if there are more similar images like a particular one you like in a search results page.

Two Free Tickets to the Bees Award in SF

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Nov 082010

Cutcaster has your ticket to the The Bees Awards, an International Social Media Award Show happening today, Tuesday the 9th, in San Francisco. For tonight’s event, Cutcaster is giving away 2 tickets to the award show and after-party (valued at over $300) to the first first person who purchases one $45 credit package for royalty free images at Cutcaster today.

At Cutcaster, we want you to showcase your products with awe-inspiring photos and designs without compromising on quality or sacrificing your budget. Download over 600,000 fully released, carefully reviewed photos and vectors for just a few dollars or Cutcaster credits.

Use our intuitive search engine to quickly find an affordable selection of high resolution images you can download with a credit card, Cutcaster site credits or request an invoice. We will also tailor our licensing agreement to fit your particular needs. Just request it.

Purchase 45 credits and we will email the account holder with the subject line “Bees Awards” and your two free tickets to the show and after-party.

As our special guest, we would like to invite you to the Bees Awards ceremony for half off you’d like to attend this amazing award show if we run out of free tickets.
http://thebeesawards.eventbrite.com

If you use this Code: earlybees (50% OFF) you can get your ticket for half price.

We are presenting an award tonight at the show so hopefully we will see a few familiar faces in the crowd and the after-party.

Demand more from your stock photo agency

Advantages, Buyer Info, Cutcaster Payment Options, Licensing Matters 1 Response »

Oct 262010

Find top notch, authentic looking, and affordable images at Cutcaster. Cutcaster is a royalty free photography and vector marketplace that connects image buyers with image sellers. Pay once, download the picture or illustrations, and use it forever even if you use it in other projects.

Are you looking for the perfect image? Cutcaster helps you find the most relevant pictures fast and within your budget. To find images at Cutcaster all you need to do is perform a keyword search and then use the advance search options to filter down your image search results. Quickly browse through our growing stock library using our Advanced Search tools to find just the right image.

Buying Stock Images Has Never Been Easier

Once you are ready to download and checkout with your image, just choose the photo payment method that’s right for you! For your convenience and affordability, you can pay via any major credit card, use site credits, or pay via PayPal. We are extremely flexible and can tailor licensing packages to meet any creative or editorial need. Just ask. Make yourself at home browsing around our site. Most photos cost only a few dollars and are fully released and checked to ensure the highest quality.

Here is a breakdown of our flexible payment options:

* Pay With a Credit Card. Download royalty free photos with any major credit card.

* Pay by Credits. Our popular Credit Plans lets you purchase credits, Cutcaster’s virtual currency, to be used toward individual images with either Standard or Extended License Agreements; The more you buy the more you save.

* Paypal- Want to pay via Paypal? Send us an email to webmaster@cutcaster.com with the size and url of the file you wish to purchase and we will send you an invoice and the file via email immediately. Subscription Plan.

Joining Cutcaster is absolutely FREE!

Find Picture-Perfect Photos through our Free Photo Research

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Oct 082010

At Cutcaster, we know it’s tough to give up control of the creative process, but we also know how busy your life is. That’s why we’ve developed a way to reconcile your exacting standards with your crammed schedule. Pass your creative brief of research list onto our experienced creative research team and we will turn your words into picture-perfect photos.

Let us be your extra set of eyes. We know our collection and our contributors better than anyone, and we will work tirelessly to deliver the useful and striking images you’re looking for. If we have it, we will find it for you. Our researchers are more than happy to integrate into your team environment or unique work process. Let’s brainstorm together and uncover eye-popping imagery for your brief.

Save time and money by leveraging Cutcaster to assist you in finding your next image.

Exclusive Royalty Free Photos and Illustrations

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Sep 272010

Cutcaster brings you unique, low-cost, royalty-free photos, stock illustrations, stock images and vectors– all sourced from top emerging creative artists, freelance photographers and graphic designers worldwide.

If you are a creative director, art buyer, graphic designer, blogger, print media publisher, printer, or web designer, Cutcaster‘s fast search engine will find the content you’re looking for: blog pictures, PowerPoint images, book covers, clip art, advertising images and web design thumbnails, all for as little as $1. Register for free to browse, buy, bid on, and download images.

If you make graphic illustrations, creative photographs, or other artwork, join our community of creative contributors and submit your work. We will help you access millions of creative buyers worldwide, turning your creative content into cash.

3 Simple Reasons to Search Cutcaster’s Photo Library

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Aug 132010

First Class Photos.

Tap into a wide-ranging collection of editor-reviewed imagery, including professionally shot and user-generated photos, vectors and illustrations. Cutcaster adds thousands of pictures and clipart each day.

More bang for your buck

Our flexible buying options stretch your budget as far as your creative imagination. You’ll get flexible payment plans, discount codes for purchasing photo credits and broad legal protection against copyright claims. Keep enjoying Cutcaster’s popular feature that allows you to do transactions by credit card without forcing you to buy credits in advance. For those of you who like the price savings of buying with credits, we will offer smaller packages of credits for your convenience.

Cutcaster makes it easy

You’re hands are tied enough with deadlines and budget constraints. Our plans are simple to understand and our site is easy to use. Just buy and use. We built a streamlined site with one hell of a search engine that puts all the images you want right at your fingertips – anytime of the day.

COVER. EVERY. ANGLE.

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May 052010

It’s hard to know how to take that shot that will sell over and over again. We get a lot of similar images uploaded to us at Cutcaster. After reviewing one particularly large batch of similar images where it appeared as if the photographer just stepped back one foot for each shot while moving his camera slightly to the left, we almost had a photo reviewer jump out the window after she ran out of hair to pull out

Then, I stumbled across a great post at Photoshelter titled, ”How to make a photo editor fall in love with you” and a few things really stood out for me. Nice work PS.

One in particular was from Roberto De Luna, a Photo Editor at Time Out New York, who said, “A photographer that understands that I need verticals, horizontals, and SILO options stands a great chance of winning me over.”

This is the thought process that will help every photographer get into the mindset of his end user/buyer and something that needs to be thought about before you submit photos to a photo editor who has hired you or send to Cutcaster.

Cutcaster has always stressed the importance of editing images before submitting them to us so that the quality of the selection you upload is the highest possible. For example, if you are going to submit a series of images from the same shoot, it is best to submit a portrait, a landscape, a SILO option if appropriate and an obscure/conceptual angle from each subject area/shoot to reduce redundancy and vastly improve the user experience and visual quality of results when a buyer performs a search. Supplying too many similar images will be off-putting to clients and result in less sales because buyers won’t use our site to buy your images.

So it is wise to choose the images you upload carefully and not submit too many similars. Think, as you are shooting, what a buyer will need and be able to use. Plan it out beforehand and improvise as you are shooting. Try to shoot exactly what you planned out or was asked of you by a photo editor, and then shoot it from every angle possible. Up, down, from above, view from below, wide, close, inside and out, horizontal and vertical. If you plan it out and can capture all that then your images will sell and show your buyers how hard you work.

What is a comp image and does Cutcaster offer them?

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May 052010

A ‘comp’ (short for complimentary) is a free, low-resolution, watermarked version of Cutcasters’ images. Buyers will generally download comps to evaluate an image’s suitability in a particular creative project or to evaluate varying page designs.

‘Comps’ may also be used by photo researchers or photo buyers who are doing research or purchasing images for a third party and need to seek this party’s approval of the image(s) prior to purchasing. Comp images may not be incorporated into any finished products.

To download a comp, you must first login to Cutcaster and then the download will be moved to your desktop.

Cutcaster Referral Program Update

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Feb 102010

Do you know photographers, illustrators or photo buyers who could use Cutcaster and would benefit from you telling them about the site? Cutcaster pays you money for referring potential members to the site who purchase new content or sell content in the marketplace. Referring new clients to Cutcaster is a great way to pick up extra money without a lot of work. An affiliate is anyone who is referred to Cutcaster after clicking on one of your Cutcaster affiliation banners or links that we provide to you within your studio.
How does it work?

From your MyStudio page, click on the “Referral” tab. There are three options you can choose from: Affiliates, Invite a friend and Earnings. When you refer a friend to the site who buys content or refer someone who has uploaded content, which is bought on the site, you accumulate money.

Here is the deal; the referring member will be rewarded by getting commission in the form of cash on all the transactions of their affiliates for the next 2 years. The affiliation program rewards any member of Cutcaster for any sales and purchases made by their affiliates. It’s a win-win situation for all of us. You get to be the first to introduce people to the first dynamic content marketplace and they’ll be impressed by the quality of the images, clipart and illustrations.

The referring members’ revenues are calculated by a percentage of Cutcaster’s commission from each transaction for the affiliate. Cutcaster pays 10% of the buyers’ transactions and 5% of any of the sellers’ transactions for 2 years of when they sign up. (Content Sellers commissions/royalties do not change as a result of the affiliation program). We will show you the total earnings from this referral program for both the buyers and sellers in the Earnings section.

Cutcaster checks to make sure all new referred members are legit. The new user has to enable their cookies and make their first purchase within 14 days of signing up or we won’t be able to send you the credit for the referral. Referring members may receive rewards from an unlimited number of affiliates in their account. The referring member cannot be his own affiliate but nice try.

An Affiliation link is an Internet hyperlink or web link pointing to the Cutcaster website with a member’s reference id. The reference id is a unique code assigned to every member of Cutcaster. You can find those links and banners under Affiliation in your studio.

Once you click on the “tell a friend” TAF tab, you can enter the person’s contact information and send them an invite. There is no limit to the number of new users you can invite and the amount of money you can make from referring them.