Industry News | Web Design and Photography Highlights

Top 10 things Image Buyers Like about their Agency – Understanding Image Buyers in the Stock Industry

Buyer Requests, Design Industry News, Industry News, Photo Industry News, Survey, Uncategorized 1 Response »

Mar 012011

Beautiful Portrait Of a Afro American Woman

Are you happy with your image agency?

What features or services do image buyers like and want from photographers or stock agencies? What gets them coming back to your portfolio or the agency that reps your images?

Today, Cutcaster is releasing the comments that some images buyers told us during last year’s survey. We took 10 of the most popular comments and arranged them below in a random order to show you what features or services they like an agency to offer. The question was actually a two-part question and was “What do you like most/least about the stock photo sites that you work with?” Later this week, we will share the things they didn’t like about their current stock image agency. The survey was completed by 344 image users who had used Cutcaster or were working on the stock image business and were mostly from the US or Canada.

Top 10 things image buyers said they liked which their stock agency provided.

1. Current and wide selection of images from international sources at reasonable prices.

2. Special picture collection pricing for royalty free or rights managed photos.

3. Stock agency websites that can show an entire photo purchase history with a simple click to avoid duplicate image purchases.

4. With current rates that image researchers get, we need to work FAST. The most important features for a stock site are direct downloading and embedded metadata. If you do not offer these two things, you are a 2nd tier vendor.

5. Picture pop-up windows to review images instead of having to use “back” button.

6. Advanced features like search filters when we need to give restrictions.

7. Love seeing Creative Inspiration.

8. Great sales help when a user encounters a problem. (From Cutcaster: Most image buyers didn’t say they needed a specific sales representative to help them use an agency)

9. High resolution comp images with metadata embedded.

10. Agencies with multicultural, disabilities, youth, and well executed food shots most cited image needs.

Overall, most image buyers stressed that they needed the highest quality images, fast / accurate search results and lower pricing which is understandable in the current economic environment.

If you are an image buyer, what features would you like to see a stock agency adopt to make your life easier?

Cutcaster Launches Copyright and Licensing Resource – Stock Photo License

Articles, Buyer Info, Design Industry News, Friends of Cutcaster, Industry News, Licensing Matters, Photo Industry News No Responses »

Sep 162010

The legality of digital image use is often murky, and many resources that try to explain it are too full of jargon to make sense to people outside the photography or licensing industries.

Stock Photo License (SPL), a newly created resource from Cutcaster, explains legal photo usage for image researchers, photo buyers or anyone who wants to legally use images found online. Stock Photo License provides a framework for making informed licensing decisions and stock photo purchases, and highlights online resources that can help protect against legal pitfalls.

Check out Stock Photo License and comment below if you have a question about licensing images online.

See a copy of the Stock Photo License press release below.

Cutcaster Launches Educational Copyright Resource, Stock Photo License
September 16, 2010 – San Francisco, California

Stockphotolicense.com, an educational copyright resource for photo buyers and researchers, launches their new website today with the goal of explaining in simple terms how one can use an image online and the various legal complexities of digital image use. The site provides detailed information on image license types, photo copyright issues, legal protections and extensions, using free images, Creative Commons, personal vs. commercial use and provides a list of questions you can ask your image suppliers before you buy an image.

As image use among bloggers, website owners and graphic designers increases, many image users don’t understand specific licensing terms or how to legally use content they find online. This has increased the amount of illegally downloaded images and copyright infringement cases, most of which happen without the image user realizing the legal ramifications of his actions. Stock Photo License provides a checklist roadmap with questions you should consider to ensure the legality of your online image use.

“We receive a variety of questions relating to the differences between royalty free and free images as well as how an Internet user can utilize images they find online.” John Griffin, of Stock Photo License and Cutcaster said. “Stock Photo License specifically presents information and resources on image licensing and copyright matters for the image researcher, photo buyer or anyone that wants to legally use another person’s image they found online.” The website lists copyright and legal resources as well as asks typical questions with answers to help an image user.

Stockphotolicense.com was created by Cutcaster, a photography marketplace that specializes in royalty free photos as well as free images, to serve as a resource for both photographers who upload their images online and those looking to download images. Stockphotolicense.com has an active user base and is seeking to add more resources to its list of specialists. If you own or know of a copyright or licensing resource that could work with Stock Photo License please reach out to the team at team@stockphotolicense.com or follow SPL on Twitter @stockphotousage.

For more information on Stock Photo License please email team@stockphotolicense.com or Cora Reed at cora@cutcaster.com.

About Stock Photo License

Stock Photo License (SPL) presents information and resources on image licensing and copyright matters for the image researcher, photo buyer or anyone that wants to legally use another person’s image they found online. The website’s goal is to provide those who are unsure about image licensing with the information, legal definitions and resources to make informed and legal stock photo purchases. Stock Photo License is for every photo researcher, photo buyer, photo user and photographer who is interested in learning more about the changing landscape of photo licensing and is a collaborative effort between all the parties involved with photo licensing.

About Cutcaster

Cutcaster has tapped into a new and unique source of royalty free photos and illustrations that can be used for any kind of web design, publishing, printing brochures, advertising, annual reports, or presentations. Cutcaster created the first model that adds structure to support licensing user-generated photography and vectors when you don’t have the budget to do it yourself. Sellers can set their prices or use the Cutcaster Algorithm to determine a fair market price. Photo buyers purchase content at a set price or by placing bids.

Visit www.cutcaster.com for more information.

Photographers’ Frustration and a Path for Change

Articles, Design Industry News, Industry News, Photo Industry News, Photography 2 Responses »

Sep 092010

It feels like déjà vu all over again, doesn’t it?

Fall seems to be the season for falling commissions. We’ve seen it in the past with the big boys, and now even the smaller players are dropping photographers’ commissions without a second thought. Is it because companies are in dire financial straits? Or are they simply indifferent to the contributors on which they rely? Do they have so much supply that pissing off a few photographers won’t affect the behavior of the majority? Are venture capitalists swooping in to squeeze money out of their investments at the contributors’ expense? Or is it just good old-fashioned corporate greed?

I am frustrated and mad. I have many friends who sell photos, and who are negatively affected by declining commissions. I also own a business that is trying to succeed in an industry where agencies seem to operate behind a cloak of secrecy, while photographers passively accept changes that suck for them. Commissions are falling, agencies are lowering prices to compete, and supply is inflated. The industry has grown stagnant as a few companies monopolize it, leaving little room for smaller companies to compete. Most photographers are uncertain about what, if any, course of action to take.

But we must not cower in the face of uncertainty. We need change and we need to act now. Here are some ways to get started:

1. Remove links to sites that reduce payouts without notice or to sites that keep details hidden in confusing press releases. Don’t market sites that don’t care about YOUR bottom line.

2. Do link to sites from your blog, website or portfolio site that pay higher commissions, even if they have less sales for you. These sites need your help getting links in order for them to affect positive change in the industry. Don’t stand idly by while the established players lock you into a worse future.

3. Stop referring buyers to your lower paying commission sites and start sending them to sites that pay you better commissions.

4. Start an upload embargo for 6 months to a year. Don’t upload new or exclusive content to sites that decrease payouts without notice or discussion.

5. Upload to sites with lower payout thresholds and commit to keeping those limits low.

6. Don’t go exclusive with one agency. Only go exclusive with certain new uploads that you know sell better at certain sites, and only with sites that pay you a high commission.

7. Delete your portfolio from sites that do not clearly explain their commission and pricing strategies.

8. Explain to buyers how royalty drops hurt your individual business, and let them know that they can get the same images for the same prices at sites that help you by paying higher commission. Most photo buyers do care about you and about the photography industry; they need to know that you are getting unfairly screwed and that they can help reverse this at no extra cost to them.

9. Commit to a new agency that you trust on a non-exclusive basis. Support them with your uploads and, if you choose, a small amount of exclusive content for them to market. Write a blog article or post in a forum about the agency and why you chose it.

10. Convince fellow photographers to act with you, taking concrete steps TODAY towards improving your situation.

Photographers and photo buyers have strength in numbers. It takes a cooperative community of people to affect lasting change. If you feel commission drops are unfair and non-transparent, ACT. Your actions will speak for themselves.

Please comment below with any suggestions or ideas that we can add to the list. Your ideas can help change the industry!

Get Great Photos for e-Learning Courses, Software and Presentations

Buyer Info, Design Industry News, Industry News, Photo Industry News, Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Jul 212010

: Dentist Chair And Equipment with no one

: Office boardroom with no people

: Interior of a new office

: Business Team playing Tug of war

: Happy young kids holding sign with copyspace

: Group of office staff lined up

: Medical hospital office hallway

: Modern glass building exterior

: Web Office buttons

Do you ever need eLearning backgrounds, blank promotional signs or people photos for your courses?

Lately, our creative director and review team have been creating Cutcaster lightboxes full of unique photos and clipart specifically for the e-learning community. Think of e-learning as internet-enabled learning that encompasses training, education, just-in-time information, and communications. Cutcaster photos are perfect for creating eLearning simulations, PowerPoint course templates or building other engaging instructional design courses where you need great backgrounds or real looking people.

The elearning images provide simple, clean designs at an affordable price and are fully customizable. Use the images and clipart over and over in multiple courses. Even use them on other websites and presentations as well.

Purchase graphics, clipart and photos for e-learning at Cutcaster today.

Collection of lightboxes with hundreds of images to choose from.

Business Teams

Objects Signs

Health Hospitals and Doctors’ Offices

Elearning Concepts Promotional

Elearning Home Exteriors

Office Interiors

Retail Stores

World Landmarks for Elearning courses

Back to School Photos for Elearning

Architecture Interiors

Architecture Office Buildings

Illustrations Web Buttons & Icons

Objects Blank signs

Architecture Urban Decay

We have additional elearning photos which inslcude call center employee pictures, Phone Person Pictures, People Phone Photos, Business Women Using Headset.

Expected Trends in Conceptual Stock Images

Articles, Design Industry News, Industry News, Photo Industry News, Uncategorized No Responses »

Jul 072010

We all wonder what to shoot next. Some have it down to a science and do a ton of research. Some just shoot and hope to get lucky and grab that perfect shot. Determining what the next trend will be is never easy but Soren Breiting at www.stockphotonews.com did a great writeup on the expected trends in conceptual images that we wanted to share with our Cutcaster community.

The below is a snippet of his findings:

As the financial crisis continues with negative implications for many consumers around the world, photographers can speculate over what that will mean for the demand and use of pictures.

Here are some possible trends to watch and shoot:

The growing complexity of the world and daily life of people might impose a trend to concentrate on the not so complicated sides of life. We know that the quest for amusement is often increased under times of depression. Visits to cinemas, restaurants, entertainment and other easy going activities might become more popular. So be prepared with fresh picture material of such situations.

Happy family life might also be a focus point, despite the effects of unemployment and the economic downturn that try to counteract it.

The ‘myself in focus’ trend might be further strengthened with focus on media success and the like as some of the concrete outcomes. The increased use of social media is an obvious indication.

Soren mentioned the potential to take portraits especially effective for the ‘face in social media’. – This is about how to stand out, and how to look with credibility.

With the flood of books on personal development and the self-help industry we have another important trend worth while to be aware of. The ever growing industry of alternative treatment – a rather depressing sign from the point of view of rationality and scientific justification – but a trend that you can profit from with pictures. And herbs of all kinds seem to possess an over-natural potential to cure and help people.

The growing number and ratio of senior citizens has been in focus for a long time but as some countries have had to reduce their public spending on health-care, pensions and social services we might expect further demand on the positive as well as the negative sides of becoming older.

Finally Soren mentions the growing acceptance of the shift in psychology and therapy to the mantra of positive emotions and positive psychology. Surely this will be a field that will grow in demand for illustration and publications in the future.

The more you can combine some of these trends the more successful you might be on the marketplace as an image
provider or publisher.

Google Image Swirl- New way to cluster photos and illustrations

Industry News No Responses »

Jan 112010

Google just released and is testing out a different way of accessing image searches by placing image results together using a cluster. This new tool is called “Image-Swirl”
http://image-swirl.googlelabs.com/

Try a search at the site and you will see stacks of images served up to you. When you select one of the image thumbnails, a cluster of similar images will pop up. What do you think of the new tool? Will it help photo buyers find the right image faster? Is it a better way to display image search results?
Obviously after a few test you can see there are only a few search queries updated to the testing tool. I tried to do a search for “stock photos” and it wouldn’t let me. I also did a few other ones and got some funky results but some impressive ones as well. You can decide for yourself what you think.

There is a write up with more details at:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent er/article/182384/new_result_clusters_ swirl_into_ googles_image_search.html

Recent survey finds that Designers and creative professionals are using more stock images

Articles, Industry News 2 Responses »

Aug 192009

Great news for those of you selling your photos and buying photos for your latest project. A new survey released by the International Communications Research (ICR) concluded that more than 40% of designers and creative professionals are using more stock photography and stock vector illustrations to lower their images costs in 2009 than compared to 2008. Is this shift in buyer’s behavior a response to the economic downturn?

The report highlighted that designers and creative professionals could save much more money and time when using stock photo agencies. Microstock photography agencies and royalty free photography agencies price their content cheaper than a traditional stock agency. Agencies have responded by creating more incentives and deals to attract picture buyers.

At Cutcaster users can set their prices or choose a pricing algorithm to find the correct market price. On the other hand buyers can purchase content at the price shown or if they have more time or have a smaller budget can bid on content and name their price. Contributors can negotiate pricing with a buyer and get important market pricing information

Key Survey Statistics Highlighted below:

• 40 percent of art directors or art buyers cite budget decreases compared to a year ago. Will image buyers be attracted to the bidding option and more advanced search features so they can decrease their costs and still get the best images.

• More than one in five art directors and graphic designers (22 percent) are working on more projects for less profit compared to a year ago. Can cheaper royalty free images help decrease their licensing costs and increase their bottom line?

• Two-thirds (67 percent) of graphic designers/art directors are doing more in-house production as a cost-saving measure. Other cost-saving measures include using online royalty-free stock photography agencies (51 percent) and using traditional stock photography agencies (18 percent).

• When asked what most influences their decision to use online royalty-free microstock photography, most respondents answered limited budget

Other top reasons included:

- To combine elements into a new design (41 percent)

- Using images for an indefinite period of time (40 percent)

- Using images in a combination of communications mediums (37 percent)

What does Google’s partnership with LIFE and Getty mean for you?

Industry News No Responses »

Nov 192008

I’m sure most of you have read the news of Google and LIFE announcing that they will make LIFE’s vast photo archive available for free public perusal on Google. Sounds very cool but where do you fall in this digital media debate.

This deal could be interesting and bad on a few fronts.

First, if Google takes care of the archiving, adshare and searching, Getty deals with all the licensing and LIFE just provides the stills, then they all share in the advertising revenue and they can split the marketing efforts between three sites. This partnership could drive a lot of traffic to LIFE.com, which is a joint venture between Getty and Time Inc. LIFE.com will make money from advertising and sales of photo books and prints. Now images are displayed on Google with links that allow customers to buy framed prints through the print-on-demand service called QOOP.com. The three participants will not pay attention to personal uses and will offer a mid sized image without watermarks but the high resolution files will be watermarked. Not sure how the licensing will be worked out yet and what the user experience will be like. The watermark on the high resolution image after checking it out is really small and just in the lower corner of the image. Doesn’t really protect anything. I did hear from one source that the images all had Digimarc embedded watermarks for tracking but after checking that out it appears that in the medium and large sizes there
were no Digimarcs, and absolutely no metadata.

On the flip side this development could create a few problems. What about the issue of orphaned works? David Riecks at Controlled Vocabulary argued that LIFE magazine’s parent company is basically flooding the market with a lot of orphaned images. Working with Google, they will know have an archive of images from the 1860s to the 1980s online (I found an image shot in 1989) and the images will be without the embedded metadata.

If you are interested you can click here to see the images yourself that will be available.

PDN reported on the deal here.

A Google blog announcing the partnership and new collection can be found here.

What do you think about all this? How will this affect you or won’t it affect you?

Photographers Unite

Industry News 1 Response »

Nov 072008

More great news out of Getty

Photographers are suing Getty Images over a subscription pricing plan. The group of stock photographers has filed a class-action lawsuit which asserts that by including rights-managed stock images in the Getty Images Premium Access subscription product, Getty violated copyright and broke its contract with rights-managed contributors. The suit says Getty’s product makes rights-managed images available under royalty-free license terms for unreasonably low prices.

According to the class action suit, Getty is paying photographers a pro-rata share of Premium Access fees when their images are downloaded through the program. Payments have been as low as $2.08, according to the lawsuit – substantially lower than a photographer’s share of a traditional rights-managed stock sale. “In Premium Access, Getty essentially allows its customers to set the amount of photographers’ royalties themselves,” the suit says. “Not surprisingly, this results in royalties equal to a tiny fraction of the commercial value of the photographers’ photographs.”

Makes me sick. Getty is undercutting the market and destroying the value of these images even more in the future. Here is to Photographers flexing their muscles, demanding change and expecting a fair shake. This is a great step and development.

Three Billion Photos At Flickr

Industry News No Responses »

Nov 042008

Today marked a big day at Flickr. Flickr member, Garrett Ryan Smith, uploaded the 3 billionth photo to the site today. They hit 2 billion photos just last year ago.

Facebook leads the pack with over 10 billion. And Facebook is moving fast. A year ago Facebook had just 4.1 billion photos.

Flickr launched in 2004.

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Web Design and Photography Highlights

Top 10 things Image Buyers Like about their Agency – Understanding Image Buyers in the Stock Industry

Cutcaster Launches Copyright and Licensing Resource – Stock Photo License

Photographers’ Frustration and a Path for Change

Get Great Photos for e-Learning Courses, Software and Presentations

Expected Trends in Conceptual Stock Images

Google Image Swirl- New way to cluster photos and illustrations

Recent survey finds that Designers and creative professionals are using more stock images

What does Google’s partnership with LIFE and Getty mean for you?

Photographers Unite

Three Billion Photos At Flickr

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