STOCK PHOTO NEWS
No. 16
The first Modern eZine combining Stock Photography and
Marketing
September 2003
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CONTENT
* From the Editor
* Photographic pictures and your marketing resources
* The increasing file size of stock photos
* Inspiration from a fashion and beauty photographer
* Your marketing with search engines
* Press release: Introducing the Virtual CD from Alamy
* Older news: Masterfile launches 'Life Lines' catalogue
from Zefa
* More subscribers to your newsletter?
* Learn from free marketing courses
Archive of earlier issues of Stock Photo News at
www.StockPhotoNews.com
Subscription information at the end.
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FROM THE EDITOR
The last 12 months have been very interesting in the stock
photo business. When I focus on 12 months it is because it
is a full year since I have been able to produce a proper
new issue of Stock Photo News. Many travels around the
World has occupied too much of my time.
The tough competition among stock photo agencies has urged
for frontline creativity and marketing efforts linked to
such innovations. One of the achievements has been the
break through of 'art-directed' pictures as stock
photography. In such cases art directors work together with
stock photographers to enhance the creativity of the
production, like it has been exposed by the electronic newsletter
Taxi from Getty Images, and from other picture agencies
like Corbis and AgeFotostock. The tendency is just in its beginning.
This issue of Stock Photo News brings you a collection of
inputs
for your work with pictures and marketing - I hope you will
find
it useful. Enjoy!
Soren Breiting, Editor
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A-Z FOTOS
"Find Stock Photos from most of the World"
www.azFotos.com (p.t. under re-construction !)
----------------
Comments, tips and relevant articles are appreciated. Send
email to sb@azfotos.com .
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PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES AND YOUR MARKETING RESOURCES
Photos are important parts of your marketing. The photos
are useful
- to document your offers
- to signal positive acceptance of what you are displaying
- to function as eye catchers
- to bring the buyers in a general positive mood.
In such a way photographic pictures have other functions
than creative art and illustrations which are not
photographic pictures.
At the same time it is important to acknowledge, that
pictures are not selling your offers isolated. It is your
copy that sells your service or goods.
In some cases free clip art will do the work for you.
Especially with small print runs and local distribution of
your advertisement. But in larger professional work you
should definitely go for stock pictures from pro picture
agencies with good pro photos in photo libraries.
There are many advantages of the photo libraries
- The pictures in a photo library are not used by 'every'
business, so the money spend on each photo gives your work
some image of exclusivity.
- You will have access to huge quantities of high quality
photos.
- You will have professional support for your requests and
ideas of the images in mind.
- You will have the possibility to contact specialist
picture agencies, like Biofoto which are especially minded
for the kind of picture area they are covering, like travel
photography or wildlife photos.
Nowadays many picture galleries are to be find on the web.
Be aware of that the typical picture agency only has a
smaller selection of the pictures online accessible for
your search. So supplement your picture research by asking
the picture editors of the photo agency to help expand your
choices.
Soren Breiting
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THE INCREASING FILE SIZE OF STOCK PHOTOS
Alamy is now requesting their photographers to deliver no
less than 48MB picture files for submissions, what ever
they are scanned films or outputs from digital cameras.
See www.alamy.com
Photodisc now offers larger image formats to allow cropping
of key details or print outs in 'bedspread size'. Images
are available in 100MB, 200MB and 300MB. See
http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/photodisc/promo.asp
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INSPIRATION FROM A FASHION AND BEAUTY PHOTOGRAPHER
As part of the 'Emerging Artist Series' developed by Kodak
and PDNOnline a gallery of work by fashion and beauty
photographer Ondrea Barbe is shown.
Barbe shares the story of her career development, including
how her experience as a photo editor guides her marketing.
Special feature: Portfolio presentation tips by consultant
Selina Oppenheim.
www.pdnonline.com/emerging/barbe/
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YOUR MARKETING WITH SEARCH ENGINES
I have often drawn your attention to the changing life of
search engines and the impact on your online marketing. It
occupies a lot of people's working hours because to be
found among the top results of customers search for a
specific product or service you are offering will be the
key to your online success. According to different sources
the picture is again changing. It is a long story so I will
just give you the essence.
As you might know Altavista is no longer that important.
Google is the real big player in the field.
Yahoo's directory doesn't have the enormous
importance it had earlier, but it is still very important.
Microsoft is very active in the field but it isn't possible
to forecast exactly what will happen at the moment.
In the not too far future you can expect that the following
search engines and directories will continue to be the most
important:
- Google,
- Yahoo
- MNS (owned by Microsoft)
A commercial listing in Yahoo is quite expensive ($299 a
year) so you have to weight up your gains against this
expense.
Overture.com is the most important pay-per-click search
engine. Be careful when selecting the key words you
bid for so you get value for the kind of customers that
click through to you.
Overtures' tool for locating good keywords is free and
indispensable for all:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Outside US and at the regional level other engines and
directories might be of equal or higher importance for your
chance to get the right online exposure.
According to Search Engine News, Sept 2003, Overture stated
that AltaVista has the largest multimedia index at
approximately 550 million files.
The work with optimizing your main website pages to rank
high in the search engines can be very time consuming and
is experienced as a never ending story - and it is.
I am at the moment investigating a new web host solution
which integrates hosting with automatic web marketing. And
what is very important for me as a stock photographer the
hosting offers unlimited space and free traffic.
If it wasn't because the inventor is well known for his
philosophy of 'over-delivery' with his products I wouldn't
believe this possibility. If you are interested you find
the detailed description at
http://contact.sitesell.com/buildit/
Soren Breiting
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INTRODUCING THE VIRTUAL CD FROM ALAMY
(From Press Release September 2, 2003)
Alamy, a leading provider of both specialist and general
imagery from the world's major picture agencies and
photographers, has launched the Virtual CD. This unique
new product gives image buyers and contributors all
the benefits of hard copy royalty-free discs without the
associated expense, delivery delays or storage issues.
For both contributors and buyers, Almay's Virtual CDs have
many advantages over their physical counterparts.
Contributors, who have never been able to create physical
stock CDs because of the high cost of mastering,
manufacture and distribution, can now produce a virtual
equivalent for free. They can create collections online and
make them instantly available to all customers visiting the
Alamy site, increasing the visibility of their portfolio of
work. Customers will benefit from access to new and
exciting image collections they won't find anywhere else.
Image buyers can browse through Virtual CDs online and,
once purchased, have instant access to the images, as the
disk becomes an integral part of their Alamy account -- no
postal delays or costs. In addition, unlike traditional
physical discs, it is impossible to lose a Virtual CD. The
stock will always be available 24/7 for download from their
account on the Alamy website. James West, CEO of Alamy
Images, commented, "We realise that many of our customers
want to buy royalty-free images on CD for reasons of
convenience and economy-of-scale. With our Virtual CD we
are not only meeting this demand, but are providing a whole
host of other benefits besides. Alamy customers now have
instant, online access to collections of images --
including new material from contributors who wouldn't
normally sell their products on physical discs -- at
attractive prices. Our Virtual CD technology levels the
playing field for contributors too, making publishing
collections a reality for all." A portfolio of 130 Virtual
CDs has already been produced for the launch of the Virtual
CD, and this number will continue to grow. Customers can
choose CDs from contributors including image100,
imagestopshop, ImageState, PhotoWood, Up the Resolution and
Nature Picture Library. Prices for the current range of
Virtual CDs start at $99.99 (149.99 Euros) for 55 images
and range up to $299 (495 Euros) for 100 images. Pricing
and the number of images per CD varies according to the
contributor. Contributors who would like to have their
images considered for Virtual CD collections should contact
Alan Capel, Head of Content at Alamy at alan@alamy.com
.
About Alamy Alamy Images (www.alamy.com) provides a
one-stop shop for leading and "hard-to-find" image
brands
worldwide. The website was launched in February 2001 to
provide image buyers with a single source for all their
royalty-free (RF) and traditionally licensed image needs,
supported by innovative technology and strong customer
service. The company is headquartered in the UK and
currently has a network of 20 distributors worldwide.
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Older Press release (Toronto, May 16, 2003)
MASTERFILE LAUNCHES 'LIFE LINES' CATALOG FROM ZEFA
Masterfile has announced the availability of rights-managed
images from "Life Lines" the new catalogue from its
European partner, zefa visual media group. The 650 images
in the lavish book portray a variety of professions,
people, industries, settings and situations. The collection
is considered by many to be the most avant-garde ever
produced by a stock photo agency. Subject areas include:
research and science, service, office, crafts, social work
and education, art and media. "We've never had images
quite this provocative before," said Masterfile president
Steve Pigeon. "We've got the dark and light side of
business, the clarity of simplicity and the passion of
success in these photos. It's a very exciting addition to
the Masterfile collection."
Last year, zefa and Masterfile announced a strategic
alliance with Masterfile marketing the European company's
images in North America, while zefa markets the Masterfile
collection in Germany and Italy. Zefa is the third-largest
stock photo agency in the world, after Getty Images and
Corbis. Masterfile is the largest independent stock agency
in North America with offices and affiliates in 33
countries. zefa and Masterfile both feature rights-managed
stock images, paid for by clients on a rights-per-use
basis, and royalty-free stock images, based on a one-time
fee for unlimited use. The "Life Lines" catalogue
is a hard
cover limited edition release of 350 pages.
About Masterfile Masterfile Corporation is a global visual
content provider, with a substantial collection of
rights-managed and royalty-free photos and illustrations by
world-class artists. The images, covering a wide range of
subjects, are stored digitally, showcased, licensed and
delivered instantly to business clients worldwide via the
Internet. Headquartered in Toronto, Masterfile has offices
in New York, Seattle, and London, England, and independent
agents in 33 other countries.
About zefa zefa visual media group is the largest European
agency in the professional stock photography market, and is
headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. The zefa visual
media
group - third largest in the world - represents a worldwide
network of top creative photographers through 14
subsidiaries and partner agencies in another 30 countries.
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LEARN FROM FREE MARKETING COURSES
You are offered a number of useful courses in marketing and
other relevant aspects of having a successful website. Just
go to www.ALLeMarketingTips.com
........................................................
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See you in the next Stock Photo Newsletter!
Soren Breiting
........................................................
Copyright 2003 by Soren Breiting, A-Z FOTOS.
www.azFotos.com "Find Stock Photos from most of the World"
Email me at: sb@azfotos.com
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