The photo marketing and archiving service PhotoShelter will launch a new online marketplace for stock photography on September 15, 2007. The PhotoShelter Collection will allow photographers to set their own prices for images accepted by a team of professional photo editors, and will pay photographers 70 percent of each transaction's proceeds. The Collection complements PhotoShelter's Personal Archive service, which provides a platform for individual photographers' image archives and portfolios, and includes e-commerce tools.Although the PhotoShelter Collection offers an alternative to existing microstock sites such as iStockphoto and SnapVillage , it represents a departure from typical microstock pricing schemes, which limit image prices to very low dollar amounts and pay commissions of 30 percent or less. Instead of capping image prices, the PhotoShelter Collection imposes a $50 minimum price per photo. PhotoShelter CEO Allen Murabayashi has called the company's approach the "antithesis of microstock," emphasizing its desire to drive a shift in the online stock photography market by providing photographers at all stages of their careers with an avenue for reaching commercial buyers without artificially lowering the market value of their images.
Popphoto.com got an advance look at the Collection's online platform for photographers, and we can attest to its efficient and attractive design. A combination of tabbed sections, drop-down selection menus, and drag-and-drop functionality makes the interface simple and intuitive, while a flash-based uploading tool obviates any need to download desktop software in order to use the site. The platform is supported by the Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari browsers, and PhotoShelter has also developed a plug-in for Aperture integration.
The interface also includes a handy loupe tool, which allows users to view any part of a photo at 100 percent magnification in a small window by mousing over the image. Also available in the buyer interface, which will launch in November, this tool will allow purchasers to quickly check image sharpness and detail before buying a photo.
PhotoShelter has given considerable attention to the Collection's image-search functionality, hiring a linguist to oversee the development of keywords.
Photographers enter these with each photo, and buyers can use them to search for images. When a buyer enters a search term that has more than one meaning, a set of definitions is presented to narrow the search and prevent buyers from having to sort through images that are unrelated to what they're looking for.
To submit images for inclusion in the Collection, photographers must fill out a brief application and upload three to ten images for evaluation by PhotoShelter's editors. If approved, the photographer will be able to submit additional images for consideration. Once an image is accepted, the photographer must enter pricing, basic image attributes, and keywords, and indicate whether a model or property release is available, uploading the release document if available. The interface for entering this information pulls in EXIF and IPTC metadata from each image in order to keep data entry time to a minimum. Other image information such as captions and keywords can also be entered. Each image in the Collection is categorized as Editorial, Pro Stock, or Contemporary. The Pro Stock category includes creative images with a traditional stock photography look, while Contemporary photos have a more unorthodox aesthetic.
In addition to accepting and rejecting photos, PhotoShelter's editors have the option of issuing a soft rejection, which is a sort of "close-but-no-cigar" option designed to encourage developing photographers whose work shows promise but not commercial viability as initially submitted. Soft rejections will be issued with a brief critique, and PhotoShelter is also launching forums and tutorials to help Collection photographers improve their chops. The editors also have the option to designate a photograph as an "editor's choice," a category that will be searchable by buyers for quick access to images that the editors feel are stand-outs. As part of the Collection launch, PhotoShelter will pay an 85 percent commission on work accepted through November 4, 2007, and sold within six months.
This announcement dovetails in with the Photoshelter "Town Hall" tour, which kicks off today in New York. Click here for more information on the Photography 2.0 roundtables and upcoming sessions in 5 other cities.
provided by popphoto.com
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