PhotoShelter

Social Media is an undeniable force on the Internet, and our belief in it led to the development of our embeddable slideshows and the  "Post to facebook" functionality. Within the past month, we've seen a dramatic increase in traffic to PhotoShelter websites from Facebook, so your posts are having the intended effect.

But when visitors visit your website and view your photos, we thought that we could do more to allow them to market for you! So we're happy to announce that PhotoShelter websites now have an option to posting a link to your content on a myriad of social networks with the new "Share" button.

To enable the feature within your PhotoShelter website, go to your Gallery Display page template, and make sure the "Post to Social Networks" option is selected.



Once the feature is enabled, your website visitors will see the following when they move their mouse over the new "Share" button:




We've selected 6 major services plus e-mail to which a user can post a link to your content. Additionally, there are 199 other services to other social networking sites that users can pick. It's a great way to extend your reach by using viral marketing tools. Many media websites use the same types of tools to allow their readers to push content for them, and we think photography websites should be no different.

Within the photographer area, we've also made it easier for you to "tweet" a gallery or image on Twitter. If you have a public gallery or image, you'll see the "Tweet This" button. Click it, and we'll automatically take you to Twitter with a shortened URL (using bit.ly) to your content.

We're happy to announce the availability of two new website themes to PhotoShelter Standard and Pro users, both named after two of our favorite New York neighborhoods.

Nolita is an angular and very clean design with thin Century Gothic lettering. Peter Pham (an Asia travel stock photographer) uses the default style, and Markel Redondo (a freelance editorial photographer in Bilbao) is using the "White Shadow" style.

By Paul Painter

Photography competitions are everywhere. A quick Google search will reveal hundreds of them across the world in any given month. Fabulous, you might think. I'll enter a few and hopefully get some recognition, win a prize, be able to call myself an award-winning photographer... So I'm preparing to send off some of my very best images when the terms and conditions catch my eye. Hold on a minute, what does, "you grant a perpetual and irrevocable right to use your images worldwide and in all media without further recompense to you" actually mean?

And herein lies the problem. Why is this company, organisation or individual really holding a competition? Is it because they're passionate about visual imagery and wish to seek out and reward the best photography they can find? Or do they want to get their sticky mitts on your best images and then use them anywhere in the world, for any purpose they like, FOREVER AND FOR FREE? And you thought you were entering to win a shiny new gizmo or world recognition!  In fact in some cases you are being conned and in the worst cases completely and utterly ripped off whether you are a long in the tooth pro, a weekend warrior, a keen amateur or happy snapper.

Why is this so important?
Well I'll let the World Intellectual Property Organization explain the purpose of copyright and related rights:

"The purpose of copyright and related rights is twofold: firstly to encourage a dynamic creative culture, while returning value to creators so that they can lead a dignified economic existence, and secondly to provide widespread, affordable access to content for the public".

Please note that at no point is a distinction made as to whether you are an amateur or professional because it doesn't matter.

Rights grabbing, the term given to such terms and conditions, seeks to take advantage of a dynamic creative culture without returning value to creators.

Not all contests do this, but those that do are in effect exploiting entrants, seeking to remove legal rights from them that are automatically granted by the law of all countries to their citizens in order that creative people can make a living from their creativity. Creativity is a very valuable commodity and the majority of the business world and publicly funded bodies have an endless need for it. Unfortunately some prefer to obtain it for nothing through devices such as photo competitions with 'rights grabbing' terms and conditions; this is an unethical practice that is indefensible.

Now to answer the question, why is this so important?
Because when people who create stuff aren't being paid for what they created they can't pay themselves or their employees, their suppliers, the bills, the rent and all the other people too numerous to mention and then they stop doing what they do and the creativity stops.  Now I'm not talking about mega stars or wealthy beyond your wildest dream pop stars here, it's the person with a mortgage and a family to support, you know, the type of person who is your next door neighbour, and they are being ripped off because nobody wants to pay anymore.  

And because less money goes into the creative world, fewer people get trained, meaning fewer jobs, meaning less money to go round, meaning if you dreamt of assisting a pro, or growing your business, you can't.  Not because there isn't a need for the service, there's a massive need, but very clever people with a very different agenda don't want to pay for what they need and they are doing it by pulling the wool over your eyes and that's the big problem.

What are these rights grab organisations doing with all these images and how are they getting value from them?  

Here are just a few options:

It could be as simple as their lawyers were just being fastidious and they have no intention of using your images for anything other than promoting their competition and drawing attention to themselves. If this is the case the terms of the competition should reflect the intent. In this situation a change in the terms alters nothing as far as the organisers are concerned and in fact can increase the number of entries and the exposure that the competition and the sponsors get.  

Use your images for a worldwide marketing campaign with no recognition or recompense and saving themselves thousands of pounds/dollars in the process and nothing going to the people who created the stuff.

You assign them your copyright (oh yes did I not mention that earlier, some really do take your copyright just by entering) and then do whatever they want with the image you took including reselling your images as stock and there is no law against it.  And if you now continue to display that image or use it personally or commercially, you are now breaking the law.

Oh and by the way you won't be able to resell your award winning or even your award entered photograph to anyone else, ever!

So what can be done about the situation?
Well there are several things, firstly don't enter competitions with bad T&Cs and furthermore, maybe email them the reason why you won't be entering.  Secondly, tell as many people as you can about this, preferably people you know. People you don't know will stare at you funny. Write about it in your blog and in forums.

What else can be done?
There's one global organisation fighting this trend of poor terms and conditions for competitions and that's Pro Imaging - the international web-based group of independent professional photographers. I'm a member, and I'm keen to promote them to fellow creatives as they campaign for the rights of photographers and also explain in simple terms the issues around copyright and licensing.

Check out their website http://www.pro-imaging.org

They have a list of good and bad competitions and loads of info on the Bill Of Rights, which is a framework of fair terms for both photographers and competition organisers.

Additionally they are now summoning the support of suppliers of photographic equipment to competitions to sign up to the Bill Of Rights and therefore not supply competitions with prizes that don't comply.  So if you see a sponsor supplying a kit to a rights grab competition, please tell them that you're not impressed, point them in our direction and hopefully and gradually we can change this abominable situation for all photographers and creatives, whether pro or amateur.

If you're a full time pro please sign up to Pro Imaging directly and give us a hand, there are thousands of competitions worldwide and only a few of us.

Also whether you are pro or amateur, please sign up to our fan page on facebook and show your support.  It can be found here:  

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pro-Imaging-Competition-Campaign/202732473108?ref=mf

And watch your back if you're entering any competitions!

Paul Painter is a commercial photographer specialising in Architecture, Interiors and Lifestyle work.  His studio is based in Birmingham UK and he travels throughout Europe on commission.  Paul is one of a small group of competition administrators for Pro Imaging who manage the campaign for fairer terms and conditions for all photographic competitions.

New York-based freelancer and PhotoShelter user, Robert Caplin, likes to experiment. Earlier this year, he picked up a Canon 5D Mark II and started to play with the video options. But instead of recording something banal like taxis outside his window, he decided to make a music video of his sister.

That experience got him hooked on the moving pictures. He helped create a short film entitled Betrayed, and then started playing around with time-lapse photography with a static mount as well as a moving mount that is typically used with telescopes to track the movement of stars.

A few weeks ago, he stopped by our offices to show us some of his tests, which were just a pre-cursor of his time lapse photography of the 2009 World Series.

World Series Time-Lapse by Robert Caplin from Robert Caplin on Vimeo.

Not only is it well-composed and interesting to watch, but it seems like great stock footage material...

And yes, he also shot some stills of the game.

Congratulations to our November Featured Photographers! You'll enjoy this month's broad selection of outstanding creative and editorial images by PhotoShelter photographers.  Our diverse spotlight for November includes bodybuilders, travel lifestyle, nature and live music.      
We encourage you to check out our featured photographers' work in the "Images" tab of the PhotoShelter homepage slideshow, as well as their PhotoShelter websites in our product tour.

Highlights include:

• Neil Bookman's unique animal and still life photography.
• Paul Gallaher's editorial photography from Temecula, California  - a great example of PhotoShelter integration with his Graph Paper Press Wordpress theme.
• Nigel Hillier's dramatic UK landscape photography. 
• Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert's is a Tokyo editorial photographer.

Check out the full selection of November featured images here:

Last week, we introduced a Facebook export feature that allows PhotoShelter users to either send their images to a Facebook album, or post a link on their wall. We received a great reception, but photographers immediately starting asking us for the ability to post to their "Pages."

In case you're unfamiliar with the lingo, Facebook users can set up "Pages" which are separate from their personal profiles. This can be pretty handy for their businesses, hobbies, etc. For example, I know Doug Murdoch, but I'm a fan of his company "Think Tank Photo" which has a page on Facebook.

Here's what the new interface looks like with the "Post on Fan Page" button:

Social Media is the buzz word in marketing nowadays, and services like Twitter have gone mainstream. But should photographers use Twitter as a marketing tool?

Let's start by acknowledging that social media services like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are real phenomena when it comes to business marketing. Everyone from accountants to plumbers are finding new audiences and paying customers by leveraging social media. As far as photography goes, I've picked up paying jobs by simply having a presence on Facebook and posting new photos on a semi-regular basis. The easy flow of information (text, pictures, video) through these networks acts as connective tissue for new businesses.

Twitter claims to have 25 million active users, and like any social network, you have to explicitly "follow/friend" users -- this "opt-in" makes this inbound marketing so much more powerful than the unsolicited e-mail or postcard of yesteryear.

But even given the size of the "addressable population" and the strong connectedness, should photographers use Twitter?

There are two key components to determine to answer this question:
1. What are your goals?
2. What do your analytics say?

GOOOOOOOOOOAL!
Goals are a funny thing. When we think of Twitter or Facebook, it's too easy to be seduced by the number of followers or friends. What are you -- in junior high school? This isn't a popularity contest. Numbers are meaningless if we don't have a goal. It's like saying you have 10 best friends, but none of them will meet you for a drink.

A lot of photographers will tweet with no business goal in mind. If you're trying to sell photos or photographic services, what is the value in regurgitating links to other websites? Or trying to be the wittiest person online?

I fully understand that you don't want to come across as a schill or schmuck, so there needs to be a balance of self-promotion. But when you are in self-promotion mode, why the heck are you sending people to a blog post or gallery of images with no discernible "point of conversion?"

• If you want to get hired, then you need to 1) make it clear that you're available for hire, and 2) make it easy to contact you.
• If you're looking to sell images, then your website needs to have e-commerce.
• If you're looking to audience build, then don't "dead end" your content. Point people to other content on your site, or allow them to sign up for newsletters and RSS feeds.

You need a goal because with out it, we can't answer the "return on investment" question which is central to understanding whether it's worth it to tweet.

THE ANALYTICS TIE-IN
You'd be hard pressed to be a Twitter pro without knowing of the URL-shortening service bit.ly. Although services like tinyurl preceded it, bit.ly's success is due in part to it's ability to provide tracking statistics like how many people clicked on that link.

At a bare minimum, you'll want to know this because you can never tell how many people actually see your tweet. There's no "pageview" equivalent in Twitter.

But once again, knowing a click-through rate (CTR) isn't really that helpful if we can't tie in a goal. Let's say you publish your favorite images as prints for the holidays on your website. Then you post the link on Twitter, Facebook, and your blog. Even if you know that Twitter sent you 100 visits and Facebook sent you 60 visits, I'd argue that it's not enough information to say that Twitter is a better marketing tool.

Why? Because you might get 100 visits from Twitter but only 1 sale. Whereas Facebook might send you 60 visits with 4 sales. Quality of traffic is much more important than quantity of traffic, and you can't make this determination without tying in analytics.

GO CAMPAIGNING
Google Analytics has a concept of "campaigns." It's an easy way to add tracking variables to any link to your website that you post online. When people click on the link, your Google Analytics will use cookies to track their activity. If you have a "goal" set up in Google Analytics (e.g. an e-commerce sales funnel), you can now determine:

• the number of visitors that came to your website from Twitter
• how that traffic compared by various site usage metrics (e.g. time on site, page views, etc)
• what percentage of those visitors completed a sale

At PhotoShelter, we use this all the time. When we have a discount code for example, we'll use the Google URL Builder to add campaign codes. Then we'll use bit.ly to shorten the URL and then post it on Twitter.

Now we can see specifically how our general and specific Twitter activity ties into our bottom line.

THE FINAL WORD
Participating in social networks can be fun, so if you're having fun, tweet to your heart's content. But for a lot of you, time and resources are probably always squeezed and that's why I'm advocating an analytical way to determine whether tweeting is worth it.

By the way, follow us on Twitter @photoshelter.

First the obvious: a lot of people use Facebook. Over 300 million people use the service, and it's become the most popular social network. Irrespective about how you feel about Facebook, it's impact is undeniable, and it's ability to act as a marketing tool is becoming increasingly clear.

The business implication became clear to me last year when I posted an album of portraits, and then a "friend" hired me to photograph him. Posting images on Facebook is a way to passively market yourself to a qualified audience for free.

(I know, the terms and conditions are worrisome, but more on that in a second)

So I'm pleased to announce our new "Post to Facebook" feature that we released today. You might say to yourself, "well, duh!" And I would nod my head in agreement. It's an obvious piece of functionality. But we've done it slightly differently than other implementations that I've seen.

From your PhotoShelter gallery, you can click the "send to social networks" link, and then use "Facebook Connect" to link your accounts. Then you have two options:

1. Post to your Wall: For those of you who don't want to upload content to Facebook because of concerns over their T&C, you can post a link to your Wall with a message. Facebook will display a preview of a few images with a link back to your website. Here's what a wall post looks like:
   
   
   
   
2. Upload Images: Alternately, you can actually upload images to Facebook from your gallery. We'll create a new album with the same name as your PS Gallery, then upload the images. After the upload is complete, you get a chance to review the images and set the album permissions before posting them to your "Photos" tab. Just remember that Facebook has a 200 image limit per album.

Pretty nifty, huh? It's a great time saver, and a cool way to go social.

Stay tuned, we have more cool features up our sleeves....

Another great PhotoPlus Expo has come and gone, and I figured the best way to recap would be to use some pictures.

We were a sponsor of the inaugural Magnum Expression Award, which had a really neat display of photojournalism in the main entry way to the Expo. Over 17,000 images were submitted from photographers in 170 countries. And the winner is a fantastic Belgian photojournalist Bieke Depoorter. You can view all the finalists.

CNN.com is my browser homepage, and I don't know why.

Let's put aside their unhealthy obsession with Twitter, their reliance on entertainment coverage to boost their ratings, and the god awful, overly Photoshopped portrait of Campbell Brown. Instead let's talk about their use of photography.

Still photographers have been told for years that the time was coming when video stills would be pulled from cameras that rivaled or exceeded the quality of DSLRs. In the past year, we've seen how the Red Camera and Canon 5DMKII have actually made this possible -- Esquire published a cover image that was grabbed from a Red video. The threat to still photography is palpable, and perhaps concerning (or exciting).

And then there's CNN.

This is the cover of their newly redesigned website. Take a look at the central image. It's a video grab. Now tell me what it is, and why would I want to click on it?