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Key words in this issue: Digital Delivery | Cliches | Royalty Free | Advantage | Moving | Negatives | Analyzing | Cover Photos | Corporate Giants | On-Line Publishing | Auctions | Verticals | Copyrightable Property | ASPP | Sell It On Ebay | Clone | Business Vehicle | Model Release Required | Stock Photo

NEWSWORDS: SECURITY THREAT | GOOGLE | PEOPLE | AD REVENUE | PICTOMETRY | AFRICAN DIASPORA | WATERMARK | INJUSTICE | OCCUPATION's | BANGLADESH's | PICTURE-TAKERS | SCAM | ALLEGHENY | SEPARATIONS |

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## PhotoAimLite monthly newsletter for July ## 406

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PhotoAimLite, the monthly newsletter from PhotoSource

ISSN 1530-0511

If you no longer wish to receive PhotoAimLite, see the instructions at the end of this newsletter.

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Multiple Agents - Yes or No

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By Pat Hunt

"How many stock photo agents should represent my work?" This question is asked frequently both by new artists who want to enter the stock image field, and also by well-established ones who want to expand their client reach and increase their revenue. Unfortunately, the best answer may be, "it depends."

Should You Be Represented By Several Agencies?

It depends on the type of subject matter you shoot.

It depends on the volume of work you produce.

It depends on the difficulty and cost of producing your images.

It depends on the needs of your agents.

It depends your business models -- Rights Managed, Royalty Free, or Subscription.

It depends on whether you have agents, portals, or both.

It depends on whether your agents are foreign or domestic.

It depends on your time and financial budget.

It depends on whether or not you have a staff to help you.

It depends on the marketing and distribution capabilities of the agents.

There is no single answer. Alamy, Getty Images, Index Stock Imagery and Masterfile all were nice enough to offer their input from the agent's point of view. Their information should help artists determine what path is appropriate for themselves.

All four companies were asked if they allow contributors to give their work to more than one agency. All four answered YES. Stuart Cox at Alamy claims: "Submitting to multiple agents improves the artist's revenue return opportunities, while providing the widest possible audience for the photography." Index, Getty Images and Masterfile are "image-exclusive." That means that while they allow artists to submit to multiple agencies, they do NOT allow artists to submit the same image to more than one. Alamy is "non-exclusive," which, Cox says, "therefore gives the contributor the opportunity to work with multiple agencies without any contractual problems."

None of the agents have stuck to the old "photographer-exclusive" approach. Anthony Harris, VP of Photographer and Filmmaker Relations at Getty Images, states: "We respect this need for freedom and affirmed it in the standard contracts introduced four years ago." Bahar Gidwani, CEO of Index Stock Imagery, says it goes a bit further: "We also allow our artists to market images themselves, including those they have given us."

Each company is fairly flexible on the number of 'selects' they require for submissions, because they are more interested in a high quality submission than receiving high quantities of images. As Index describes it: "Often the quantity of work an artist produces is related to her/his technique or artistic approach. For instance, some of our artists use extensive post-processing -- either digital or print/chemical -- to achieve a specific 'look.' There is no point in pushing our artists to submit more images," says Gidwani, "if they don't meet our quality and subject need standards."

Cost is always a factor, when considering submitting high volume imagery. Masterfile and Index claim they do not charge their artists fees on their submissions. Getty Images explains that there are no submission fees for their traditional collections. However, they mentioned two examples of fees for optional programs -- images included in catalogs, and 'Photographer's Choice' images; a program launched last year for photographers who are part of the Rights Managed collections of Stone, The Image Bank and Taxi. These artists can pay a small per-image fee, and Getty will upload these images without editing them.

Because Alamy started as a "portal," it has a different system. They offer a tier system for payment and commission. In their words: "Alamy Green is 25% commission, with 10 cents per image per month storage charge, but most contributors opt for the Alamy Blue contract which is 35% commission returning 65% to the contributor with no storage charge. The only additional cost is when we issue a payment to a contributor. This is a charge we have levied by our bankers and is passed on at cost in order to keep the commissions we charge as low as possible. The payment charge is $8 for a check or $11 for wire transfers, and this is made if a contributor's account is $250 or more in credit at the end of each month. If no payment is made, then no charge is levied."

All the agents except Alamy define 'similars' about the same, and prohibit submitting similars to other agents. In Getty's words: are "Key factors considered in assessing images for similars. Models, clothing, props/detail, settings and locations, composition, feel/atmosphere, idea/concept/story, activity and technique, When a number of these elements are closely parallel or are identical across two or more images, it is likely that we will consider the images to be 'similars'." Alamy, however, states that their agency is non-exclusive. This makes it possible for a photographer to submit similar material to other agencies as well as Alamy, provided this fits with the other agencies contracts.

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A recent Appellate Court decision involving a book of poetry invoked an interesting reverse logic as part of its analysis, which should be applicable to issues of infringement of compilations of photographs as well.

  The case is Silverstein v. Penguin Putman, Inc. and involves the book, Dorothy Parker: Complete Poems, published by Penguin. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision dated May 7, 2004, reversed the District's Court's grant of an injunction which had banned publication of the defendant's (Penguin) book of poems by Dorothy Parker, on the grounds that such book infringed Silverstein's copyright in his own book, which contained his selection of what he considered to be all of Parker's uncollected poems.

  The Circuit Court, in reversing, held that Silverstein has no copyright in the poems themselves, that the defendant (Penguin) did not use Silverstein's arrangement (which could be the subject of a separate copyright), and perhaps most pertinent, that the selection process itself did not rise to the level of copyright protection.  The Court pointed out the obvious – that since Parker collected some of her poems and did not collect her remaining poems, any compilation which alleges to be a complete list of her uncollected poems was not protectable under the Copyright Act since Parker herself had created this category by not collecting those poems in her lifetime.

  Thus, argued the Court, the selection process adopted by the defendant (Penguin) – completeness or all of her poems – owes little or nothing to the work by Silverstein, who just listed what Parker created, without any real creativity in the selection process.  The Court held that "completeness," or "all" of a category, is not protectable under the copyright Act since there is no creativity or selectivity involved.

  The case was remanded to the District Court on other issues.  

WORKSHOP

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The Memory Card

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Crossing the Digital Divide

By David Arnold and Gail Rutman

Unless you look closely, it's hard to tell a digital SLR from a traditional film SLR. They even feel much the same. But don't let look and feel fool you. Digital is indeed different—delightfully so. You’ll learn to optimize exposure using a histogram. You’ll get greater focal lengths from your current lenses, since your 50 mm. lens now acts – in most, though not all, respects – like a 75 mm. (Nikon), 80 mm. (Canon), or 100 mm. (Olympus). You’ll have more buttons, dials, and digital displays for customizing, controlling, and reviewing your output. And you'll be editing on a computer screen instead of a light box, so becoming proficient in Photoshop or some other image editing program is a must. Here are six suggestions to smooth your trip across the digital divide.

1) Read the entire manual—with the camera in front of you.

3) Read a non-camera-specific guide to digital photography. Many of these are basically the same old introductory how-to books with a digital facelift, but there are exceptions. The best we’ve found are Real World Digital Photography, by Katrin Eismann, Seán Duggan, and Tim Grey (2<sup>nd</sup> edition, 2004, Peachpit Press, $49.50, 698 pages), and The Complete Guide to Digital Photography, by Michael Freeman (2<sup>nd</sup> edition, 2004, Lark Books, $29.95, 224 pages).

4) While books provide depth, magazines are easier to read and more up-to-date. We’ve found Digital Photo Pro especially useful.

VALUABLE RESOURCES

6) Shoot lots of pictures, run tests, and experiment. After all, it’s free now.

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GOODSTUFF

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ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ALBUM. This book takes an easy, visual approach to teaching Photoshop Album, using pictures to guide you through the software and show you what to do. Works like a reference book—you look up what you need and then get straight to work. ($19.99; ISBN: 0-321-24666-7) Contact: Peachpit Press, 1249 Eighth St, Berkeley CA 94710. Phone: 1 800 283-9444. Fax: 1 510 524-2221.

You go out; you get this new computer with scanner, maybe a digital camera, and some other stuff. Then you start trying to hook it all up, and part-way through, you figure you may as well hook it up to your big-screen TV and maybe your stereo for that great gaming experience. Then you discover, it's not all that easy, despite that huge picture foldout that came with the computer, which only shows how to get the computer connected. Maybe you have a local teenager, or, gasp, even a pre-teen to help you out. Then again, maybe not. Do not worry. In an effort to distinguish themselves from low-cost retailers, mail-order companies, and even their regular competitors, major retailers, are forming their own house-call technician squads. Best Buy plans on expanding their Geek Squad into all 614 stores by summer. Likewise, in-home setup and installation help, including troubleshooting, is available from CompUSA, Circuit City, and Geeks On Call. Other companies, such as Gateway, Dell, and Sears, offer more limited selections. For example, Dell and Gateway will help you set up your wireless network, but won't troubleshoot your computer or help recover lost files. (Some help for this is available via phone support, but they won't dispatch a person to your place.) Service in some cases is not limited to computers--many will help set up your home theater system or help hang that flat panel TV.

One of the more popular and effective anti-spam filters is the Bayesian filter. It's based on a statistical analysis developed by the 18<sup>th</sup> century cleric Thomas Bayes. The anti-spam version sorts the words contained in an e-mail into four groups, giving each word a value, and also factoring in the values given to the four groups, and other ranking mechanisms. "Sex" scores negatively, while "nonprofit" scores positively, and some words get a neutral score. Sometimes, these unrelated words are obscured by use of color and small type. Why do you care? Because it explains why your junk e-mails contain more and more nonsense words and sentences having nothing whatsoever to do with the product or service being hawked. In the industry, it's known as a "word salad," and the better the mix, the greater chances of their message getting past your spam filter to you. One company that routinely sends out over 10 million messages a day had this to say about why they use word salads, "It's kind of pointless to send out an e-mail if no one's reading it." Right on! Don't send out pointless e-mails! And just so you know, the latest figures say 64% of all world-wide e-mail would be identified as spam.

There are those who use dial-up service to access the Internet, and those who use broadband, generally described as high-speed Internet and including offerings from telephone companies (DSL) and cable companies. With broadband fees continuing to (slowly) drop, and some dial-up services rising, would you switch? Estimates are that 2 out of 5 Internet users in the US are now connected via broadband. Of course, broadband is still unavailable (for a reasonable price) in many rural areas, but that is changing. Why even here at the farm, we've been using a satellite link for our high-speed connection until just recently, when the local phone company got DSL out to the barn. If you're on the Internet a lot, chasing photo ideas and the latest equipment reviews, or if your kids are doing their homework and research online, or if you spend a lot of time waiting for web pages to load, you may want to reconsider the switch and check out your local pricing for broadband. Remember, too, that if you installed a second phone line just for Internet access so you'd not be tying up your regular voice line, with DSL you can eliminate that second line resulting in an offsetting savings right there. Upgrading to broadband is like getting your first microwave oven--you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.

*Display 6 of your own images for photobuyers to view, on your page on the PhotoSource website.

Shoot First, Ask Afterwards

In some situations you will find yourself in a quandary as to whether it is permissible to take pictures or not. This will vary from country to country and city to city; there is no ‘one for all’ rule.

Places

For example, you enter a university/church/museum, etc. and look around for signs barring photography but cannot see any. What do you do? Simple, go to the position where the best shot will be, set the camera, wait for the right moment then shoot. Someone may then come up and tell you photographs are not allowed, so apologize and move on. Most times denial of permission from an authority seems to be so that the local venue can sell postcards, not for any copyright reasons.

In Kyoto, Japan recently I paid the entrance fee into a temple that housed a number of Buddhas, and it was only when I got inside that I found ‘No Photographs’ signs on display. So I went and asked for my money back pointing out to the ticket booth agent that there were photos of the Buddhas on the ticket itself, seeming to imply that photography was allowed. They made no fuss and returned my money.

People

When it comes to people this is even more of a minefield, as some will expect payment if you take their photo. Generally I am against this as it sets a precedent for those that follow on afterwards. In very poor countries, though, you have to make an even tougher judgement, as what you 'tip' a group of people in a village, for instance, might feed them for a week.

In Merida in the Venezuelan Andes, I hired a car with a driver for a day (it’s easier to take pictures if someone else is driving) and he took me to a village and then negotiated the way into a farmer’s house where the family was all around. I was asked to give something to the folks in return, and I had no hesitation in this instance because they were actually helping me to take pictures by allowing me to pose them.

In another instance a colleague of mine was in North Africa, and wanted to take a series of pictures of the people in a small village. They were reluctant until he offered $50, then they posed happily for a couple of hours. The photographer easily recuped the $50 later, after the sale of one photo.

This is a constant enigma for any travel photographer, so be prepared in advance about your plan to react when it happens to you, as it surely will!

Jeremy Hoare is a freelance travel photographer residing in London, England. Phone/Fax: +44 20 7722 2065. Email: jeremyhoare@hotmail.com. Web: www.travelwriters.com/jeremyhoare

Just because you received a refund does not mean you can forget about an audit. Hang on to receipts, canceled checks, and whatever else might help support income, deductions, exemptions and other items on your return.

Do that at least until the expiration of the statute of limitations for an audit or for you to file a refund claim, should you discover a mistake after filing. The statute of limitations is the limited period of time after which the Internal Revenue Service is no longer able to come knocking and you cannot recover an overpayment.

In most cases, the tax collectors have only three years to audit your return after you file it. For instance, the deadline is April 2007 for the government to start an examination of a return for tax year 2003, with a filing due date, for most persons, of April 2004.

There are two exceptions to the three-year test, though they do not apply to most persons. The first exception authorizes the IRS to double the audit deadline from three to six years if the amount of income a person fails to report on his or her return is greater than 25 percent of the amount shown on it. Using the six-year test, the deadline expires in April 2005 for returns for tax year 1998 that were submitted in 1999.

Under the second exception, there is no time limit on when the IRS can come after someone who fails to file a return or files one that is deemed false or fraudulent. The audit, admonishes the IRS, can begin "at any time."

COPIES OF RETURNS. You should retain them indefinitely. They take up little space and are always helpful as guides for future returns or amending previously filed returns. Moreover, copies of tax forms might prove helpful in case the IRS claims you failed to file them.

EXCESSIVE REFUNDS. If you receive too much of a refund because of an IRS computer goof, return the overpayment immediately, rather than holding it until the feds discover the error. Because you have the use of the money, the law authorizes the IRS to charge you interest on the overpayment.

EXAMPLE. Instead of an expected refund of $600, you receive a check for $66,000. Either return the $66,000 check in full or deposit it and send your own check for $65,400.

TIP. One of my IRS sources recommends that you send your own check and deposit the government's. If you return the IRS check, you will have to wait about eight to 10 weeks to get a check for the correct amount. In addition, should your check go astray, you can stop payment and send another one. If you return the IRS check and that happens, it might prove more difficult getting the matter straightened out..

TAX PAYMENTS. Make checks payable to the "United States Treasury," not "Internal Revenue Service." However, the feds still accept checks payable to the IRS.

Whichever payee designation you use, don't be casual about what you write on the pay-to-the-order line of a check going to the IRS. Your tax tab could double if you merely make the check payable to "IRS," instead of "Internal Revenue Service," and it winds up in the wrong hands. That "IRS" can easily be altered to "MRS" followed by a name, or altered to a name by combining the initials "I.R." with a last name - for instance, "I.R. Smith." And never send a check without filling in the payee line, as some obliging taxpayers do.

TIP. The same "write-in-full" advice applies to names specified by state or local tax agencies. An example: Write "NY State Income Tax," instead of "NYS."blurbjb June 2004. doc

CENTURY-POLY PHOTO PAGES

Get 2 free Deluxe Photo Albums when you

order 2 Century-Poly Photo Page Pre-Packs.

Free S&H. Contact: Century, Photo Products

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This month's featured photographer on PhotoSourceFolio: Fabian Michelangeli:

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Watch for developments in the field of stock photography in PhotoAimLite's

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS

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You'll be the first to know…

Note: If the URL is long, it may extend to two lines. In that case - clicking on it won't work. Instead, "copy and paste" the URL.

Ban on Subway Photography Prompts Underground Protest - The photographers - about 100 of them - gathered to express their outrage at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's proposed ban on taking pictures in the subway system. They rode the trains for upward of an hour, shutters clicking, flashes popping, in a filmed rebuke to the idea that photography is somehow a national SECURITY THREAT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/07/nyregion/07subway.html?ex=1087272000&en=6114d97aeb45ec63&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Why PEOPLE Pictures It Is A Passion For Participation – It’s really much more than just photographing people—it’s meeting them, talking with them, learning about them and their culture. It’s about engaging with people.

http://www.shutterbug.net/columns/0404sb_passport/

May Magazine AD REVENUE +12.8%, Pages +4.8% - Total magazine

rate-card-reported advertising revenue for the month of May 2004 increased +12.8%, compared to May of last year.

http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/21486.html

Pinpointing Crime - Monroe County is the first one in the nation to fight

crime with some new technology known as "PICTOMETRY.", a form of

aerial photography. In pictometry, still images are stored on the deputies'laptops.

http://www.wokr13.tv/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9228EA2E-6CDC-42A0-9584-A3A822EA4924

Underground Railroad project brings photographer to Detroit – Arizona

photographer Stephen Marc couldn’t complete a series of digital montages depicting the AFRICAN DIASPORA without coming to Detroit.

DropWaterMark Version 2.0 -- Watermark Images With Ease -

LAJ Design today announced the release and immediate availability of

DropWaterMark version 2.0. DropWaterMark is cross-platform application that creates allows you to easily WATERMARK images allowing you to protect your images. http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/21484.html

Nikon Photography To Appear On TiVo - Beginning today, TiVo Series2

subscribers can view images NIKON "Legends behind the Lens"

through the home media features.

Cameras as Weapons Against INJUSTICE :

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/movies/11CHOI.html?ex=1087876800&en=5a5ee9f33b6ade21&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

Israeli veterans show OCCUPATION's ugly side

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/chitribts/20040614/ts_chicagotrib/israeliveteransshowoccupationsuglyside

Aerial photographer on mission to improve BANGLADESH's image

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040614/wl_sthasia_afp/afplifestyle_bangladesh_040614061235

PICTURE-TAKERS, Noisemakers and Evil-Doers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/nyregion/11nyc.html?ex=1087704000&en=c94487b089757d8b&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

Angry Parents Say Photographer Took Pictures, Money - A group of parents are outraged after paying a professional photographer to take pictures of their children at the Granite Hill Mall. The problem is that the photographer, their money and their pictures are missing. The Pennsylvania State Police are looking into the case because the say the SCAM may be more widespread than originally thought. http://www.nbc10.com/news/3411188/detail.html

Photographer focuses lense on ALLEGHENY River - Roston has traveled the world, surveying the depths of oceans with his trusty stock of video and still-photography cameras. But it's fresh water environments he prefers exploring most of all.

http://www.thederrick.com/stories/06142004-1002.shtml

Photoshop How-To: Printing SEPARATIONS in Color - Making color separations in Adobe Photoshop is easy, printing them in color on your desktop printer isn't. You can preview your separations in their CMYK representations by following this handy how-to.

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/21479.html

Want to read more "Photography in the News"? Go to: http://www.photoaim.com/pitn.html

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Next Month: Multiple Stock Agents For You