All’s been quiet on the iStockphoto front lately, as far as buyers are concerned. Thus, not to much to report on to you. There are a couple of new things that surfaced yesterday, though.
A Cnet article yesterday revealed two things that are coming in the future that buyers may be interested in:
And one more new category coming for iStock: the PNG, (portable network graphics) format. Its big advantage compared with JPEG: it supports an “alpha” channel that lets designers mark parts of the overall image as transparent. That means objects work with colored or complex backgrounds without arduous image editing.
and
The company also expects to eventually offer high-end “2K” and “4K” video, which has roughly quadruple the resolution of mainstream 1080p video, iStock Chief Operating Officer Kelly Thompson said in an interview.
It’s been said that Microsoft Word now can handle .png transparencies, and thus the initiative to introduce that format at iStock. Unlike .jpg files, .png files can contain transparency information which would allow a designer to drop it easily into a PowerPoint or web page, or what have you. .jpg files can contain clipping paths, but those only allow for a hard edge cut out. .png files would allow for a softer transparency, in areas like hair or fur. No mention of the price point, if different, for buyers, or how contributors can upload these, or modify existing files yet. Also, no note of the ETA on this.
As for the video, the blurb pretty much says it all. Expect larger sizes at higher prices, since they can allow editing like cropping or stabilizing, and then downsizing to HD or smaller. The tradeoff will be huge download times. Maybe they will introduce an ftp for buyers? Time will tell.
The other news, which came completely unexpectedly out of left field, is that Non-Exclusive iStockphoto contributors now are able to move a select portion of their portfolio to a slightly higher price point, called “Photos+” or the oddly abbreviated “P+”. This mirrors the E+ Exclusive collection, aside from price. The price level of P+ is actually the same as an Exclusive contributor’s regular collection file. Confused? 😉 . Now, as a buyer, if you are watching price, you have something else to keep an eye out for, as the notion of any price or collection filters still seems to be an afterthought. They should be marked in the search with an icon with a “+” next to it, but it all seems to have been a rushed roll out, so we’ll have to see if the icon surfaces or not.
XS – 2
S – 5
M – 10
L – 15
XL – 20
XXL – 25
XXXL – 30
That’s the news for this week. Have a sunny weekend!
When you say, it has been quiet, that unfortunately means there has been an absence of glaring site errors and outrageous management missteps. Apparently we’ve all forgotten about the previous ones.
I suppose the Lypse in London has been taking up all of HQ’s attention and as a result they haven’t had time to screw up the normal running of the site. But as soon as the London lypse finishes we get Kelly putting his foot in his mouth and somehow it’s us that is made to vomit, and then we get the myseterious P+ “announcement” that is absent any sort of details other than, “Ummm … yeah … we’re doin’ somethin’ with non-exclusive files that … ummm … involves raising the prices … but it’s a secret what the new prices will be … but don’t blame HQ, it’s the contributors that are raising the prices, not us”
LOL, yeah, that’s kind of what I meant. 😉