Author: Uri Lavi

Memories from CEPIC, Zagreb 2016

Thanks for the memories CEPIC

It was a whirlwind 3 days for Joel Miller, PicScout’s CEPIC delegate, and he didn’t waste a minute. Apart from meeting and mingling, attending talks and (when schedule permitted) soaking up the sights and sounds of Zagreb, he also took to centre stage at the panel discussion ‘Catch me if you can’, speaking to a full crowd about the steps agencies can take to protect their copyright in the internet age.

Here’s to another successful CEPIC!

Another big ‘well done’ is due to the team in Herzliya who worked solidly behind the scenes in preparation for the congress, including organized our merchandise which was given out to all the attendees – a compact notebook and handy pen-drive.

PicScout Blog - News, Cepic,, Zagreb

Why Analytics is an Image Owner’s Best Friend

We live in a digital age where we’re constantly surrounded by images. The question of how the brain responds to the daily barrage of imagery it absorbs, especially online, is a question which has consumed data analysts and researchers in recent years. The latest studies show that our brains can process an image in just a few milliseconds, and four times more efficiently than text. The findings are unambiguous: images are the best medium at engaging us. But with so many images constantly vying for our attention, how can you make sure yours stands out from the crowd? If only there were some objective rules that could ensure an image succeeds in getting the attention of its desired audience…

One red umbrella at center of multiple black umbrellas 

Netflix’s pioneering experiment reveals what images move us the most

These are musings that have preoccupied online film database, Netflix, who realized that there was much to gain from understanding how visitors interact with the visuals on their site. The results of Netflix’s study – published in a recent article on FastCompany.com – reveal that our brains do in fact absorb some types of imagery better than others and that systematically implementing the ‘right’ imagery could be immensely profitable. One of their conclusions is that movie thumbnails featuring 3 or less characters drive more engagement than thumbnails for the same film that feature more characters. In the latter situation, Netflix claim, our brains find it more difficult to focus and grasp the storyline. The adjustments Netflix have made as a result of their investigation to the visual content on their site have been crucial to growing their user-base. What’s more, their findings are relevant to anyone using visuals to market themselves online. The lesson is simple – data, if harnessed and analyzed sensitively, can be the key to a business’ growth.

Agencies and Photographers: why you can’t afford to ignore data

Photo agencies and photographers – whose very product is imagery – are an obvious example of the type of businesses that could benefit from data in the form of image usage insights. Most photo professionals are willing to admit they have little knowledge of this kind beyond the point of sale – they lack insight into how people engage with their content on their own site, let alone on the myriad websites, blogs and other social media platforms where their images wind up online. If these professionals were armed with data insights, such as the kind provided by PicScout Analytics, about how people interact with their images in the various places they are viewed around the world, they could make far more targeted and confident marketing moves – from determining the best sites to advertise certain content, to arranging their website in the most appealing way, to getting inspiration about what to shoot next. Regarding this last point, photographer-blogger Jim Pickerell states in a recent blog-post, “with falling prices serious producers can’t afford to waste time and money producing images for which there is no real demand…Much more focused planning based on data is required. If the data isn’t available, then planning is impossible.” Whilst other industries have been quick to summon data to inform their strategy, to date, few photo professionals have exploited the potential of data to bolster their business. In his recent post on the CEPIC News blog, Alfonso Guttierez, CEO of Age Fotostock and CEPIC President, urges photo agencies in particular to harness the power of big data, which, if thoughtfully applied, he says is “a valuable entity that may drive profitable activity”.

Click here to try out Insights for Everyone

Brands: why Image Analytics can make or break a campaign

But traditional content creators are not the only type of business that can profit from better image insights that PicScout provides. Brands too have much to gain from understanding the outreach of their image-based campaigns. In an age where visuals are key to driving consumer behavior, knowing what image will sell your product the best and to which audience often means the difference between a successful ad campaign that trends on the right blogs, and a costly flop. Likewise, finding out who is talking about your latest products or where your logo is being shown online, might inform you on which products to ‘push’ and where, and lead you to untapped markets.

Click here to try out Insights for Business

 

PicScout Blog - Insights for Everyone, Insights for Business, Visual API, brands, image analytics, big data, image usage insights, photographers, photograph

Context is key

The bottom line is that, for brands as much as for agencies, knowing which of your content is the most popular isn’t enough unless it’s accompanied by relevant contextual knowledge – where on a website an image is shown, the type of website it features on, where in the world it’s being viewed, etc. All these contextual factors have a bearing on whether someone engages with an image or not, and data reports that don’t take these factors into consideration are bound to give only a half-baked insight into content interaction. Guttierez is also quick to draw on this point, adding that “for data to mean something, it must be placed in context in the marketplace…otherwise, this data, if anything, will only be a sticky string of numbers”. And this is exactly what PicScout Analytics is all about: equipping image owners and users with contextualized usage insights to help companies make informed business choices.

Whilst there’s no formula for creating a successful image – if there was, there would be little need for talent or individual taste – having the relevant data about your images and their various audiences is an invaluable tool to inform creative choices, lending the supporting knowledge to make confident, calculated decisions in the marketplace.

Unveiling our New Copyright Registration Guide for Photo Agencies

US Copyright Registration: Filling the ‘Guidance Vacuum’

Registering works with the US Copyright Office is something on the subject of which the majority of photographers and photo agencies don’t need much convincing, the benefits being overtly attractive: for a slim sum, you can ensure full legal protection for a substantial group of images. At the very least, the USCO ‘stamp’ can help to deflect potential infringements and enable more effective action against actual infringements. At most, the seal of protection means you can be remunerated for up to $150,000 for infringements deemed to be willful.

But for some, upon beginning the registration process itself, the seemingly-straightforward activity swiftly transforms into something of a bureaucratic labyrinth, punctuated with confusing signage, administrative hurdles and a fair few U-turns.

PicScout Blog - Visual API

The ‘standard’ registration procedure – one photographer registering a single work of their own creation – is relatively painless, there being a decent amount of sound guidance to be gleaned from the USCO website and various dedicated bloggers. But if your situation is in any way ‘unconventional’ i.e. you’re an agency trying to register the works of one of your contributors, then the road can be bumpier to say the least.

In fact, we barely found any advice specifically addressing the needs of photo agencies – somewhat surprising when you consider that agencies are arguably better positioned to register works than their contributors, being better resourced, with often more sophisticated databases, and their own legal departments. 

Agencies – you can also register

To fill this guidance vacuum, we set about making our own Copyright Registration Guide, especially geared towards photo agencies registering works on behalf of their contributors. The guide is laid out in 3 parts: a breakdown of the basic criteria for registering, a step-by-step ‘walk through’ of the actual registration form itself, and a run-down of the post-application procedure. The idea is to save time, a good deal of head-scratching induced by attempting to single-handedly piece together the registration puzzle.

The full guide is an open resource for PicScout customers, but is also available on request, by emailing ask@picscout.com.

Registration done the smart way

Being able to comfortably navigate the application process solves one major problem, but another often-cited obstacle remains: the matter of choosing which images to register in the first place. In an ideal world, you would register everything, just to be on the safe side. But realistically, unless you own a small archive, registering 10s of thousands of images is probably not going to be financially feasible, despite the fairly modest filing fee. So, the trick is to somehow figure out what’s most worth registering. Working this out using a method other than a system of ‘hunches’ requires some targeted data analysis, using reports of usage volumes generated over time. Most photographers and agencies don’t have the data to generate these insights themselves, which is where our analytics steps into the picture.

One of the free perks of the Copyright protection service we offer is that we can advise our customers – using analytical insights – on which images to prioritize for registration. With this information, customers can rest assured that they’re getting the most out of their investment.

More ways to protect your content

Copyright Registration is the highest official protection you can achieve, but there are other ongoing steps you can take to ensure your rights are being protected. Our Copyright Protection service is a proactive way to protect your content, enabling you to track your images online and be remunerated for unauthorized usages. You can also use our digital badges to let others know that your work is protected by our copyright compliance experts and by PicScout technology.

On Nurturing Students in the Deep Learning Area

The past few months have been very exciting at PicScout!

Just a few weeks after we started our Software Engineering Project for 50+, we have launched a new initiative, for students this time.

Every graduate who just started working knows there is a gap between the academic world and the real world.
At PicScout, we offer students the possibility to get to know the industry before the end of their studies, through concrete coaching and active participation in the company’s work.
In partnership with the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (IDC), PicScout nurtures students in complex deep learning research area, and invites them to join our Deep Learning Team.

Just this month, Hadas, a 3rd year student in Computer Science at the IDC, joined our algorithm experts to work in our Deep Learning projects.
From data collection to model improvement in the field of face recognition, Hadas will actively participate in various development projects and will benefit from a close coaching by our engineers.

Contributing to the community is a source of great pride among our teams, and we’ll keep updating on our various projects!

PicScout Blog - Engineering, News, Community, computer Science, face recognition, IDC, student

Week 3 of the Software Engineer Training Project: A Participant’s Perspective

The Software Engineer Training Project for 50+ is now in full swing, having recently completed the 3rd of 12-13 sessions. As part of the ongoing coverage of the project, we’d like to share this insight from one of it’s participants:

My name is Avi. I am a participant in the Software Engineer Training Programme organised by PicScout, and I want to share my impressions of the 3 sessions I have participated in so far. I began my career as a software engineer, later I moved into management, and during this period I lost touch with the latest developments in the industry. Although at the start of my career I was a software engineer (and a good one at that!) until the start of the program it sounded pretty unlikely that I’d be able to fill in the gaps in my knowledge in a relatively short time. At the first session I was pleased to discover that it was not just another ‘Course’: During the session we went over material that would normally have a whole course devoted to it. I liked the fact that during each session we touched on important issues and then at home, would practice exercises which cover in more depth what we learnt during the session. I was very impressed with the PicScout staff and their professional and supportive attitude.

The latest session, led by Idan, addressed the subject of writing code tests. Idan led the session clearly and introduced me to a method of running better tests which was better and faster than the method I was familiar with. Questions were answered professionally during the session so it was easy to focus and make progress fast. Every session, the material is scanned and emailed to participants so they can go back over the work at home and over the points that require further research. There’s also a group email account where all questions are answered quickly.

I want to emphasize the very serious attitude of the PicScout team. It’s clear that a lot of time and effort is invested in the sessions. I’m sure that each staff member has time-consuming tasks related to their daily work, and yet they dedicate their time to running this program, and for that I want to say thank you and well done!

For more info about the Software Engineer Training Project, follow this link: http://www.picscout.com/?p=1825. Stay tuned for more updates as the sessions progress!

PicScout Blog - Engineering, community

 

‘Here’s looking at you, 2015’: a toast to the past year

It’s well known in the business world that the end of the year signals a frenzy of company-wide reports, annual reviews, and action plans for the year ahead based on the results of the previous one. Whilst many businesses dread the approach of a new year because of what this procedure might uncover, at PicScout the end of the year is, frankly, a pretty fun time, where we get to pat ourselves on the back, look at reports and say ‘wow!’ several times, go on a company trip (last week we all went to see the latest Star Wars movie), and eat cake to celebrate. So here are 7 things we did in 2015 that we think deserve a public ‘wow’:

  1. We more than doubled our capacity in all operations. We’re pretty pleased about this, and how it reflects the hard work of all of our teams: Sales & Account Management, Operations, License Compliance, R&D, Legal, Finance, HR. In other words, everybody.
  2. We reached 100+ customers! All of our developing, expanding, tweaking and refining, paid off, resulting in a product that drives and influences the market, that we’re proud of, and which makes for a lot of happy customers.
  3. We grew our presence in the editorial sector. 2015 saw the dawn of several new partnerships with prestigious editorial companies, meaning we continue to grow in this arena and learn from some of the best specialists the editorial industry has to offer.
  4. We broke into new markets. It’s important in business to consistently redefine oneself in tune with the changes in the industry. At PicScout redefining ourselves goes deeper than trying on a lot of fun hats (although some of us also like to do that); it’s about doing different things and doing them all very WELL. This year we really invested in developing our range of products including our Analytics, API, and Website Auditing services, making us a consistent all-rounder.
  5. We made technological leaps. The technology industry is arguably the most dynamic, fast-moving, and motivating industry to work in. At PicScout we are ever-conscious of this and our software engineers are making innovations in the field of image detection and visual recognition, putting us at the forefront of one of the fastest-growing, futuristic technological incentives in the world today.

  6. We launched a Training Programme! We’re pretty fanatical about technology here, but also about talented people. These two core interests inspired the Software Engineering Training Project for 50+. Coordinated by Picscout’s own employees, and taking place over 12-13 sessions, the project provides software engineers over or around the age of 50, who have been outside of the industry for a while, with the tools they need in order to re-enter the technology job market. Read more here.

  7. We even had time to enjoy ourselves…quite a lot! ‘Work hard, Play hard’, is a bit of a motto here. We love our jobs but we also like to have a good time (especially when it involves good food). This year, as well as tapping into new markets, growing our customer base and developing our product range, we also went on Saafari, went rafting, ate a LOT of cake, and saw the new Star Wars movie. Not too shabby we think.

 To quote one of the musical greats, 2015 “was a very good year”.

PicScout Blog - Insights for Everyone, Insights for Business, News, End-to-End, Engineering, Visual API

Welcome Aboard to our New Editorial Partners!

We are delighted to announce our new partnership with two more editorial associations making substantial contributions to the media world whose image collections have an industry-wide presence.

Our increasing ventures into the editorial sphere, as highlighted by these recent partnerships, reflect our commitment to diversifying our approach to image license protection by applying our capabilities across various content platforms in order to tackle the issue of license infringement on an ever greater scale.

In addition to our license enforcement services, we are also providing our partners with intelligence about where and how their content is being used online as part of PicScout Analytics, and allowing them to monitor their content across specific sites through our Website Auditing services.

We are looking forward to developing these new partnerships and anticipate further exciting collaborations in the New Year!

Launching the PicScout Training Project for 50+

At PicScout we’re pretty fanatical about technology, but also about talented people. These two core interests inspired the Software Engineering Training Project for 50+ which we are proud to be launching later today at PicScout HQ.

 

The project, coordinated by Picscout’s own employees, is devised with the intention of providing software engineers over or around the age of 50, who have been outside of the industry for a period of time, with the tools they need in order to re-enter the technology job market. The training scheme comprises 12-13 bi-weekly sessions, during which attendees complete a range of exercises under the guidance of PicScout staff members who volunteer their time to organize and run the project.

 

The first session will be run by PicScout software engineer Michelle, and will be kicking off this evening. Look out for our updates and coverage of the event on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/PicScout

https://twitter.com/picscout