Good Job IDC student Hadas Segal! – facial recognition model

A really exciting mentoring project has come to an end here at PicScout! Over the past few months Hadas Segal, a Computer Science major at IDC (The Interdisciplinary Center), who elected to do a hands on project in lieu of an elective course, spent a few hours every week at PicScout designing a facial recognition model to identify celebrity photos over the Internet, and learning how to detect false positives in the model to improve its results.

Throughout her work at PicScout, Hadas received ongoing guidance from PicScout algorithm researcher Dr. Leonid Brailovsky and from Lior Cohen, PicScout’s VP R&D. PicScout’s R&D team prepared a methodical plan for Hadas’ internship, including guidelines on building the model, on asking research questions, and on how to resolve these questions. In the course of her project Hadas acquired knowledge about one of the most cutting edge Artificial Intelligence topics in the industry and in theoretical research – deep learning, worked with new tools and learned to apply creative thinking.

“We are great believers in the importance of collaboration between the academic world and the hi tech industry” says Lior Cohen. “We believe that both the academic world and the industry benefit from this type of cooperation, as new opportunities for research emerge on the one hand and the students benefit from real world hands-on experience on the other hand. We are proud of Hadas’ achievement and wish her all the best in the future.”

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PicScout is recognized for role in ending global violence against children

PicScout is proud to receive recognition for our involvement in the recently launched Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children initiated by Baroness Joanna Shields, the UK Minister for Internet Safety and Security.

In recognition of PicScout’s contribution to this important cause, we have been invited to attend a reception at the United Nations in New York, hosted by the UK Ambassador to the UN and Baroness Shields on July 11, 2016 to honor the launch of the Global Partnership and Fund to End Violence Against Children, and the WePROTECT Global Alliance to End Online Child Sexual Exploitation public strategy.

The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children is a new cross-sector partnership that unites Governments, foundations, the UN, civil society, academics, the private sector and children themselves to galvanize action and collectively reaffirm public responsibility to bring the issues of violence out of the private sphere.

PicScout was called upon to contribute the company’s experience and technology towards creation of a global solution for the prevention, discovery and resolution of online sexual child abuse, and PicScout’s visual search and deep learning technologies were utilized in the discovery of missing or abused children, and the study of their abusers to assist in tracking them down.

At PicScout we commend these efforts to fight online child sexual exploitation and are proud to have taken part in these important initiatives.

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A Photographer’s Story

The photographer behind the iconic photos of the places we all know and love speaks to us about his first camera, how it feels to have your work stolen and what PicScout means to him.

A quick glance over Rafael Macia’s accomplished body of work provides a window to the varied array of sights and places the veteran photographer has captured through his lens. Macia’s subject of choice are the iconic locations and cityscapes that the average citizen takes for granted and which hordes of eager tourists have snapped as a means to enshrine their trip to New York, Paris, Barcelona or Shanghai.

But, miles off a tourist snap, Macia’s photographs are imbued with a philosophy that could be summed up as ‘capture the most familiar places but do it better than anyone else’. The result is a collection of photographs that are as iconic as the places they represent, to the extent that when we imagine the New York skyline or Central Park in the snow we are likely imagining Macia’s version of these places without realizing it.

It’s not surprising, then, that people have flocked to Macia’s photographs even though most of them don’t know who’s behind them. But the upshot of this popularity is that it tends to go hand in hand with high rates of image theft. People will go to great lengths to use Macia’s work – whether it’s to adorn their travel websites or to use as a backdrop to an ad for a leather sofa – including stealing them.

We interviewed Macia in his home turf, New York, where we discovered that, for a long time he “didn’t know that [he] was getting ripped off” for his images, until the agency that represents his work, Science Source, started enlisting PicScout’s image protection services. Soon, he was made aware of the far-reaching trail of his images and was receiving remuneration for illegal use – “a nice surprise”.

4 pieces of advice for Photo Agencies

…A response to a recent blog post by Jim Pickerell

The uncertain state of the stock photography industry has joined the ranks of topics which are often brought up in conversation with some trepidation – along with the melting of the ice-caps, the Free Tibet campaign, and Prince William’s receding hairline – when speaking about these things it’s common to feel a sinking feeling, like one feels when starting a Dickens novel – you know it’s not going to be an easy read. But put on hold the foreboding commentary about nose-diving license fees and the despair narrative about homeless photographers for a moment, and the reality is far from ‘Bleak House’. As evidenced by the optimistic turnout at this year’s CEPIC, the industry is resilient, tenacious even, and, unlike Prince Will’s hair, is making a comeback.

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No one said it was going to be easy though. Being on the block for so many years, Stock has inevitably developed some entrenched habits, which have made it vulnerable when traditional sales and production methods have been undermined in past years. According to a recent blog post by influential photographer-blogger, Jim Pickerell, Stock’s revival or downfall will be down to its flexibility and courage – to rethink everything from pricing, to how to engage new and existing audiences, to perhaps most crucially, mobilizing technology and data to their advantage. In this post, we want to respond to some of the points Pickerell makes, and offer our own advice about the changes the industry needs to make in order both to survive and thrive. The added challenge is to make these transitions whilst holding on to the fundamentals that have made it the strong and exciting industry that it is.

1. Simplify Pricing…even more

One appeal that Pickerell makes is for agencies to simplify their pricing models. Today’s image buyers, he says, “want to be able to use any image they purchase in a variety of ways without restrictions.” The complicated pricing brackets which limit a licensed image’s usage is putting off buyers and turning them instead towards other collections such as UGC where usage rules are more liberal. Pickerell is spot on about the need to simplify, but ironically, when it comes to unveiling his ideal for ‘simplified’ pricing, he confronts us with 3 different pricing tables. In short, he doesn’t go far enough. In order to assuage the stock absconders, there needs to be a far more drastic simplification – to 2 or 3 pricing categories at most. Image buyers of today want pricing that’s simple, clear and versatile. Complex pricing categories are just another obstacle for image buyers and an excuse for them to take their business elsewhere.

Reflection of stock market graph in window

2. Like it or not, data is your best friend

Pickerell’s next criticism is of the industry’s failure to exploit the potential of data to help them showcase their most popular images and producing the sort of content that people “actually want to buy”. Whilst “[i]t used to be possible to have a general idea of the…subjects needed by customers and to take a haphazard, shotgun approach to production” and still make a decent profit, “[at] today’s prices, creators cannot afford to waste time producing images that no one wants to use.” In order to do this “[i]mage creators must have much more actionable data about what is being requested and what is selling.” Meanwhile, many agencies, he points out, still don’t even have the data, let alone the ability to analyze it to grow their business. Whilst Pickerell is undeniably correct about agencies needing to get onboard the ‘data bandwagon, his definition of ‘useful’ data as primarily that which agencies can glean from their own site, is far too limiting. A more exact knowledge of what’s selling on their site is a good start, but if agencies want to get a step ahead of the steady competition, they need to cast their net wider and analyze industry-wide trends and also cross-industry trends. People who buy and use images get their inspiration from a diverse range of visual sources, ranging from cinema and TV, to advertising, to the pictures their friends post on Instagram, Facebook and snapchat. So should agencies. Our advice to agencies is to get really creative with data, and broaden their definition of what useful data beyond their own ‘local’ and industry terms.

3. ‘Best’ isn’t necessarily most popular

This brings us to another fundamental issue with Pickerell’s argument, which is his definition of ‘best’ content as the top selling content on an agency’s own collection. Firstly, individuals – who bring with them their own diverse tastes and preferences – won’t automatically want to buy something because it’s popular (you wouldn’t try to sell a hot pink Chanel bag to someone who hates pink and Chanel claiming “but it’s our most popular bag!”) So, we need to redefine ‘best’ content from meaning what’s popular to being what is most relevant, meaning what’s most appropriate to a specific user under shifting conditions, which is not something a local site’s sales stats can tell you alone.

Whilst refining search terms based on actual keywords used by your site users, refining categories to smaller groups of images (100 to 500 images that “fulfill all the requirements”) and consistently revising “the order in which the image are shown in their collections” based on what’s selling, are necessary to any collection, they are also the bare minimum that agencies need to be doing to promote their content. If agencies truly want to engage their existing and potential audiences, they need to go beyond static, old-hat statistical analysis, and consider data more dynamically. This means combining local, site-based data alongside individual users’ preferences (to make auto-suggestions based on these – as is done by many e-commerce sites), but also – and this is key – data about what’s trending in the industry and beyond, as discussed earlier. As long as the data is relevant, the more multi-faceted and creative the approach to data, the richer, more personalized and ultimately, engaging, the user experience. Agencies need to start thinking in these dynamic terms and expand their definition of what’s ‘relevant’ lest they be left behind.

Silhouette of office chair installation art

4. Find the balance

On the other hand, agencies mustn’t get carried away with data. It’s easy, once you’ve had a taste of it, to become enthralled with data to the point of enslavement. But it’s crucial to remember that data is only ever as useful as the conclusions that are drawn from it. It sounds obvious but it’s a fact that’s too easily forgotten – having relevant data is not a substitute for talented photo researchers and great content. But, if used as a support to a good collection, a creative and motivated team, and a versatile business mindset, data could be a game-changer to an agency’s success.

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.

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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”.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Could you be our new Sales Account Executive?

Wanted – sales account executive! Savvy Sales Wizard to send growing Tech Company to Super-Stardom:

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Are you a compulsive communicator and a perpetual people person? Does the idea of spending your day talking to inspiring individuals across the photo, media and technology industries float your boat? You might be our next Sales Account Executive!

At PicScout, we’re really passionate about two things – technology and people – and we think we’re pretty good at growing both. Because we’re growing rapidly ourselves, we’re looking for an experienced and energized Sales Account Executive, endowed with the gift of the gab and a knack for understanding people’s needs, to help us expand our customer-base to colossal proportions.

If people, words, and challenging your comfort zone are your idea of a professional joy-ride (and you have a tendency towards the geeky), we want to hear from you. Send your CV to jobs@picscout.com or get more details here: http://www.picscout.com/join-us/

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 3^rd 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!

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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 3^rd 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!

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Author: Uri Lavi