How about a Vector?

Way back when, I described the difference between “photos” and “illustrations” at iStockphoto.com .  A “photo” is a pixel based image, wheras an “illustration” is a vector file – an editable definition of an illustration.  The artist combines lines, shapes and other elements, and as they are working, the editing program, such as Adobe Illustrator, renders the image from the elements the artist has created.

Vectors are cool, one reason being that since you have a description of the parts of the image in the file, you can tell software to render a pixel based version of that image at any size you want.  Teeny tiny, to super huge.  It knows a circle is a circle, and it can render out that circle as a 10×10 pixel image, or a 1000 x 1000 pixel image.  The circle just shows up with more detailing pixels the bigger it gets.  You don’t need editing software like Adobe Illustration to do something like this with an iStockphoto vector .eps .  You do need software that can import vectors, and I’ll go into that down below.

Another reason vectors are cool, is because you can go in and change colors and sizes of elements in the illustration.  Don’t like that box red?  Make it green.  Want that flower bigger?  Grab the group and scale it up.  For this type of granularity, you do need software that can edit vectors, like Adobe Illustrator, Freehand or CorelDraw.

What do you get?

So, when you buy an illustration on iStockPhoto, what do you get?  You receive a .zip file, and inside you will, at least, find a .eps format vector file, which is Adobe Illustrator 8 compatible.  In Illustrator, the designer will have specifically saved out the file to be compatible with Illustrator 8.  iStock is trying to keep compatibility with this older format for many users who are using legacy software.

Also, you will receive a minimum 1900×2800 .jpg version of the vector.  So, right away, if you don’t have a program that will read in the .eps vector file, you at least have a .jpg you can use in your project.  Please note, some older vector downloads do not have the .jpg included.  iStock is going back through and adding these to the files uploaded before this requirement.  You’ll know if you will get a .jpg in your download if you can use the image zoom feature on the illustration’s detail page, as seen below on the awesome RUSSELLTATEdotCOM’s image.

You may also get other interesting things, like a .tiff file, or a .ai vector file.  Most contributors who have taken the time to fill their files with extra goodies note that in the description field.

What can I do with it?

Ok, you probably know what you can do with the .jpg file.  What can you do with the .eps? If you’re a beginner and don’t want to actually mess about with the contents, you can rasterize it yourself (convert it to a pixel image).  From this thread:

On a Mac, you can do that in the Preview app which comes as part of OS X. If you don’t have a Mac or don’t have Photoshop there are freeware apps that do the same in Windows. It’s really simple. And free!

From the “Tip of the Week”, regarding Macs:

Open the EPS with Preview. It will automatically convert to a PDF. You can save it as a variety of other file types as well.

Those freeware apps mentioned above for windows?  Here’s a google search for “.eps converter“.

But, you don’t even need to download something.  Most designers, even beginners, are using an Adobe product, like Photoshop, InDesign or Acrobat.  These programs will read in a .eps file.  So will Corel Paint and Paint Shop Pro.  In Photoshop, for example, when you open the .eps, it will ask you what size to render (rasterize) the file at.

In my example file, I have a filled star shape.  You can see below, that when imported into Photoshop, it has a transparent background, which allows me to easily place it over something else.  Cool!  That’s not something I could do with the .jpg, which does not save transparency, and would give me a white background for this file.

Remember though, that you can’t actually edit these as vector elements in Photoshop.  You actually need Illustrator to easily change the star colors (you could do it in Photoshop by messing about with selections and adding color and such).

Conclusion

Even if you aren’t a vector whiz, you’re certainly able to use vector Illustrations from iStockphoto.com in many cases.  You can make your own XXL image from a 1 credit vector.  Not a bad deal, and there are definitely a ton of excellent vector artists on iStock.

Signs of the Season

Just wanted to do a small portfolio update, to let you know some of the content coming into my portfolio at iStockphoto.com .

In the next day or so, you’ll see a series coming through about a group of friends out in the park playing football.  It was a beautiful day in St. Louis.  Unlike today when it is 50 and cloudy with frost tonight.

I’ve decided to fill in my Hanukkah themed portfolio selection with some new family shots.  I also have some of these with a Christmas tree in back, useful for those inter-religious family situations.

Finally, at the same shoot, we did some Christmas images, including some “Christmas morning” themed ones.

I hope you find some of this new content useful.  Have a great week!

Get Oriented

Occasionally, the designer has need of an image in a certain orientation, either vertical or horizontal.  The extra horizontal resolution may make the latter image good for a header, while a vertical image could be a good base for a vertical webpage sidebar or something.  Even crazier, they might want a square image, although anyone could crop a square out of the other two in Photoshop.

Actually, while trying to find an image for someone in the forum the other day, I did need to narrow down my search to horizontal images, so I didn’t have to click through extra pages of results.

Two ways to do this on iStockphoto.com .

In my opinion, the most reliable is the Advanced Search filter, since the results are actually based on the dimensions of the image when uploaded.

Simply put, under the Advanced Search option box, you can click on the shapes you don’t want, and leave the ones you do want highlighted.  For instance, I just want to look for horizontal images…

Don’t forget, this selection will “stick” until you go and reset it.  So if you restrict your search today, tomorrow you might come back and not be able to figure out why there don’t seem to be any vertical images anywhere to be found.  I went to look at my portfolio, and was confused for a second or two until I remembered…

The other way to find an image with a certain orientation is by keywords.  There are the keywords “horizontal, vertical, square” in the controlled vocabulary.  These sort of came over from Getty Images, with the introduction of their CV system in 2006.  And not everyone uses them.  I do, but when I was searching, as I mentioned way above, for a certain specific image, I used the Advanced Search options, because I couldn’t be sure the contributor keyworded his image that way.

However, it is useful for finding something in other ways, like a search in the contributor tool DeepMeta, that doesn’t have an orientation search option.

Orientation filtering is definitely a good tool to keep in mind when you are searching.  Have a good weekend, and avoid looking at the Dow Jones Index…

The White Card

A popular design element the last few years has been the “white card” style image.  It is basically a person peering over or around a white card, normally a piece of foam core, or posterboard, adjusted to be perfectly white.

This type of image can be used above or beside a newspaper advertisement, or a web page, etc.  Anyplace you need a person to draw some attention to your design without getting in the way.  It’s a fun way to work in a seasonal or character reference.

What kind of search terms can you use to find these kind of images?  Most importantly, “white card” is the default term for this kind of thing.  You can also use combinations of:

• blank
• empty
• sign
• “looking over”
• “at the edge of”

It’s Great to Disambiguate

iStockphoto.com uses a controlled vocabulary system when it comes to keywording, which I described in this article.  I just wanted to mention one part of that again, and stress it a bit more.

With the Zero Tolerance Spam policy announced two weeks ago, contributors have again been pointing out a problem with the search user interface.  To illustrate, imagine a “tailgating football party” design, so you search on “tailgating”.

The search engine, for every term in its dictionary, has a default meaning, if there is more than one disambiguation option for a word.  In the above case, for whatever reason, it returns a search with the meaning of tailgating related to “driving” checked.  Now, as a buyer, one might not notice the checkboxes at the top, and assume this is all the tailgating images the site has to offer.  So, one would be missing all the social event images if the boxes are unchecked and checked and resubmitted.

The point of this example, is not that sometimes a bad disambiguation will sneak through, like the BBQ in the first image.  The problem arises with some contributors who will not DA correctly and check off every box, because, even if their image does not relate to the default disambiguation choice, they want it to show up when their keyword is searched on.  ie., checking off every meaning of “border” or “winter” or whatever.  This user interface design almost encourages people to spam, which is why contributors have been asking that either all the choices, or none of the choices be checked by default since the system started.

Without that working the way we wish it would, we have to rely on you, the buyer, to make sure to choose the correct meaning of the terms you have searched on, so as to not encourage these spammers.  And, of course, it will also get you a larger selection of whatever it is you are really looking for!

Downloading a Comp

As I understand it, in the design biz, a “comprehensive” is a rough layout with stand in imagery that is shown to the client for a buy off before the designer actually starts paying for the needed content and spending time finessing the design.

In the “old” days, from what I’ve read, designers would just sketch in the type of image they would end up looking for, or actually rough sketch out an image they had seen, or even get some kind of photo copy from the stock agency that they could work into the design.

Nowadays, of course, it’s much easier, working digitally, and most stock portals allow you to download a “comp image” for use in your rough drafts.  This comp image, of course, is not released to you for use in any sense, other that using it as sort of a demo image.

Comp images, at least those from “microstock” houses like iStockphoto.com, usually have a watermark over them, so they can not be used inappropriately.  Yet, suprisingly, we sometimes still see final projects on the web with the logo over the image.  Higher end houses like gettyimages.com can provide watermark free images, because at the higher prices charged, they have more resources to pursue any infringing cases.

If you or your client need to see a rough layout without the watermark, the iStockphoto XS size is slightly bigger than the typical thumbnail comp, and very reasonable at only 1 credit.  It has been suggested in the past that there be some interface on the site that allows you to apply this cost to a higher sized version of the same image.  Hopefully that will appear in the future.

Anyhoo, when you go to an image detail page on iStockphoto, you’ll see the below.

When you click on that “Download a Comp” link, what you get is the large thumbnail seen above, by itself in your browser.  You can then save this image however your browser facilitates saving images, or for that matter, you can just right-click on the thumbnail on the image details page above, and save from there.

I haven’t found any licensing terms specifically spelling out comp image usage terms, but it seems pretty clear they are only for pre-production use, and not for a final project of any type.

There is also a “Download a Comp” link on the video content pages which is a Flash Video file – .flv .  The comp download link on Illustrations (vectors) gives you a .jpg, just like photos.

Zero Tolerance Spam

Last Friday, Bruce Livingstone announced a new policy at iStockphoto.com .  It’s called “Zero Tolerance Spam”, and it’s aimed directly at improving the buyer experience.

iStockphoto, as a “crowdsourced” business, relies on contributors to keyword their own content to be found in the search.  ie, to find my image of a female cheerleader, I keyword it with “female” and “cheerleader” among other things, so that you can enter those terms in the search box and find my image.

Most contributors are very careful about their keywording, keeping it to what you see in the image, and one or two relevant concepts.  However, some contributors seem to use very poor keywording techniques that appear to be aimed at getting their content seen as often as possible, even in irrelevant searches.

This affects the buyer most directly, by filling up search result pages with irrelevant files, and that causes you to have to click through more pages than you might.  This zero tolerance policy is aimed directly at that.

… there are contributors here who include bad, inappropriate keywords on every single image they upload. Even worse, sometimes the spam is added after a file inspected. There are piles of bad keywords in huge portfolios. We’ve asked everyone to stop, to change, to improve. Lots of people listened. Some didn’t. That’s who we’re going to have an issue with.

Ok, so where are these keyword issues coming from?

1. We are dealing with new contributors who have never keyworded before, so they’re learning the basics.
2. People who have keyworded on other sites, but aren’t quite used to the nuances of what to include on iStock.
3. The iStockphoto Controlled Vocabulary system, which completely mystifies some people.  However, it is necessary to learn how to use it to keyword successfully.
4. Lazy keyworders who refuse to work within the system, keyworders who just don’t care, or people who are out to get their image in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

So, we actually have several problems here.  What are the solutions?

The iStockphoto wiki keywording suggestion system makes an attempt at the first 3 issues.  If you see a keyword that doesn’t apply at all, or is a stretch, or you find inappropriate, you can flag the image from the image details page, and it will be sent to a keyword team member to review.  Hopefully, over time, people who get a lot of wikis, from bad copying and pasting, to stretching concepts, etc., will learn to step in line a bit more to give good buyer results.  Like the people who put “father” on any image of a man by himself.  Or put every holiday on images of flowers or gifts.  This is the “poor keywording” group.

The ZTS policy is aimed directly at the last group, the “Spam” group.  These are the people who put “Christmas” on anything that moves.  Or “business” on anything with a person.  The kind of people who repeatedly cause bad search results.

In 7 days, we will begin contacting contributors and giving them advanced warning. We will be deactivating the portfolios of contributors in clear violation of our keyword policies. Please have a look through your portfolio to make sure that none of your isolated bell peppers are keyworded as ‘Christmas’ or ‘business’. A few errors on a few files are totally understandable and we’ll help you fix those eventually. What we’re pursuing here is the serial spammer. You probably know who you are. If you don’t, I guess you soon will.

In the end, I don’t imagine there will be too many people that get banned.  We’ll have to see where they are drawing the line, and how effective the threat is, and if there are that many people out there that are doing this.  I see some bad results from time to time, but it usually ends up being a person’s certain view of this word or that word.  And the people I’ve found that those who keyword badly over their whole portfolio tend to be foreigners who don’t really understand how the whole thing works.

Anyways, some attempt at returning better results to buyers is better than no attempt, so here’s hoping things happen.  Let me know if you see something different once this all starts in motion.

iStockphoto Forum Changes

Over the weekend, the iStockphoto.com forum discussion area changed a bit, and will change a little more in the days ahead.  There are more details in this thread, but there were two main things I wanted to point out that might affect or confuse buyers who don’t frequent the area.

The previously titled “Support/Guidance & Quick Help” is now simply titled “Help“.  A good place to ask questions, but remember, this is strictly peer provided help.  An administrator may chime in from time to time, but there is no requirement for them to do so.  If you need a definite word from support, use one of the choices on the support page.

The other change, is the area formerly known as “Image, Illustration and Video Request”, is now known as “Request New Content”.   This forum still provides the functionality of asking for help finding an image, like I described in this article, as well as being the place to ask for new content.  Basically, anything about finding a certain piece of content goes there, still.

By the way, as iStock makes the move towards serving the world (aside from just being on the internet ), there is a new German discussion forum here.

Happy Monday!

Bridal and Baby Showers

Just a portfolio update, and then I’m out of town for the weekend for my 20th High School Reunion.  Whew!

This new series illustrates a Baby Shower and, separately, a Bridal Shower.  It includes some games, present opening and other related activities in a home interior.

New Partnership Gives Discount and Free Images

It’s not my goal to publicize every press release out there, but I thought this was a pretty big partnership between iStockphoto.com and another company.

Avery Dennison Office Products Company today announced a global agreement with micropayment imagery pioneer, iStockphoto. This deal allows Avery Dennison to give its customers images from the world’s busiest image market, and offer them an introduction to inexpensive professional photos, illustrations and videos.

The press release is here.  This part is interesting enough:

iStockphoto featuring Avery templates online and Avery Dennison promoting iStock online and in educational outreach outlets

However, you’re probably interested in the discount and free stock images, right?  From the page at ( sorry – I had to remove the link temporarily – iStock is having some backend issues) , you get %20 off of your first order of credits with the code: AVERYNEWS .  Actually, that page doesn’t say that, but the press release mentions the “first” bit.  You also have access to choose 20 out of 60 regularly licensed images free, from the choice at: http://www.istockphoto.com/imageoffer.php?lpid=averynews&page=1