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Author Topic: PNG Format: a Game Changer?  (Read 15435 times)

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helix7

« Reply #25 on: May 10, 2011, 14:09 »
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I don't see a whole lot of buyers being swayed by PNG offerings. JPGs have been more than sufficient for a long time. Is the gain from PNG going to be so significant that buyers will take notice? I doubt it.


lthn

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« Reply #26 on: May 10, 2011, 14:11 »
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That's the 80's. Indesign supports PSDs since god knows when, you can even copypaste them and switch layers on and off in indesign. I don't really think anyone seriuos uses anything else than ID for DTP assembly to be honest. You can edit anything, including masks. As a buyer-DTP guy I can tell you that when I browsed stock sites I found the isolated category a ridicule, from a graphic designer's standpoint its a misleading title: stuff on white is not isolation... Isolation is something masked with transparency... I guess most photographers don't realize that...

80's?  ;D I was in Elementary school in the 80's. I thought that was all paste ups back then. I learned most of my stuff late 90's and early aughts. I haven't really kept up with the printing technology in the last few years though. I know pdfs are used more, but I have to assume some people are still doing it the same way they've been doing it for the last 10 years.

That was just a j some irony... youn don't have to know anything about printing btw, basically you can't put CMYK stuff on the web for display which is not  a problem since RBG's gamut is lot wider anyways.

lthn

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« Reply #27 on: May 10, 2011, 14:15 »
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I don't see a whole lot of buyers being swayed by PNG offerings. JPGs have been more than sufficient for a long time. Is the gain from PNG going to be so significant that buyers will take notice? I doubt it.

Me and many of my fellow graphic atrtists have been screaming for real isolations that you can just drop into a layout, instead of doing the real isolation for hours and hours on stuff that has been mistitled as 'isolated' on stocksites : )

« Reply #28 on: May 10, 2011, 14:18 »
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I don't see a whole lot of buyers being swayed by PNG offerings. JPGs have been more than sufficient for a long time. Is the gain from PNG going to be so significant that buyers will take notice? I doubt it.

Me and many of my fellow graphic atrtists have been screaming for real isolations that you can just drop into a layout, instead of doing the real isolation for hours and hours on stuff that has been mistitled as 'isolated' on stocksites : )

Are you willing to pay more for the extra hours of work put into it?

« Reply #29 on: May 10, 2011, 14:20 »
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Question...
where did they say it will be more expensive?

lthn

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« Reply #30 on: May 10, 2011, 14:36 »
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I don't see a whole lot of buyers being swayed by PNG offerings. JPGs have been more than sufficient for a long time. Is the gain from PNG going to be so significant that buyers will take notice? I doubt it.

Me and many of my fellow graphic atrtists have been screaming for real isolations that you can just drop into a layout, instead of doing the real isolation for hours and hours on stuff that has been mistitled as 'isolated' on stocksites : )

Are you willing to pay more for the extra hours of work put into it?

Absolutely. Of course I can only speak for myself and the like, I usually work for clients with a decent budget (nothing extraordinary usually, but ok) If you take a modell shot on white, which is called 'isolated on white' at stocksites, and I have to put it on anything else than white, I have do the actual isolation, which could be an hour of work unless the model is bald : ) ( Thats when I say to myself what the f*k was isolated about that? : } )

I don't know how smalltime webdesigner, freelancers working on small projects would relate to this... and god knows what price will be set anyways. I would pay double price on stuff that's not easy to mask, if its premasked, I'm always in rush. My workhour is generaly billed @ about 30-70 $ for the customer by my employers depending on the project.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2011, 14:38 by lthn »

digitalexpressionimages

« Reply #31 on: May 10, 2011, 14:43 »
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Another advantage for PNG, over JPEG, is that it is lossless. So even if your file doesn't contain an isolation, the quality will be so much better than sites that offer the same file only in the JPEG format.

I predict that this will be the way of the future. What do you think?

It may be lossless but I wouldn't say it will be "much better". I doubt anyone would be able to discern a quality difference with the naked eye. The lossless nature of png would however make for much larger files to upload. Look to spend more time in submissions.

microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #32 on: May 10, 2011, 14:48 »
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I don't know how smalltime webdesigner, freelancers working on small projects would relate to this...

just guessing...
magic wand and smooth mask, and who cares about models' hair loss?
no one will notice anyway when picture is reduced to web size
« Last Edit: May 10, 2011, 15:02 by microstockphoto.co.uk »

« Reply #33 on: May 10, 2011, 14:54 »
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As a buyer, I would absolutely pay more for a PNG file with true isolation. I spend all day isolating objects for product advertising, including large packaging. I know the value of the time spent on this.

« Reply #34 on: May 10, 2011, 14:58 »
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given that the majority of the buyers are designers and they buy stock to save time and effort, im sure png files for isolated shots would fly off the shelf. time to take that picture of the apple isolated on white png file =D

« Reply #35 on: May 10, 2011, 14:58 »
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I don't know how smalltime webdesigner, freelancers working on small projects would relate to this...

just guessing...
magic wand and smooth mask, and who cares about models' hair loss?
no one will notice anyway when picture is reduced to web site
That's more or less what I'd guess as well. When you get down to small sizes a lot of stuff doesn't really matter. The trouble is though that (I expect) submissions will have to be perfect at 100%. Now if iStock will pay me up front for doing it OK (I actually laughed when I typed this. And no I'm not going to hold my breath) Otherwise I don't think I'll play at the moment.

lthn

    This user is banned.
« Reply #36 on: May 10, 2011, 15:03 »
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I don't know how smalltime webdesigner, freelancers working on small projects would relate to this...

just guessing...
magic wand and smooth mask, and who cares about models' hair loss?
no one will notice anyway when picture is reduced to web site

much more better: how about a white website instead of blue? more fashionable : ))

« Reply #37 on: May 10, 2011, 15:57 »
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I use PNG for transparent backgrounds that I upload to Zazzle. This way the image can be used with whatever background color the user wants. It even works with gradations.

I can't tell if there is a market for PNGs, but I use them.

« Reply #38 on: May 10, 2011, 17:04 »
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For isolations it could be a game changer. For everything else it won't make much of a difference.

ayzek

« Reply #39 on: May 11, 2011, 03:16 »
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No, its not a game changer :)

digitalexpressionimages

« Reply #40 on: May 11, 2011, 08:00 »
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Isolations don't just happen. Someone has to take the time to remove the background. I'm a designer and a contributor and I can say I'd rather get paid $40-$80 per hour to do the isolation and add it to my client's bill than do it as part of a stock submission and get a couple of bucks for the download so some (other) designer doesn't have to do the work.

To each his/her own though. If photographers want to spend hours doing a designer's work for them in return for a few dollars in downloads, go right ahead.

« Reply #41 on: May 11, 2011, 08:22 »
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Some of us, that work in Photoshop all day, can create expert isolations in well under an hour. Once you upload it, the revenues can last for years. Multiply that times the number of different sites you contribute to, and it can generate more than just a "few dollars".

It always comes down to the question of "How can I maximize the marketability of my portfolio?"

digitalexpressionimages

« Reply #42 on: May 11, 2011, 11:51 »
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My last post was as a contributor, this one will be as a buyer.

As a designer that runs my own firm, I have VERY high standards when it comes to quality. I would rather do an isolation or close crop myself and ensure it is right than download a png and find out the photographer has "isolated" by using the magic wand tool on the background and hit delete. If I'm not satisfied with the quality I will go back to the agency and get a refund in which case the photographer makes nothing.

Good for you that you work in Photoshop all day and can make an expert isolation in under an hour and expect to make enough off each image to make that worthwhile. Not everyone is as good in photoshop as you claim to be and so I won't trust to ANY isolation. I'll do it myself. Since I don't do it on my time it's instantly worth it because my clients pay me to do it. I know it's right, no need to go for refunds and waste time, everybody wins. I hope I'm not the only designer that prefers to do my own work.

« Reply #43 on: May 11, 2011, 12:52 »
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I agree. The success of PNG downloads will depend on the quality of the isolations. So far, iStock has the highest requirements for JPEG isolations. I would assume they will set the bar pretty high.

lthn

    This user is banned.
« Reply #44 on: May 11, 2011, 15:34 »
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My last post was as a contributor, this one will be as a buyer.

As a designer that runs my own firm, I have VERY high standards when it comes to quality. I would rather do an isolation or close crop myself and ensure it is right than download a png and find out the photographer has "isolated" by using the magic wand tool on the background and hit delete. If I'm not satisfied with the quality I will go back to the agency and get a refund in which case the photographer makes nothing.

Good for you that you work in Photoshop all day and can make an expert isolation in under an hour and expect to make enough off each image to make that worthwhile. Not everyone is as good in photoshop as you claim to be and so I won't trust to ANY isolation. I'll do it myself. Since I don't do it on my time it's instantly worth it because my clients pay me to do it. I know it's right, no need to go for refunds and waste time, everybody wins. I hope I'm not the only designer that prefers to do my own work.

The inspectors are probably going to be uselessly overzealous about this juts like about everything else.. unless it comes from themselves of course : ))

« Reply #45 on: May 19, 2011, 21:00 »
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Here's an update on PNG files for iStock. This will double my portfolio and bring in higher revenue per image.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=329282&page=1

« Reply #46 on: May 19, 2011, 21:16 »
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Here's an update on PNG files for iStock. This will double my portfolio and bring in higher revenue per image.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=329282&page=1


thanks

snip -->
We also believe that all those business owners and presentation makers who don't necessarily have the skill to isolate images themselves can just drag and drop to their hearts' content.
<--

presented well, so that it is obvious to these customers that the additional format offers transparency it could be a big deal?

« Reply #47 on: May 19, 2011, 23:58 »
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So at some point they are going to actually announce real details for this? Like price.  ???

« Reply #48 on: May 20, 2011, 08:38 »
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In my partucular case i can see a huge benefit from PNG, i do 3d renders so i have allways an exact alpha channel when i do isolated objects or designs, usually i add a clipping path to mi JPG but this dont have the precision required, this is a great way of offering an easy option for the client who wants an easy click and drop option for a PERFECT isolation. for me it has no extra work and for the client is an advantage so , what could be wrong with this option?
Of course fort photographers i cant see much of a benefit, as i dont see with TIFF.

« Reply #49 on: June 02, 2011, 20:46 »
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