Microstock photography is a creation of the internet age. Stock photography – licensing existing photos for your own use – has been around for decades as a source for professional photography. Microstock applies crowdsourcing to this business model, allowing talented amateurs (and some pros) to put their photos up for sale at prices ranging from a few cents to a few dollars. While there are a few stories of big success for these contributors, microstock has led to some controversy as it disrupts the income of traditional photographers. If your concern is with finding inexpensive images for your site or business, though, these seven sites are worth knowing about.
Shutterstock has nearly 4 million images available and calls themselves “the largest subscription-based stock photo agency in the world.” Shutterstock only offers subscription pricing, starting at $249 per month for a flat 25 downloads per day, making them one of the more expensive microstock agencies. Their search options are less flexibly than some, but they offer extra amenities such as a “lightbox” area that lets you store favorite pictures for future purchase.

Fotolia weighs in at over three and a half million images. Their pricing is in terms of $1 credits, with images costing 1-6 credits and credits expiring in one year. Annoyingly, you need to go through a 3-page signup process to see pricing and buying details. They offer a reasonable number of search options with fast thumbnail pages and good depth, though their search does seem to have more tendency to return irrelevant results early in the search than some of their competitors.

iStockPhoto is widely credited with having founded the microstock industry, and with over three million images online, they’re a good first port of call when you’re looking for an image. As with other microstock sites, the basic currency is the “credit”, with pricing ranging from $1.30 down to $0.96 depending on how many you buy. Credits swap for images depending on the image size (usually 1 to 10 credits). Credits expire after a year whether you use them or not. Recently they’ve also introduced subscription pricing, giving you a daily ration of credits for a period of 3 months to 1 year. iStockPhoto’s search is quick, and makes suggestions as you type; their thumbnails and preview images load quickly.

Dreamstime has about three million images online and ready for searching. Like iStockPhoto, they’ll sell you credits with a 1-year expiration, or via subscription. Pricing per credit runs from $1 down to $0.83 in bulk, with most images running 1-4 credits to purchase. Their search engine does a good job of returning relevant images in general, with plenty of search options (something that’s true of most of the microstock sites).

123RF offers over 2 million images – the “RF” is for “royalty-free,” which is the way all microstock photos are sold. They offer a mix of subscription (starting at 5 images per day for 30 days at $89) and credit-based ($1 down to $0.70) pricing, with images running 1-5 credits. 123RF credits expire after two years, giving you extra time to use them. Frequent buyers also accumulate reward points that can be used for Amazon gift certificates, Apple gift cards, or other bonuses. Their search engine is a bit slower than some, and tends to return a wider variety of images (rather than narrowly targeting my search keywords) in the test searches that I’ve tried.

Big Stock Photo gives you just over two million choices at 1-6 credits each; credits cost $2.50 to $1 in bulk and expire in one year. Their search is fast though fairly basic; it did a good job on my test keywords, but for advanced search options (such as searching by color, or whether there are people in the image) you’ll want to try one of the other sites in this roundup.

Stockxpert sells their images at 1-10 credits each, with credits starting at $1. They also have subscription pricing starting at $220 per month; to see pricing details, you need to create an account and log in. They don’t seem to mention how many images they have online, and I’ve found their search generally returns fewer results than other microstock sites.

As you use the microstock sites, you’ll discover there is some overlap in available photos between many of them; most smart photographers upload their images to more than one site to maximize their chances of making a sale. For reasonably common searches (”zen garden,” “overgrown lawn,” “weightlifting”) any of these sites will deliver multiple hits. For more obscure desires (”cat in mailbox,” “tin car” ) I’ve had the most luck with Dreamstime and Shutterstock, though this depends a lot on the exact search. If you get truly specific (”heathkit radio,” “potted dandelion”) you usually won’t get any hits at all; at that point Dreamstime is the most helpful with its photo request forum that lets you tell photographers what you’re after. Good pricing depends a lot on how frequently you’ll need photos, as bulk discounts on expiring credits can tempt you to buy more than you’ll use; in that respect, 123RF’s two-year expiration is a distinct advantage for the infrequent buyer

The EXIF error causes Lightroom 1.4 to incorrectly modify the EXIF time stamp in the original raw file, although the information written to the XMP sidecar files remains correct. Apart from this, the raw data itself is not affected by the errors. Lightroom also reports an error when converting Olympus JPDG photos.

When converting to DNG, Lightroom 1.4 for Windows writes a verification tag that describes the image data as corrupted. When Lightroom attempts to work with those files in the Develop module, the application will present an error. Tom Hogarty’s advice is to convert the DNG data again using Camera Raw 4.3.1.

 Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software with over 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use and more powerful. With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone(TM), iPod(R) touch and Apple TV®. At a new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit and publish photos like a pro.

“Many of the most respected photographers on assignment all over the world trust Aperture to organize, edit and deliver their images,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “With its simpler interface and lower price, anyone can take full advantage of Aperture’s power.”

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the quality of the image,” said Sports Illustrated contributing photographer David Bergman. “Even before I begin making adjustments, Aperture’s new RAW processing gives me better images with more visible detail and better color rendering than any other program I’ve tested.”

“I used to have so much stress about post-production on a shoot, having to juggle multiple applications to make sure they all worked,” said Bob Davis, PDN Top Knots Wedding Photographer 2007. “With Aperture that’s no longer a factor. I can do everything all in one application.”

Featuring a new, easier user interface designed to be more intuitive and accessible, Aperture 2 now lets users navigate between Viewer and Browser modes with a single key command. Screen real estate is maximized for images with an all-in-one heads up display that allows users to toggle between library, metadata and adjustment controls in a single tabbed inspector. The All Projects view, modeled after iPhoto’s Events view, provides a poster photo for every project and the ability to quickly skim through the photos inside, and the integrated iPhoto(R) Browser offers direct access to all the events and images in the iPhoto library.

Performance has been enhanced in Aperture 2 so it’s faster to import, browse and search large volumes of images. Embedded previews let photographers caption, keyword and rate images as they are being imported, and with the ability to export images in the background, photographers can continue working while images are processed to JPEG, TIFF, PNG and PSD file formats. Quick Preview allows users to browse RAW images in rapid succession without having to wait for files to load, and the Aperture library database has been re-architected to provide fast project switching and near instantaneous search results, even when working with extremely large libraries of 500,000 images or more.

Aperture 2 delivers powerful new imaging tools for getting the most out of each photograph. Apple’s next-generation RAW image processing is at the core of Aperture 2 offering uncompromising image quality and precision controls that let users fine-tune the image profile for each of their cameras. New tools for improving and enhancing images include Recovery for pulling back “blown” highlights, Vibrancy for selectively boosting saturation without adversely affecting skin tones, Definition, which offers local contrast for adding clarity to images, Vignette & Devignette filters for providing professional visual effects and a true soft-edged Repair and Retouch brush for quickly and easily removing blemishes, cleaning up sensor dust and cloning away problem areas.

Aperture 2 works seamlessly with Mac OS® X, iLife®, iWork™, .Mac and Apple print products, so any image in the Aperture library can be accessed directly from within other applications, such as iMovie®, Keynote® and Pages®, and even from within Leopard™ Mail. Now with .Mac Web Gallery support, Aperture users can publish their photos once to view them on the web, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. Books in Aperture 2 feature new theme designs, layout tools, customized dust jackets (including full-bleed) and foil stamped covers.

Pricing & Availability
Aperture 2 is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) through the Apple Store® (http://www.apple.com/), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Owners of previous versions of Aperture can upgrade to Aperture 2 for just $99 (US). Full system requirements and more information on Aperture 2 can be found at http://www.apple.com/aperture.

*The .Mac service is available to persons aged 13 and older. Annual membership fee and Internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Jeff Kent, Professional Photographer magazine, Hot One Editor, also recognized the significance of this achievement: “As the Hot One Awards continue to expand, the competition for each category has heated up accordingly. For the 2008 awards, we had more than 220 total products entered in 58 categories by nearly 150 companies. That makes the 2008 Hot One Awards one of the biggest, most comprehensive photographic product competitions in the industry. Winners of a 2008 Hot One Award should be proud that they have achieved recognition in such a competitive and high-profile award process.”

The contest was judged by a panel of 18 professional photographers voting on categories that fit within their areas of expertise. The judges voted on products based on many criteria including ease of use, suitability to task, workflow, and support.

“I am absolutely thrilled with Album DS’ win, especially since we just entered the North American market,” said Bryan Linden, Vice President Marketing, Album DS. “We’ve worked very hard to make Album DS the most comprehensive photographic design product available and the fact that it works from within Photoshop(TM) a product photographers already know and love means a short learning curve for our program and true Photoshop power with Album DS ease of use. We’re very pleased with the designs My Designer Studios did for this special edition and we want to give special thanks to Dawn Erney, the lead designer for My Designer Studios.”

“With the My Designer Edition of Album DS we offer far more than just wedding album designs and also provide photographers with cards, sports traders, baby products, senior products, and more,” said Alejandro Fresno Meyer, President and lead developer, Album DS. “I ‘m really happy to be honored by this award and want to specifically thank Dawn for her fantastic designs and Bryan for his efforts introducing Album DS in North America. Album DS was born as a tool for the creative but time limited photographer who wants to easily create astonishing albums. Our main goal is to help them get to this point as soon as possible with outstanding support. We get great feedback and keep integrating customer workflow and suggestions into every release of Album DS.”

The 2008 Hot One Award winners will be highlighted in the upcoming February 2008 issue of Professional Photographer magazine. Additional information on the 2008 Hot One Awards and winners is available on Professional Photographer’s website at www.ppmag.com.

Album DS 5.0 My Designer Edition is available immediately for purchase and download from www.albumds.com and is $449.00 including more than 1070 templates all of which are automatically resizable to any album format from any manufacturer, 200 masks and sloppy borders, 560 frames, tons of special effects beyond standard b/w and sepia of most products, clipart, high resolution backgrounds and support that is happy to help and easy to reach. Any aspect of any template is quick to modify and building templates from scratch is not only possible but easy.

Simply put, Album DS will make professional photographers more productive at producing albums and will likely help inspire photographers who use it to produce albums that are just as beautiful as they are easy to design. Albums can be printed via professional lab or in-house and Album DS makes it easy to resize albums from one aspect ratio to another even after design.

Album DS is developed in Valencia Spain by Art Fotografic and has been available since early 2006. Used extensively throughout Europe and Latin America Album DS has in a very short time developed into the most flexible tool for album design available today. With a solid commitment to service and support, Album DS is poised to be a global leader for professional album design.

Album DS 5.0, Makes creating panoramic wedding albums a breeze from within Adobe Photoshop(TM) a program professionals already know and love. Album DS is very easy to use even for those with limited Photoshop experience and acts like a album design dashboard from within Photoshop. Version 5.0 adds several new features including Album Easy effects, ability to load most Photoshop actions as Album DS buttons and so much more. Album DS is developed in Valencia Spain by Art Fotografic and has been available since early 2006. Used throughout Europe and Latin America Album DS has in a very short time developed into the most flexible tool for album design available today. With a solid commitment to service and support, Album DS is poised to be a global leader for professional album design.

Collages.net

Langhorne, PA, January 08, 2008 –(PR.com)– Collages.net was recently honored with its seventh, eighth, and ninth Hot One awards from Professional Photographer magazine. Winning first place in three categories of the prestigious competition – display item, website, and online printing/order fulfillment service – Collages.net was recognized for its gallery wraps, its Build Your Brand marketing campaign, and collagesDesktop™ + collagesColor™.

“We are very excited about the award from Professional Photographer, most especially because it reaffirms our belief that photographers are looking for creative, innovative, and flexible products from a company committed to high quality and excellent customer service,” stated Director of Product Development, Deirdre Gillin.

Jeff Kent, Hot One Editor, also recognized the significance of this achievement: “As the Hot One Awards continue to expand, the competition for each category has heated up accordingly. For the 2008 awards, we had more than 220 total products entered in 58 categories by nearly 150 companies. That makes the 2008 Hot One Awards one of the biggest, most comprehensive photographic product competitions in the industry. Winners of a 2008 Hot One Award should be proud that they have achieved recognition in such a competitive and high-profile award process.”

The contest was judged by a panel of 18 professional photographers voting on categories that fit within their areas of expertise. Collages.net’s innovative new product line, high-quality gallery wraps in particular, insightful marketing advice, and digital, end-to-end workflow solution gave the company an advantage over the tough competition among Hot One participants.

Collages.net was awarded for its superior gallery wrap product, which, according to Professional Photographer, won praise from judges as “a high-quality display option for contemporary images.” Gallery wraps are canvas prints treated with a protective coating and wrapped on a 1.5-inch wooden stretcher. Unlike many competitors’ renditions of the product, Collages.net’s images continue along the edges of the stretcher, or photographers have the option of applying a solid color border to the side instead. Collages.net’s online ordering system is easy to use and includes a three dimensional preview of the finished gallery wrap. To complete the package, Collages.net lab technicians meticulously inspect every step of the process to ensure that each gallery wrap turns out exactly to specifications.

The educational Build Your Brand website offers insightful marketing tips and profitable business strategies. Build Your Brand is an effort to keep photographers informed about the best ways to generate exposure and referrals in the modern photography industry. All of the techniques, complimentary with Collages.net accounts, have been used by real professional photographers across the country, and address topics like studio logo usage, e-mail address collection, blogging, and event listings.

collagesDesktop™ is an innovative workflow and printing tool that helps photography studios save time while making more money. This customized client-side software makes organizing event photos, posting online, communicating with clients, and fulfilling print orders a seamless and simple process. collagesDesktop™ is fully integrated with Collages.net’s professional color lab collagesColor™, a full service, state-of-the-art pro photo lab backed by over 50 years of print experience.

The company will be showcasing its entire product line at Imaging USA in Tampa, Florida from January 6-8, 2008. All products are also available online at www.collages.net/products.

About Collages.net

Collages.net is the industry leader in providing a workflow, printing, product, and marketing solution for professional photographers. Collages.net offers professional printing through collagesColor™, Collages.net’s full service, professional printing solution. Fully integrated with collagesDesktop™ software, this ordering interface provides a wide variety of products and lab options. In addition to the industry’s leading online posting, professional printing, and full e-commerce platform, Collages.net also offers products such as albums, gallery wraps, high-end cards, proof books, and DVD slide shows.

Professional photographers shooting all types of events including: weddings, senior portraits, family portraits, children’s portraits, sports, special events, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, and corporate events can create customized, password-protected, e-commerce websites for their clients. Collages.net’s web-based platform allows photographers to sell photographs and market their studios to guests, associates, friends, and family members who previously were without access to the professional photographs. With over 1.5 million unique visits to Collages.net event websites each month, Collages.net’s photographers enjoy a unique online presence. The powerful combination of high event traffic and Collages.net’s innovative marketing tools result in Collages.net photographers increasing their studios’ revenue through online sales and generating numerous referrals through broad studio exposure.

Collages.net works with over 10,000 professional photographers across the United States and enjoys strong partnerships with Professional Photographers of America (PPA), The Knot, Disney Weddings, and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS).

New video capture plug-in for Mac OS, iPhone Portal and Channel Widget give Veodia users more options to create and share high quality broadcast content.

Palo Alto, Calif. (PRWEB) November 15, 2007 — Veodia, Inc., the first provider of a browser-based, TV-quality video broadcasting service, today announced that users can broadcast video while running Mac OS X with the launch of the Mac OS video capture Plug-In. This feature makes it possible for those operating in a Mac environment, such as university professors, publishers, bloggers and creative departments to create video content using their current systems. In addition, content produced with Veodia can now be viewed via simple Veodia Widgets that are easily created and sit on any web site, be it a blog, company home page or corporate dashboard.

Veodia developed these enhancements as a direct result of requests from current users and beta testers. With these features, Veodia better supports the increasing number of organizations that are adopting video broadcasting. Veodia provides a new and easy way to create and publish content that reaches a broader community and strengthens communications.

Mac OS users can now broadcast high quality live and on-demand video with nothing more than their built-in iSight or an external camcorder, and experience the same easy-to-use service Veodia already offers on the Windows platform.

Another feature complementary to Mac is the ability to view content on the iPhone. During the Office 2.0 conference, more than 600 conference attendees were able to access conference sessions via their iPhones. According to Ismael Ghalimi, CEO of Intalio and Office 2.0 conference organizer, “Veodia’s video service on the iPhone enabled our attendees to have a truly interactive experience and greatly enhanced the overall experience.”

Veodia broadcasters can also use the embeddable code to create a portable widget. This feature gives customers additional control and flexibility for how they want to use their broadcast and for whom they want to deliver the videos to. The widget gives users the option to show live or recorded, on-demand, content on their own web site, blog, or internal company communication forums.

“Our early commitment to MPEG-4/h.264 has allowed our users to create TV quality video that plays on everything,” said Guillaume Cohen, CEO and founder of Veodia. “With these enhancements, we empower an even wider community of video content producers, in particular the increasing number of education, marketing and creative Veodia users who often run on Mac.”

About Veodia
Palo Alto-based Veodia, Inc., enables businesses, universities, and venues the ability to instantly broadcast high quality live video while remotely recording content for immediate on-demand playback. Broadcasters need nothing more than a video camera, computer, and internet connection and content providers retain full control of their content. Veodia replaces in-house digital video publishing solutions that require large budgets, vendor interoperability, and extensive IT support. In April 2007, Veodia joined the WebEx Connect platform to offer WebEx Connect users an easy way to create and broadcast high quality video.

Press inquires
Andrea Heuer
for Veodia
415-641-4063
andrea.heuer @ gmail.com
http://www.veodia.com

Portland, OR – November 6, 2007 – onOne Software, Inc., announces today the availability of Essentials 2 for Adobe Photoshop Elements. This updated version of onOne Software’s popular software suite includes technology from onOne Software’s newly acquired PhotoTune color correction software, and onOne Software’s Mask Pro, PhotoFrame, and Genuine Fractals software products fine-tuned specifically for Adobe Photoshop Elements.

“Make it Better! Cut it Out! Frame it! and Enlarge it! These four tools incorporated in Essentials 2 allow amateur and advanced amateur photographers to spend less time in front of their computer screen correcting their digital images and more time behind their camera taking pictures,” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. “And with this new version of Essentials comes an entirely new version of the Make It Better tool. It is now even easier for users to quickly optimize their image’s color, contrast and brightness by comparing side-by-side adjustments and simply picking the best settings visually.”

onOne Software’s Essentials 2 for Adobe Photoshop Elements software suite provides users of the popular Photoshop Elements image editing and organizing software with four important plug-in solutions to solve common digital imaging problems. With Essentials for Adobe Photoshop Elements, users can easily correct the color of their photos using technology from PhotoTune, cut out and separate foreground and background objects using Mask Pro, add a unique border and edge around their photos using technology from PhotoFrame and increase the size and resolution of their photos to get larger print sizes by using technology from Genuine Fractals, the industry standard for resizing digital photos.

Essentials 2 for Adobe Photoshop Elements supports Adobe Photoshop Elements versions 4, 5 and 6 for Windows and Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 and 4 for Macintosh. onOne Software’s Essentials 2 is available as a free upgrade for all current users of Essentials for Adobe Photoshop Elements. Upgrade is available through the user’s automatic update upon launch of the program. It is also available for $59.95 for new users from onOne Software authorized distributors and resellers, or direct from onOne Software at www.onOnesoftware.com. In addition, for current users of Essentials, this free upgrade will not replace the previous Make it Better! tool featuring onOne Software’s Intellihance Pro, rather it will add a Make it Better 2! module using the technology found in PhotoTune to the user’s available plug-ins.

About onOne Software
onOne Software develops time-saving software solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers in the digital photography and graphic design industries. onOne Software solutions have been created to help photographers spend more of their time behind the camera taking pictures instead of the computer workstation. Such solutions include a wide range of easy-to-use plug-in enhancements for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and QuarkXPress®.

onOne Software delivers the highest quality software products to users by working with industry leaders and continuing to develop core technologies for professional photo and desktop publishing solutions on both Macintosh and Windows operating systems. Founded in 2005, onOne Software is a privately held company located in Portland, Oregon. For additional information, visit www.onOnesoftware.com or call 1-888-968-1468.

Download for free at www.gwg.org

Ghent, Belgium – November 7, 2007 – The international Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG), which in five years has become one of the world’s most respected graphic arts best practice organizations, today announces the availability of the GWG Photography White Paper.

The GWG Photography White Paper gives publishers and photographers a compact set of digital photography guidelines for print production.  Correct implementation of ICC color management and standards is essential to ensure that maximum quality is maintained from the original capture through to the final printed result. The GWG recommends using these guidelines for digital photography projects for print production.

 According to Peter Kleinheider, print publishing technology manager for Callas Software and GWG co-chair for the color management subcommittee, “Digital photography is here to stay, whether it is in the graphic world or in daily life. Yet the wide varieties in cameras as well as the large number of image (and file) formats have created the need for guidelines that will ensure quality print production.”

 According to Kleinheider, these guidelines were initially created by Medibel+, a Belgian graphic arts association: http://www.medibelplus.be. Subsequently, these guidelines were edited and approved by the GWG.

 ”Digital images utilized for graphic applications should always be of the highest quality. The Ghent PDF Workgroup guidelines give professionals an easy way to check that images will perform as needed.”

 The GWG Photography White Paper includes two versions — one covering news photography and the other, commercial photography.  Download the free whitepaper as well as free GWG specifications, test suites, and other whitepapers at: www.gwg.org.

ATLANTA, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — myPhotopipe.com, Inc. , a web-based online provider of digital photo processing and related services, today announced that it has entered into a strategic relationship with iStockphoto(R) to provide a “print-your-image” option on the popular stock imagery and video website, effective October 11, 2007.

Starting with iStockphoto users in the United States, members will be able to order prints of any image on the site that is made available for Prints by the artist. Prints may be purchased using the micropayment system pioneered by iStockphoto. Eight print sizes will be available on four paper surfaces (matte, glossy, watercolor and canvas). The iStockphoto site will incorporate a live cropping tool with seamless integration back to myPhotopipe.com’s national photo lab in Atlanta.

In most cases, prints offered through iStockphoto will be available at prices approximately 20 percent below the pricing for comparable products at professional labs.

“This is a natural extension for us,” noted Garth Johnson, vice president of development at iStockphoto. “Many of our customers have printing and distribution needs that are well met by myPhotopipe.com. This partnership will make their jobs easier.”

“This is one of the largest communities of photographers and illustrators in the world, in addition to being the busiest image market, with an image downloaded every 2.5 seconds,” stated L. Douglas Keeney, chief executive officer of myPhotopipe.com, Inc. “iStockphoto wanted to provide its customers with access to the very best digital print product available. We wanted iStockphoto’s razor-sharp pricing. And we both wanted a great online experience. I believe we have accomplished all three of these objectives in this relationship.”

About iStockphoto

iStockphoto, http://www.istockphoto.com, is the world’s busiest image market, with an image downloaded every 2.5 seconds. iStock pioneered the micropayment phenomenon in this industry, enabling buyers to license images for as little as a dollar. iStockphoto entered the stock video market with similarly enticing price points in September 2006. In partnership with its members, iStockphoto has turned community into commerce, transforming the digital imagery market by encouraging passionate dialogue and education, while making imagery affordable to businesses that may not have licensed imagery otherwise. iStockphoto is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Getty Images.

About myPhotopipe.com, Inc.

myPhotopipe.com, Inc. is a web-based (2.0) online provider of digital photo processing, photo finishing, photo sharing, and related services. The Company’s unique blend of 300+ print options, combined with manual print inspections and professional color management, have positioned myPhotopipe.com as one of the fastest-growing providers of digital photography services for professionals and serious amateurs.

The Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and its common stock is listed on the OTC Pink Sheets under the symbol “MPPC”. Additional information is available on the Internet at http://www.myPhotopipe.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934 that are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Such forward-looking statements are based upon current information and expectations regarding myPhotopipe.com, Inc. These statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, are not guarantees of future performance, and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied, or forecast in such forward-looking statements.

myPhotopipe.com, Inc. assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this release. Any forward-looking statements in this press release may be materially impacted by any number of factors, any or all of which could have a negative impact on sales, operating results, financial and budgetary constraints. The statements made herein are independent statements by myPhotopipe.com, Inc. The inclusion or mention, if any, of third parties in this press release does not represent an endorsement of any myPhotopipe.com, Inc. products or services by any such third party.

Three New Patent-Pending Technologies Enable Functionality Not Even Available in Expensive Desktop Image Editing Software While Remaining Free for All Users

Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) October 9, 2007 — FotoFlexer, the world’s most advanced Web-based image editing solution, today announced a bevy of new features that let users do more with their images than any other online editing site – and in some cases, even more than can be accomplished with desktop photo editing software like Photoshop. And, unlike Web-based photo editing sites that charge their users a premium to access the most useful and powerful features, FotoFlexer continues to provide more features – and more advanced features – while remaining completely free for all users.

To get the most control and accomplish the most powerful image editing available on the Web today, start flexing your images now at www.fotolexer.com”>www.fotolexer.com.   

So, What’s New?
FotoFlexer already provides users with the most total features, the most powerful features, and the most features that are completely unique to FotoFlexer. And today FotoFlexer is extending its functionality with many new features, including three new patent-pending technologies:

•    Morph – The ability to automatically morph any two pictures into one.
•    Smart Resize – The ability to remove unwanted/ unnecessary portions of images, while maintaining and resizing the image to retain the important parts without distorting them.
•    Insert-A-Face – The ability to easily position and color-match a photo to a pre-designed template. For example, putting your face on Paris Hilton’s body, or that of a gorilla.

Unlike any other online image editing system, the FotoFlexer editing solution is based on patent-pending Predictive Pixel Partitioning (P³) technology. This artificial intelligence (AI) technology is at the core of FotoFlexer’s industry-leading five patent-pending technologies.

Each of these new features are an expansion of FotoFlexer’s action-based editing system – the ability to easily and intuitively accomplish exactly the effect you want in less time than any other editing system. As opposed to basic Web-based photo editing products that merely emulate the basic features of desktop photo editing products, FotoFlexer’s patent-pending P³ technology enables users to do more with their images, do it better, and do it with fewer mouse clicks.

Not Just Best on the Web Anymore
FotoFlexer is moving beyond being just the highest-performance online image editing solution, and is expanding the number of features that are completely unique to FotoFlexer. As Photoshop prepares to introduce a basic online image editing suite, FotoFlexer is announcing a bevy of new features that catapult them beyond any other online editing system.

FotoFlexer has always enabled users to accomplish the editing tasks they wanted with far fewer clicks and with far more ease than Photoshop. Today, with these extended features, FotoFlexer expands the amount of tools that are not even available in Photoshop’s desktop software – including the Morph, Smart Resize and Scenes features.

Wait… It’s More Powerful, and Still Free?!
Absolutely. Unlike other online image editing sites that charge users a premium to utilize some features, FotoFlexer offers more features – and more advanced features – completely free of charge. Some online image editing tools have introduced “Premium” packages and have begun charging their users for their most-used and most sophisticated tools. At FotoFlexer, not only do we offer more tools, but we offer far more complex and advanced features than other online image editing system.

So, rather than charging our users a premium for the tools they use most, FotoFlexer will continue to offer these tools – as well as unique tools not available anywhere else – absolutely free of charge for all users.

Between its superior editing capabilities, its superior integration, and the FotoFlexer API (announced last month) – FotoFlexer could become the de facto image editing solution for the Web. We will continue to offer everyone free, open access to this powerful solution.

What Can I Edit?
FotoFlexer gives users the most flexibility of any image editing system, enabling them to edit their digital photos, online images and even apply real-time Webcam effects. FotoFlexer seamlessly integrates with Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Photobucket, Picassa and Yahoo! Search, making editing images from and within these sites easier and more productive than ever. So, wherever your images reside, FotoFlexer enables you to edit, personalize and express yourself through them.

Talk to Us.
We hope you’re having a great time flexing your images, and we hope you like these new features. In fact, many of the features we offer are based directly on the feedback we get from you. So please, continue to let us know what you love best, what you’d love to see next, and what you think we can be doing better. If you want the inside scoop on what we’re up to, and want to give us some feedback, join us on our blog.

For more information, contact:
Zach Stevens, FotoFlexer.com
Phone: (415) 215-0254