A FREE trial enables you to set up and test your own site on-line. Instantly
Ver 1. Draft 6How to set up your
Interactive image database
on the Internet.
Stockphotoindex is for filing, keywording and marketing of professional STOCK images for stock agencies and professional stock image providers.
How stockphotoindex.com empowers stock photo agencies and photographers.STOCKPHOTOINDEX empowers stock agencies with the expensive interactive image database capabilities that are required to compete in today's Internet on-line image commerce. We handle all the technology for you, enabling you to concentrate on your business while utilizing the power of the Internet. We provide you with the most powerful tools available, maintain them and upgrade them for you all at a very low price starting at $19.95. You can create and test a fully functional trial version for 30 days Free.
What you get from SPIThere are two way to get started:
StockPhotoIndex will confirm if your selected name is available. If it is, continue on step 1 to register the selected name. Fill out the form with your name, email address, a login name that you will use, and a password that you would like to use, re enter-the password to confirm it.
Click continue.
If the system rejects your login name because someone else is using it, simply choose another login name, extend your name, or add a number after your name. Make a note of it for your records, you will need it to administer your new site.
Click continue to move to step two.
The next page is a "click through" agreement to awknowledge notice of the copyright of images. There is a link where you can you obtain the entire copyright user agreement (draft). To participate in stock photo index for searching images every user MUST agree to respect the copyright of all the images displayed. There are no free images on stock photo index. All images are available for licensing.
Click agree to continue.
The confirmation page confirms that your FREE trial account has been created. You should verify the site name or modify it if needed. Step 2 enables you to add a title to your home page. You must add a title now, You may modify this title later.
Click continue to complete the title page.
The next page is a "click through" user site agreement. To set up an interactive site you must agree to the terms and conditions in stock photo index's user agreement which protect you and all users from anyone who would abuse the sites capabilities. The rules and conditions of use apply to your site, including your Free Trial.
Click "I agree" to continue.
The next page confirms the information that you have provided so far. It is important that you save or print out this information and keep it in a private safe place. It provides you with your site name, the MASTER administration login, and the MASTER administration password for your site. With these passwords you will be able to assign additional IDs and passwords to your assistants and keyworders who may need access to your images.
The MASTER Administration password controls all security and access permissions to your site's administration functions.
Click continue to move to the next page after you print out your MASTER administration information to store in a safe place.
SITE ADMINISTRATION
The site administration area is where you control your new site. The various Tabs enable you control different aspects of your new site and set "preferences" which will fill out the "Boilerplate" copy that is reused for many of your site pages.
It is a good idea to add yourself as an assistant will full permissions on the site. This enables you to use a "worker" password while reserving your Master password for master administration use.
To add a NEW ASSISTANT click on the "new assistant" link and fill out the form for a new assistant. Assign the new assistant a new private login name and password. You may control all activities of the assistant by checking appropriate boxes in the permissions area. You may edit this information at any time to add, or delete assistants. The assistants login and password allow the assistants to perform whatever duties you have given them "permission" to do.
You are responsible for your own MASTER PASSWORD which governs the security of your entire site. Like your ATM pin number, should not provide your master administration password to your assistants or anyone else
Click "save". At the bottom of the page to save the new assistant information which will be added to any previous assistants. As the site administrator you may edit the information anytime. If an assistant leaves the company you can delete his id and password instantly from anywhere.
Click ok on the confirmation page to continue.
As a site administrator you may edit the information anytime. If a sales contact leaves the agency you can reassign all images, even thousands of images, to another sales contact in minutes.
Click OK to continue.
This completes the SET UP of your Image database site. You may modify any of the information as needed interactively using an assistant login, with appropriate permissions, or using the Master Login and Master password .
Login to your new site:
To do any administration or create a lightbox you must be logged into your site using a login ID and Password.
There are two indicators of your login / logout status. The navigation bar shows "Login" or "Logout" depending on your condition. If you are "logged in" your name shows in the right end of the Title Bar.
Add Images to your new Stock Photo Index interactive database.
(Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
If you have left the site then you will need to go to http://yourname.stockphotoindex.com (replace the "yourname" with the name you set up to open your site.)
If you are already at your new site, Login using the "Login" in the Navigation Bar. If your name appears at the top right navigation bar, then you are properly logged in.
When properly logged, in the lower navigation bar will show available administration functions, based on the permissions of the logged in user.
Select " images" to administer your images or upload images.
You can add your image from a website or your local Disk drive.
To add an image from your computer's local disk, click on the "browse" button.
This will display the contents of your local disk drives. Browse through your local disk drives to select the image you wish to upload.
(For best results, images should be prepped in advance: The best images for uploading should be under 450 pixels (6.25 inches) in the longest dimension and be Res. 72. Compress the images to medium quality for fast upload and save them to your local drive. Larger images will automatically be resized for proper display and thumbnail, but will take longer to upload. Smaller images maybe used but will not be enlarged. For best results be as close to, but not exceeding 450 pixel in the longest dimension. Your images may include Digimark or other images watermark if desired.
Various computer operating systems function differently. The following is for most common computers. Double click the selected image file name and it's path should appear in the space provided in the upload form. (you may need to select the image and then click open on some computers to move the path to the upload box.)
Once the path appears in the upload box, verify that it is correct. It should end in.jpg, .jpeg, .pnp. or .gif. Once verified, click on the upload button and a copy of the image will upload to our high speed server for fast display. Upload typically takes a few seconds with a high speed modem and "good" connection.
Troubleshooting: IMAGE SIZE. If the upload seems to take a long time it may be that you have uploaded a very large image. Stock photo index will resize the image for appropriate use regardless of size. Using proper size images of approximately 320 pixels maximum length or height should speed up the works. Another reason for slow upload may be web traffic or a slow modem on your computer. The fastest modem available to you is recommended for up loading images, along with a reliable Internet service provider. A one price provider is preferred. DSL service is highly recommended if available in your area. A machine with a slower modem may be used for keywording. The fastest possible connection should be used for uploading images.
Troubleshooting: AOL , You need a direct connection to the internet which almost all Internet Service Providers provide. AOL and some others are not a direct connection and may not work.
SPI will show the display image and a thumbnail image for you to verify along with a unique image ID registration number. You should record this unique worldwide ID registration number on your image mount. If you separate the uploading and keywording then you will need the image ID to find the image later for keywording. Once the image is verified as correct, you may proceed to keywording.
Keyword your images using the powerful SPI keywording system.
(Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
You may Keyword the image immediately after uploading or handle keywording separately using the SPI unique image ID to find the images. You may edit your image keywords anytime.
If you keyword immediately after uploading then skip ahead. Otherwise you will need to login as an assistant with appropriate permissions to keyword images. After login, from your site select "images" or simply search for images. If you are properly logged in, the system will recognize you as an authorized assistant and "EDIT" link will appear under any image whose keywords you are authorized to edit.
Use either method to find the image you want to keyword or edit.
Your site displays the image during keywording.
Each area of keywording has a help file which can be accessed by clicking on the "?" question mark.
While StockPhotoIndex is international, we support PACA (Picture Agency Councel of America) Guidlines for keywording.
CAPTION: Begin keywording with a brief caption of the image. The image caption serves two important purposes. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
Do not use all capitals or other tricks to try to get additional attention for the image. They will not work and look unprofessional.
You may write your caption on a word processor, if desired, and paste it into the caption field.
After adding the BRIEF CONCISE caption, the next step is to select words from the pop up lists as are needed to properly identify the content of the image. The Captured Vocabulary registry make keywords more accurate and avoids misspelling. Hold down the control key (Command key on Mac) while clicking each selection. Limit your selections. For most accurate keywording select only the words that accurately and precisely described the image content.
After awhile you will become familiar with the keywords and handle these selections very quickly using point and click. The keyword choices jog the thought process enabling you to use keywords you might not have thought of otherwise. You may recommend new keywords or the deletion of existing keyword by email.
IMAGE CONTENT INDEX: Identifying the content of the picture is the first registry. Select the most appropriate keywords from the registry list. When keywording, do not add more keywords than necessary. Quality is way more important than quantity here. If you exceed the limit on keywords you'll have to go back and the delete keywords in order to add the image. Appropriate keywording can usually be accomplished well within the keyword limit. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
CONCEPT or INTERPRETATIVE INDEX: Select appropriate "concept keywords" from the registry choices available. If you would like to suggest new keywords send your suggestions via email. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
ETHNIC MIX INDEX: This registry keywords the ethnic mix of the subjects in the photo. If no ethnic mix is appropriate then skip this index. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
DOMINATE COLOR INDEX: Some image buyers may prefer a dominate color as part of their design. The dominate color registry enables this part of the search criteria. If the image does not have a strong dominate color then skip this index. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
IMAGE ATTRIBUTES INDEX: Some images have great content, others great lighting, impact, composition, or news content. Select the attribute that matches the image, or skip this index. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
TIME INDEX: Select the appropriate time era that is depicted in the image. Pre 1900, futuristic, and Timeless are also available in this registry. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
PRICE STRATEGY: You should select an appropriate price strategy from the registry options. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)
An on-line price calculator is available for many common uses, more will be added.
HISTORY: This is the place to keep records of important history of the image that may affect its suitability. This field is not searchable but is displayed with the image.
When keywording is complete, click save
The StockPhotoIndex server will return a confirmation page showing the unique
worldwide ID number for the image . You have an opportunity to accept the image
or edit it. The image is displayed during this time for your review. If you keep paper
records of your images you may record or print out this page for your image records. To
accept the image click accept. To edit the image click edit and you will go back to the
keywording form to make corrections. To accept this image and add another image, click
"add another image" and proceed to the next image.
Searching the image database using keywords
. (Note - pop up help is available throughout the program by clicking on the "?" icons)Click on "Search for images" in the Navigation Bar
There are several
different ways for you or your clients to search your image database depending on the need.SIMPLE SEARCH: Type in a keyword or phrase and any matches will be displayed. This is the weakest possible search but is similar to many current stock agency search functions.
ADVANCED SEARCH: This enables users to search by one or more index criteria, including concepts, ethnic mix, dominate colors and other indexes . Help ? buttons are available
PRO SEARCH: The PRO search is a Boolean logic form for advanced users. It enables all the indexes of the advanced search in a more compact form. Help ? buttons are available
PHOTOGRAPHER SEARCH: allows search by photographer's first or last name.Help ? buttons are available
IMAGE ID CROSS REFERENCE: enables the search for a specific image by the systems unique worldwide ID , Stock agency's file ID, or Photographer's file ID. Help ? buttons are available
How to create a private on-line image lightbox for client conferencing.
You must be logged in to create a lightbox. Anyone who is logged in can create lightboxes.
Search for the appropriate images using any of the search methods: Select the desired images and click "add to lightbox" to add the image to the current lightbox.
SHARING LIGHTBOXES: Record the Lightbox ID Number, Assign a lightbox name and password to the lightbox. Share the lightbox ID number and Lightbox password with anyone who needs access to your lightbox.
How to edit your image keywording.Search using any of the search methods. If you are logged on with appropriate permissions your images returned by the search will have an "EDIT" link displayed. Click the "edit" link to display the image information which can now be changed. If the EDIT link does not appear then you are not logged in with the appropriate permissions.
Click "Save" to save the new information. A confirmation page will verify the new information.
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