Category Archives: Brands

The ubertification of photography

Adobe, Artificial Intelligence, Brands, commercial stock, computer vision, content, editing, finance, Funding, getty, gig photography, investment, Marketplace, PhotoTech, Shutterstock, visual recognition October 27, 2019 Paul Melcher 2 Comments

It made a giant noise as it caught everyone by surprise — $230 million investment in a company providing photo services. After Adobe’s $800 million purchase of French microstock photo company Fotolia, Pond 5’s $64 million investment and Shutterstock’s $76.5 million IPO, it is the highest figures ever seen invested in the photo world, by far. Sure, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion but that was for its formidable dedicated audience, not for its inexistent business model. In the case of Meero, it’s obviously for…

Visenze : Visual search 4 years later

Brands, computer vision, content, Content Recognition, e-commerce, Facial recognition, Funding, interview, Marketplace, PhotoTech, transaction, visual recognition February 27, 2019 Paul Melcher Leave a comment

In 2015, we interviewed the CEO of then little known visual search company Visenze. Four years later, after raising $20 million in a series C and announcing a deal with Samsung, we caught with Oliver Tan to see how things have changed for his company, the technology involved, the marketplace and more Last time we talked, in 2015, ViSenze was just starting. Four years later and you are now on your Series C, with about 80 employees worldwide. How would you describe the last four…

What to expect in 2019 (and beyond)

3D, advertising, Artificial Intelligence, Brands, computational imaging, computer vision, content, Content Recognition, e-commerce, Emotion analysis, Facebook, Facial recognition, google, imaging, in-image, Instagram, mobile, Pinterest, Snapchat, Social Media, Twitter, video, visual recognition December 26, 2018 Paul Melcher Leave a comment

As the year comes to a close, it is an excellent time to review the emerging visual tech trends ( and failures) and predict those that will have a significant impact in 2019 and beyond. Without further notice and in no particular order, here they are: Eyes in your house : There is a race, right now, to get cameras in your homes. Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant voice search are getting eyes, to serve you better. As they insert more deeply into our lives, they…

10 questions to a founder: Imatag

advertising, analytic, Brands, content, Content Recognition, editing, flickr, interview, license, marketing, PhotoTech, Social Media, technology March 13, 2018 Paul Melcher Leave a comment

Publish an image online today and there is a very good chance that within a few days, there will be hundreds, if not thousands of copies of it throughout the internet. None, unfortunately, will bear any information on who is the creator and how he/she can be found. This is not just an issue for professional photographers, who make a living by licensing images, but anyone who creates visuals to communicate, like marketers or social media manager. Because with each reuse comes the damaging potential…

is Unsplash the new Instagram ?

Adobe, advertising, Brands, commercial stock, content, editing, Instagram, investment, marketing, Marketplace, Microstock, Pinterest, Royalty free, Shutterstock, UGC February 26, 2018 Paul Melcher 1 Comment

About a week ago, Unsplash announced that they had raised $7.25 million, along with plans to bring cryptocurrency to its free stock photo service. While most see their move as a potential Shutterstock killer, Unsplash could end up becoming a potent competitor to Instagram, Pinterest, and Snap as they share more DNA . A short review of the hard numbers as those are explicit enough: Over 2,083 Unsplash photos are viewed across the web every second. 1,231 API partners ( include: Trello, Medium, InVision, Google Slides, Lonely…

2 research that will change photography forever

analytic, Artificial Intelligence, Brands, commercial stock, computer vision, Content Recognition, Facial recognition, getty, photojournalism, PhotoTech, research, Shutterstock, technology, visual recognition January 19, 2018 Paul Melcher 2 Comments

A couple of research papers were recently published, both touching on advancement in computer vision and machine learning. While research papers are a common occurrence in this field, these two are worth reviewing a bit deeper, as their implication will have a wide impact once they mature. The first is a research organized by Nvidia for presentation at the upcoming International Conference on Learning Representation to be held in Vancouver this coming April. The purpose is to build a more efficient GAN by growing both the generator and discriminator progressively.…

18 Visual Storytelling Trends That Will Take Off in 2018

advertising, AR, Augmented reality, Brands, content, editorial, Facebook, Instagram, Interface, marketing, PhotoTech, Snapchat, Social Media, UGC, video December 21, 2017 Paul Melcher 1 Comment

Who better to predict where visual storytelling is going than those who handle it on a daily basis? With 2018 right around the corner, Libris by Photoshelter asked a few to make predictions on what they see as the dominating trend of the upcoming year. While there is no major group consensus, one thing is for sure, whatever it is, it will happen under our thumbs.Read on…. Dustin Drankoski | Art Director at Mashable | @downsmileyface 2018 is going to be a big year for vertical story. From Instagram…

10 Questions to a Founder : Picasso Labs

advertising, analytic, Artificial Intelligence, big data, Brands, content, Content Recognition, interview, marketing, PhotoTech, Social Media, visual recognition June 1, 2017 Paul Melcher 1 Comment

While billions of images are being shared daily, little to nothing is known about how viewers respond to them. Until now. Using hundreds of thousands of data points extracted from million of images, Picasso Labs offers the first A.I. powered insight tool for images. Thanks to its deep analytical resources, it helps brands and marketers understand which images work best for what audience, and why. We sat down with founder and CEO Anastasia Leng to learn more: – A little about you, what is your…

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LDV Vision Summit 17 – 10 Questions for an Investor: KBS Ventures

advertising, analytic, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented reality, big data, Brands, Funding, interview, investment, LDV Summit, marketing, PhotoTech, Pinterest, Snapchat, Social Media, VR April 27, 2017 Paul Melcher Leave a comment

There’s a definitive symbiosis between visual tech and digital marketing: Not only is vision the primary sense used when making a buying decision, it is also the most efficient in tracking and deciphering a consumer’s path to the critical buy impulse. While brands might not have yet adopted the rapid pace of evolution offered by the countless new start-ups in the field, advertising agencies and their investment arms have long known that it’s a battlefield with huge potential outcome. We spoke with Jessica Peltz-Zatulove – Partner…

Snap is a camera company

advertising, analytic, Brands, content, Content Recognition, filter, Funding, investment, marketing, mobile, Snapchat, Social Media, technology, wearable February 27, 2017 Paul Melcher Leave a comment

At a time of uncertain public statements, caught between fake news and alternative fact, Snap can certainly be called a camera company. But days before it’s very publicized IPO- the first for a photo app – the truth about Snapchat, along with it’s previously hidden operating cogs, reveals much more. Snap is a camera company states the official public offering, which just happens to have built its success on everything else but a camera. If Snap is indeed a camera company, it is indeed a very bad…