Picturenation

Picturenation is a British based online stock image library providing royalty-free images to the editorial, commercial and education sectors.

The growing collection of images are submitted by amateur and professional photographers from around the world. Every single image is checked for technical quality, copyright and tags, before going live on site. As well as having a growing portfolio of creative stock images, Picturenation concentrates on the 'boring but useful'. Real pictures of real people and places taken in spontaneous settings. The website is simple and quick to use, with the emphasis on being jargon free to make image libraries accessible to and appealing to the general consumer.

Picturenation for Schools

As the old blackboard is becoming obsolete, children are being educated with interactive learning tools, computers and interactive whiteboards on a daily basis. Picturenation images can be used on computers, mobiles, and whiteboards for lessons. Schools use Picturenation images knowing that they have been checked and cleared for copyrights and all the accompanying text checked for accuracy and relevance. Picturenation is accredited partners with [http://www.prometheanworld.com/uk/server/show/nav.2298 Promethean]

History

Picturenation was set up in 2007 by Jane-Louise Green, a former BBC journalist, TV news director and web producer. The company is based at Staffordshire University in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, and the University is a shareholder in the company. With just a small staff the company already stocks over 40,000 checked images. The collection is proving to be an historical record of 21st century Britain, with the UK photographers literally photographing what's on their doorsteps. Picturenation is a member of [http://www.bapla.org BAPLA]

Contributors and use

Members are from around the world though mostly currently in the UK. Picturenation encourages everyone to have a go at photography and no one has to pass an exam or test before uploading. Members range in age from 13 to 78, and include keen amateurs as well as professional photographers. Contributors manage their images to their own account area, uploading jpeg images then writing descriptions and keywords following simple to use guidelines. For each download of one of their images they receive 40% commission.Buyers include media and broadcasting corporations, press and marketing companies, web designers, environmental groups, charities, schools and colleges, hotels and restaurants, banks, businesses and individuals. Clients can buy single images online from GBP£5, request an account, or buy multiple web res ready compressed images with a subscription service from 28p per image.

Copyright

The staff at Picturenation check every image before it goes live, not just for the quality and keywording, but also for copyrights. Picture copyright and law is a complicated subject and many people still 'right click' an image off the internet without thinking about permissions or payments. New software like PicScout means non-payers can be traced and invoiced for such breaches and businesses and individuals are increasingly seeking advice about picture copyrights.

As ever in law, the legalities are not always black and white and each case is different. A few interesting facts to consider -the night-time shot of the Eiffel Tower with its lights on is a copyrighted image and should not be used for commercial use without permission from the copyright holders. A lot of people think shopping centres are public places but they are usually private property and require permissions for commercial photography. There are rules about photographing birds and rare wildlife too. A full list of protected animals can be found at [http://www.naturenet.net/law/sched5.html/ Naturenet.] The London Underground roundel sign is a trademarked image with restricted use. A useful place to check for trademarks is the [http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ UK Intellectual Property Office]

Child Picture Policy

Picturenation knows there is a legitimate need for pictures of children for editorial and educational use. The company has developed its own [http://www.picturenation.co.uk/sellers/child_picture_policy/ Child Picture Policy] to reassure image providers that pictures of their children have a check in place before they can be downloaded by a client. This policy encourages members to upload their photos of their children playing, working and learning. All child pictures on Picturenation are model released by the parent/guardian.

External links

* [http://www.picturenation.co.uk Picturenation]
* [http://www.picturenation.co.uk/education Picturenation for Schools]