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May 2006, Cradoc Announces the Release of fotoBiz 2.0!
FotoBiz 2.0 takes Digital Asset Management to a whole new level
FotoBiz, the most popular business management software for photographers, now supplies the missing link in digital asset management.
Cradoc Corporation, a major developer of computer software for photographers, announced the release of fotoBiz 2.0. This is a major upgrade to what has become the most popular business management program for the freelance photographer. FotoBiz 2.0 greatly enhances the tools available to the assignment and stock photographer and includes fotoQuote Pro 5, the industry standard photo pricing and negotiating guide for stock and assignment photography.
The biggest enhancement to fotoBiz 2.0 is in the area of digital asset management, and the way that photographers' images are connected to their clients. The new digital features in the imageLog, along with keywording and thumbnail submissions, make fotoBiz 2.0 a very powerful tool to help photographers manage their workflow and find their digital and film images.
FotoBiz is the missing link for all of the image storage issues photographers may have. FotoBiz is a program that thinks in terms of how photographers complete a job, from finding an image, to the delivery of that image to the client, and all of the necessary paperwork. FotoBiz completes these tasks for photographers in an easy and logical way.
"I spend a lot of time talking with the photographers who use my programs. Many of them are at the top of their profession and we carry on a fairly steady dialogue about how to solve the problems that they're facing," said developer and president of Cradoc Corporation, Cradoc Bagshaw. "Right now the biggest problem facing nearly all of the photographers I've spoken with is how to handle their digital images. Most are using some kind of a catalog program or image browser that has features they find useful. But in every case, these catalog programs leave the photographer hanging. There is no connection of the image to the client, to pricing and billing, to copyright filing issues, or to licensing or license tracking. The keywording help in these programs is elementary at best. These are critical issues to a working photographer, and to automate part of the solution and leave the rest of the process as manual labor isn't really a solution at all. I made sure that this fotoBiz update would fill in these gaps in the workflow for our customers."
Cradoc decided to stay out of the way of how photographers want to handle their images using other catalog programs. When they are ready to link their images to their clients via fotoBiz, photographers can import their image reference data into the fotoBiz imageLog. Upon import of the image data, a thumbnail is created that can be used for automated copyright or digital submissions. All of the embedded information in each image is transferred to the keyword field in fotoBiz. The photographer can then enhance the keywords using the new Keyword ComposerTM, the most sophisticated keywording tool available to the freelance photographer. "If you can't find an image, you can't license it", said Bagshaw.
Some New features in fotoBiz 2.0 include:
New Digital imageLog: The biggest changes to the fotoBiz 2.0 imageLog are the new digital features, the keywording section and thumbnail submissions. All very powerful tools to help photographers manage and find their digital and film images.
Image Keywording: FotoBiz automatically builds keywords for images using all existing data for the image: captions, descriptions, as well as any IPTC captions/descriptions and keywords that are already embedded in images. These keywords can be enhanced using the comprehensive Keyword ComposerTM.
Track License Expiration: Easily search for images with licenses set to expire within a certain time period. This can be a good source of revenue with little effort on the photographer's part.
Thumbnail Submission: Automatically create and log copyright submissions with pages of thumbnails. Quickly create thumbnail submissions and contact sheets to send to clients.
Paperwork: Delivery Memos, the new Job Description Builder and other greatly enhanced features for the assignment and stock photographer make this a very powerful update. Also, the photographer will find the new Calendar section useful for scheduling mass mailings and appointments.
"The fotoBiz imageLog literally tracks my entire workflow", said fotoBiz user, Dan Patitucci of PatitucciPhoto. "It reveals the truth of what I do and how efficient I am. The ability to monitor my stock productions is probably the most valuable tool for me in fotoBiz. At a glance I can see what shoots are making me money and which are not. I can also see what style of imagery is selling and to whom.
Tracking my image's license period is also helpful; as I can instantly view what has expired, or when in question, determine the sales history of a stock image. In short for the last 5 years fotoBiz has run my business, and now with 5 years of records and the new fotoBiz 2.0, I have a wealth of data to help me make educated decisions."
FotoBiz 2.0 has fotoQuote Pro 5 built-in and retails for $299.95. An upgrade price for registered users of either fotoBiz or fotoQuote is also available and Both fotoBiz and fotoQuote can now be ordered online, and downloaded instantly.
Founded in 1993, Cradoc Corporation has been working to solve problems photographers face in this continuously evolving industry. FotoBiz and fotoQuote are tools that help the small business photographer succeed in the big business world.
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