The ever increasing demand for instant and breaking news images and the huge improvement in the quality of phone and compact camera photographs has prompted
Alamy to begin accepting photographs for its Live News service from mobile (cell) phone cameras and compact cameras.
These images will be subject to the same quality rules Alamy requires for News, Sport and Entertainment images taken with a DSLR camera, but the blanket ban on certain camera types will be removed. Images from these cameras will not be included in the main Alamy collection.
Alamy’s head of news, James Hall, said: “When you think that the most popular smartphone cameras are now 8 megapixels it is obvious that good photographers using these devices will be able to capture and record breaking news and events with a quality that is acceptable to both on and offline news agencies.
“We have come a long way since the first camera phone was launched in 2000 and Alamy is keeping pace with this change. We want to allow our contributors to upload stunning News, Sport and Entertainment images to us using the camera they have ready at hand – whether it is a DSLR, a compact camera or a smartphone. This is a recognition of the quality news images that can now be taken by cameraphones and the like.”
News photographers can upload images to Alamy direct from their smartphone via FTP using existing apps.
Commenting on this change, James West, CEO of Alamy, said: “2012 was a year of transition for Alamy. We expanded our News Service, released Alamy iQ and updated our creative searches. In 2013 and the longer term, our plan is to grow the business by offering our customers a better, bigger and more appropriate service and our contributors maximum opportunities to sell their images.”
Alamy has not relaxed its quality control guidelines for News, Sport and Entertainment pictures. All images uploaded to the news feed will still have to meet
Alamy’s News Picture Guidelines.