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Introduction
 Hemera
releasing a new volume of their Photo-Objects range is
probably something I love to hear about, for no one can
ever have too many Photo-Objects. I have 100,000 Photo-Objects
as part of Hemera's earlier two volumes of Photo-Objects
and yet I am as excited as someone who bought their first
clipart collection when Hemera sent me a copy of Volume
III - that perhaps speaks more than anything else about
my expectations from the product. Can Hemera cope with
that sort of expectation - come let's find out....
Before I start, I'll like to thank Kim Dixon, Vice President
(Marketing) (now CEO) of Hemera who was my liason for this
review.
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First Impressions
The box looks similar to the earlier two boxes, so you
can keep all three lined together and they look good. Let's
now get to more serious issues.
The box contains 7 CDs - the earlier collections had 8
so probably Hemera developed a better compression algorithm
to store 50,000 Photo-Objects in less space. More surprisingly,
there's no printed Image Catalog in the box. That's probably
no huge loss because most of search for Photo-Objects using
keywords rather than flip pages of the Image Catalog. Alas,
it used to make a great coffee table book though - and
sometimes it was genuinely useful.
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Installation
Installation is easy and straightforward - for the first
time, a Photo-Objects setup routine does not ask you to
provide a serial number, although Hemera do provide a unique
serial number in each box.
Hemera uses their new GraphicsDesk based clipart browser
for this new volume of Photo-Objects. When I launched the
browser for the first time, I found that the product was
intelligent enough to include my earlier Hemera collections
including The Big Box of Art within the 'Collections' pane
- this allows me to search over 700,000 pieces of clip
media with a keyword.
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Concept And Beyond
I won't go into what a Photo-Object is, how the concept
involved or how one can use them since that's already covered
elsewhere on this site. Look here:
Photo-Objects Volume I and II
Review
Using Photo-Objects
in PowerPoint
GraphicsDesk
Since we are not examining the basics, let's look at another
perspective of the same subject. For instance, we'll discover
how Hemera actually creates new Photo-Objects.
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The Making of a Photo-Object
Not surprisingly, the making of a Photo-Object starts
with a photograph of the object. Much before the actual
photograph is clicked, Hemera's production researchers
track subjects for new prospective Photo-Objects depending
upon the market requirements for content in a paticular
area.
Each Photo-Object is created in-house by Hemera to ensure
their royalty-free status. Hemera's own photographers click
pictures in various locations worldwide to supply photos
for new Photo-Objects. As I write this, Kim informed me
that their photographers were clicking subjects in California
and Italy.
Once the photos are taken, Hemera's own imaging specialists
optimize them as needed, ensuring that issues such as color
balance are consistent throughout the entire collection.
Pre-editing studios then remove backgrounds through the
use of clipping paths to achieve transparent backdrops.
The entire process is digital, emphasizing a shift in
the nature of photography away from traditional film-based
photographs.
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New in Volume III
Hemera have used their new GraphicsDesk browser and search
engine in this new volume of Photo-Objects. The browser
integrates with all other Hemera clip media collections
already installed on your system. You can also create your
own custom collection to the GraphicsDesk interface and
insert your own clips to the collection. Such clips can
be stored in custom categories and assigned keywords.
Beyond the new browser, Volume III comes with 50,000 Photo-Objects
encompassing subjects (or themes) that were requested by
end-users. Some of the themes you'll find in this new collection
include art, business accessories, cameras, cinema, dance,
desserts, food, games, hats, home, love, money, pets, signs,
tools, toys and much more.
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Conclusion
If you need to use visual content of any kind on a brochure,
a web page, a presentation - or anywhere else, you'll just
love this new collection of Photo-Objects. If this is your
first or third collection of the series, you just cannot
go wrong.
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