“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.”

“But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?”

Darts

test blog

Another line

With the opening ceremonies less than 48 hours away, we’re ready to see what the world brings to the 2012 Olympics. We’re excited to see what storylines develop, who will break our hearts, and who will take home gold. And with the unprecedented access we’re getting to these games – through TV, internet, and social media, this year’s Olympics are certain to be some of the most memorable to date. And at Newscom, we’re ready to help share the story.

We realize that sometimes it can be hard to dig through more than 70 million graphics, images, videos, and text stories to find an image that works for you. While our search engine is sophisticated and robust, at Newscom we try to make things easier with something we call “SubjectSites”. The sites are dedicated to a specific subject and have only content related to that subject on the portal.

Newscom has recently launched their 2012 London Olympics Newscom site to give our customers and fans quick and easy access to all things related to the Olympics. From athletes to teams to the latest medal ceremony, we’ll have the easiest access to the photos you need to tell your story of the Olympics.

This Olympics site is pretty much exactly the same as the current Newscom we all know and love. You can search for your favorite athletes and events in the search bar, find what you need, and get on with your day – the only difference is that you’re searching just on content related to the Olympics. Or the home page has several preset searches to help you find what you need faster. Looking for the latest medal ceremony? We’ve got a link to the medal ceremonies right on the front page. How about all the photos related to Team USA? Front and center as well. Maybe you just need a picture of the Aquatics Center – kind of a different way to show where all the action is taking place. Or perhaps you just want to see the latest photo of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte during their epic battle for Olympic headlines. Again, we’ve got quick and easy access to many of the biggest stories coming out of London.

Here’s how the site works:

1. You can visit the site directly at: http://olympics2012.newscom.com/nc/olympicFrontPage.action. Or you can access the Olympics site from the top or bottom navigation menus on Newscom.com. We also have a link as part of the rotating images on the front page of Newscom, so you can’t miss the links to get there.
2. You can login with the same username and password you currently use on Newscom.
3. Bookmark the page so you can access it every day for the latest content related to these Summer Games.
4. Find your perfect photo either by doing a search in the search bar (you will only see Olympics-related content your publication is allowed to license), or by clicking on one of the “quick-access” links on the front page of the site that will take you to a pre-set search on that subject.
5. Download the perfect photo, then feel good about how easy it was to find it.

You can still find all of the same photos on Newscom, you won’t miss out on anything by not visiting the site. But as we’ve talked with customers about what would make their jobs easier, we think this Olympics site will help by narrowing down the search field.

We’ve also put together several photo collections from Newscom and blogged about them on FocalPoint, the official blog for Newscom. So you can also visit that channel to see more of what Newscom has to offer.

Please tell us if there is something more we can do to make finding the right photo even easier. OR you could tell us what kinds of photos you look for most regularly and you’d like to have easier and more direct access to that kind of content. We’ll listen.

With the opening ceremonies less than 48 hours away, we’re ready to see what the world brings to the 2012 Olympics. We’re excited to see what storylines develop, who will break our hearts, and who will take home gold. And with the unprecedented access we’re getting to these games – through TV, internet, and social media, this year’s Olympics are certain to be some of the most memorable to date. And at Newscom, we’re ready to help share the story.

We realize that sometimes it can be hard to dig through more than 70 million graphics, images, videos, and text stories to find an image that works for you. While our search engine is sophisticated and robust, at Newscom we try to make things easier with something we call “SubjectSites”. The sites are dedicated to a specific subject and have only content related to that subject on the portal.

Newscom has recently launched their 2012 London Olympics Newscom site to give our customers and fans quick and easy access to all things related to the Olympics. From athletes to teams to the latest medal ceremony, we’ll have the easiest access to the photos you need to tell your story of the Olympics.

This Olympics site is pretty much exactly the same as the current Newscom we all know and love. You can search for your favorite athletes and events in the search bar, find what you need, and get on with your day – the only difference is that you’re searching just on content related to the Olympics. Or the home page has several preset searches to help you find what you need faster. Looking for the latest medal ceremony? We’ve got a link to the medal ceremonies right on the front page. How about all the photos related to Team USA? Front and center as well. Maybe you just need a picture of the Aquatics Center – kind of a different way to show where all the action is taking place. Or perhaps you just want to see the latest photo of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte during their epic battle for Olympic headlines. Again, we’ve got quick and easy access to many of the biggest stories coming out of London.

Here’s how the site works:

1. You can visit the site directly at: http://olympics2012.newscom.com/nc/olympicFrontPage.action. Or you can access the Olympics site from the top or bottom navigation menus on Newscom.com. We also have a link as part of the rotating images on the front page of Newscom, so you can’t miss the links to get there.
2. You can login with the same username and password you currently use on Newscom.
3. Bookmark the page so you can access it every day for the latest content related to these Summer Games.
4. Find your perfect photo either by doing a search in the search bar (you will only see Olympics-related content your publication is allowed to license), or by clicking on one of the “quick-access” links on the front page of the site that will take you to a pre-set search on that subject.
5. Download the perfect photo, then feel good about how easy it was to find it.

You can still find all of the same photos on Newscom, you won’t miss out on anything by not visiting the site. But as we’ve talked with customers about what would make their jobs easier, we think this Olympics site will help by narrowing down the search field.

We’ve also put together several photo collections from Newscom and blogged about them on FocalPoint, the official blog for Newscom. So you can also visit that channel to see more of what Newscom has to offer.

Please tell us if there is something more we can do to make finding the right photo even easier. OR you could tell us what kinds of photos you look for most regularly and you’d like to have easier and more direct access to that kind of content. We’ll listen.

McDonalds published a video last month about how they prepare a hamburger for a media shoot, and it got us thinking about all the work that goes into a product shoot – especially food modelling.

At Mainstream Data, we don’t do any sort of product shoots (how many lights does it really take to make a screenshot look good?) but we do work with a lot of companies who do, whether it’s a shoe or a piece of food or they’re marketing a burger for someone else. Because so many of our clients get involved in this field, we thought we would too.

The McDonald’s video was interesting, but we wanted to dig a little bit deeper into the field, so we interviewed Kim Krejca, an expert in the field of food styling, and came to better understand the huge amounts of time and money that goes into creating content for just one item.

Krejca is a food stylist that has been working in advertising for more than 25 years. Food styling is an industry where professional stylists will either create imitation food or manipulate real food to look its best for a camera shoot. The piece of food is often called the “hero” or “star” and an entire team is dedicated to making it look its best.

The typical tools used for a photo shoot depends on the type of food being styled. Krejca explains, “What is almost always on set are dental tools, tweezers, paint brushes, cosmetic wedges, q-tips, tacky wax, wooden skewers, rubbing alcohol, oil, and zap-a-gap adhesive.”

One prep day is usually needed for every set day; during this prep day, the stylist is cooking anything that will hold, and the photographer is adjusting the lighting and set. Krejca says, “At that point the client, photographer, and myself discuss changes to the food styling, then I make the hero. Typically 5 to 7 shots can be done in a day.”

Krejca say there are many tricks that have been passed through the industry to enhance color or skirt around the negatives of some foods. For example,

• a pineapple will be soaked in water with yellow food coloring until the desired color is achieved.
• Sesame seeds will be glued onto buns to make them appear more appetizing.
• Red lipstick will cover green parts on a strawberry.
• Grill marks are carefully made one by one with a skewer, then waxy eye brow pencil will be used to darken the marks.
• Kitchen bouquet (a seasoning sauce) will darken meats or make fake coffee and tea.
  “I always use fake coffee,” Krejca says. “Real coffee has an oily film I can’t control.”
• Glue will be replaced for milk in cereal commercials.
• To make ice cream, often Crisco is mixed with powdered sugar, and then WD- 40 adds some highlights. When a client wants real ice cream, the stylists will use dry ice to maintain the temperature until ready for pictures, and will also blow through straws (check out 5:40) to get the exact perfect melting in target areas. 

Then of course, Photoshop takes over to enhance color, correct blemishes, create a setting, and so forth, says Krejca.

With all the work that goes one to get just 5 to 7 photos, we understand how frustrating it can be when you look over a product and find out a couple different groups ordered more than one product shoot. During an audit of a new product, one Fortune 50 company realized that between all the different groups in their company, they’d ordered more than 30 photo shoots for this single product. You probably don’t need to work on replacing parts of a shoe or soda can with glue or adding grill marks, but we imagine there is still a lot of work that goes into each shoot – and that’s a lot of time wasted when people don’t know if they already have usable product photos.  

Mainstream Data has a simple solution to this problem. Put all your brand assets on one platform, give everyone access to the content they need to see, then you avoid all the confusion. This means there won’t be another 30 product shoots and that means you’re saving money and time. 

Contact us today to set up a demonstration to see how Mainstream Data can help you manage, publish, and measure your digital brand assets.

McDonalds published a video last month about how they prepare a hamburger for a media shoot, and it got us thinking about all the work that goes into a product shoot – especially food modelling.

At Mainstream Data, we don’t do any sort of product shoots (how many lights does it really take to make a screenshot look good?) but we do work with a lot of companies who do, whether it’s a shoe or a piece of food or they’re marketing a burger for someone else. Because so many of our clients get involved in this field, we thought we would too.

The McDonald’s video was interesting, but we wanted to dig a little bit deeper into the field, so we interviewed Kim Krejca, an expert in the field of food styling, and came to better understand the huge amounts of time and money that goes into creating content for just one item.

Krejca is a food stylist that has been working in advertising for more than 25 years. Food styling is an industry where professional stylists will either create imitation food or manipulate real food to look its best for a camera shoot. The piece of food is often called the “hero” or “star” and an entire team is dedicated to making it look its best.

The typical tools used for a photo shoot depends on the type of food being styled. Krejca explains, “What is almost always on set are dental tools, tweezers, paint brushes, cosmetic wedges, q-tips, tacky wax, wooden skewers, rubbing alcohol, oil, and zap-a-gap adhesive.”

One prep day is usually needed for every set day; during this prep day, the stylist is cooking anything that will hold, and the photographer is adjusting the lighting and set. Krejca says, “At that point the client, photographer, and myself discuss changes to the food styling, then I make the hero. Typically 5 to 7 shots can be done in a day.”

Krejca say there are many tricks that have been passed through the industry to enhance color or skirt around the negatives of some foods. For example,

• a pineapple will be soaked in water with yellow food coloring until the desired color is achieved.
• Sesame seeds will be glued onto buns to make them appear more appetizing.
• Red lipstick will cover green parts on a strawberry.
• Grill marks are carefully made one by one with a skewer, then waxy eye brow pencil will be used to darken the marks.
• Kitchen bouquet (a seasoning sauce) will darken meats or make fake coffee and tea.
  “I always use fake coffee,” Krejca says. “Real coffee has an oily film I can’t control.”
• Glue will be replaced for milk in cereal commercials.
• To make ice cream, often Crisco is mixed with powdered sugar, and then WD- 40 adds some highlights. When a client wants real ice cream, the stylists will use dry ice to maintain the temperature until ready for pictures, and will also blow through straws (check out 5:40) to get the exact perfect melting in target areas. 

Then of course, Photoshop takes over to enhance color, correct blemishes, create a setting, and so forth, says Krejca.

With all the work that goes one to get just 5 to 7 photos, we understand how frustrating it can be when you look over a product and find out a couple different groups ordered more than one product shoot. During an audit of a new product, one Fortune 50 company realized that between all the different groups in their company, they’d ordered more than 30 photo shoots for this single product. You probably don’t need to work on replacing parts of a shoe or soda can with glue or adding grill marks, but we imagine there is still a lot of work that goes into each shoot – and that’s a lot of time wasted when people don’t know if they already have usable product photos.  

Mainstream Data has a simple solution to this problem. Put all your brand assets on one platform, give everyone access to the content they need to see, then you avoid all the confusion. This means there won’t be another 30 product shoots and that means you’re saving money and time. 

Contact us today to set up a demonstration to see how Mainstream Data can help you manage, publish, and measure your digital brand assets.