Nearly 80 percent of profession-al photographers own digital SLR cameras, according to a recent InfoTrends/CAP Ventures survey. At least 52 percent of those surveyed said that they plan to purchase a new digital SLR within a year.

Photographers also are taking a large number of shots...

The Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS) Coalition has published the Universal Picture Licensing Glossary, a free resource providing industry-standard definitions for more than 1,300 terms used in transactions involving photography and illustration. The glossary is the first component of PLUS, industry standards created and approved by a worldwide coalition of art buyers, photographers, illustrators, publishers, graphic designers...

Sotheby's Institute of Art-London is offering a master's program in historic and contemporary photography, starting in September 2006. The MA in Photography, Historic and Contemporary, is intended to reflect the shift in the way that photography is received and understood. Master's candidates will acquire the skills needed to appreciate and analyze photography in terms of intention, production, encounter and interpretation, better preparing them for careers in art with specializations in the photographic medium.

The course will look at photography's role...

Because the advent of digital photographic technology is rapidly changing the image marketplace, a working group representing digital imaging professionals and allied trade groups and manufacturers has drafted the Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines (UPDIG).

Gaps in creative and quality control have led to confusion, inequities, loss of quality and unnecessary expense, according to the working group. In addition, the lack of transparencies or reference prints has left a void...

The U.S. Copyright Office has issued new interim regulations regarding the registration of unpublished works being prepared for commercial distribution in media that the Register of Copyrights determines have had a history of pre-release infringement. The office also sought comments on whether use of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser would create difficulties in the preregistration process.

The preregistration process was outlined in the Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005, and was intended to give artists protection against pre-release infringement of their work prior to authorized commercial distribution. Originally, the regulations required...

Bad timing and remote locations, rather than media sloppiness, were the main factors that contributed to initially erroneous press reports about the Sago, W.Va., mine disaster that killed 12, according to Todd Maisel, a staff photographer for the New York Daily News.

Hundreds of journalists from around the country traveled to Sago to document the rescue attempts, and photographs of the waiting families dominated almost every front page. On the NPPA website, Maisel, who also is Region 2 associate director for the National Press Photographers Association, described his experience...

In what owner Roy Robinson calls a refocusing of the company's business lines, ProLab is closing its consumer-oriented Retail, ProZone and Portrait divisions to focus exclusively on commercial, large-format point-of-sale graphics. The retail photo-processing industry has declined substantially because amateur photographers now print at home or get prints from Wal-Mart or Costco, noted Robinson, in explaining the decision.

The company's commercial division, ProLab West, provides image manipulation, prepress, printing, kitting and distributing of large-format digital images to clients such as Restoration Hardware, Smith & Hawken, Tommy Bahama, Costco, Hannah Andersson and Storables.

Although the commercial division will remain at ProLab's headquarters in Seattle, the ProZone, consumer retail and portrait sales counters at that location have been closed. Approximately 25 employees...

ShootSmarter University in Aurora, Ill., recently finished construction of its new facility. The 6,200-square-foot building includes six shooting bays fitted with up-to-date equipment. The facility has been designed to provide natural lighting conditions as well as artificial ones. Studios have a choice of Mac or PC rolling workstations and Monaco calibrated monitors and printers. The file processing room contains five computer stations complete with printers and a 5,000-dpi scanner.

ShootSmarter offers four-day courses that feature hands-on training. Current offerings include Image Control, Color Management, Monitor Calibration, Creativity, Business Strategy and Effective Workflow.