Earlier today, Sony announced the release of a new app for iOS (other platforms in development), called “Visual Story” that offers cloud-based collaborations for wedding & event photographers. The new tool reportedly allows photographers to automatically upload their images directly from their cameras (via the wifi/Bluetooth connection of a smart device like the iPhone), where they can be selected, rated, edited, and delivered in finished galleries for the client.
This app should allow for multiple devices to be connected and used on a shoot letting you separate and sort by each camera/device making it easy for teams to collaborate on-site! This alone should make “same-day” edits a much easier task if it’s a service you already offer or were considering. I’d imagine though that this would also cause quite a drain on both the camera and smartphone batteries, so I’d advise you to bring backups and external battery packs for everything just to be safe.
The big kicker here is the application also offers “AI-Based sorting”,(across multiple devices), which will organize your (team’s), images based on activity (ie dance, cake/food, ceremony, etc), and will even identify and flag images where your subject’s eyes are closed, effectively reducing your time spent culling and editing.
Basically, if you’re a part of a wedding/event photo team, if this works as described, it could be an incredible asset for your workflow! I know event work is a bit rare to find these days, but it’s still exciting to think that once we’re back at it, this app can make our workload even faster/easier to get back into the swing. I know I’ll be downloading to test this out myself to see how it works. Let me know if you do in the comments below. we’d love to hear what you think
[Related Reading: Sony Has Officially Entered The Drone Market]
Read the full press release below;
Today, Sony Electronics announced “Visual Story” – a new application for wedding and event photographers that simplifies gallery creation, cloud storage, and web delivery. Unique to Sony camera users and available for iOS, Visual Story offers professionals a solution to expand their business and increase overall client satisfaction by allowing them to immediately share their gallery with their friends and family via social media.
“The voice of our customer is at the center of everything we do,” said Neal Manowitz, deputy president of Sony Imaging Products and Solutions Americas. “Today’s professional photographers constantly challenge themselves to deliver higher quality content faster than ever to their clients. Visual Story allows them to streamline their workflow, ultimately giving them the ability to edit, select and send photo galleries to their clients on the day of the ceremony or event. Sony continues developing innovative hardware and software solutions empowering content creators to capture, communicate and share in ways never before possible.”
A Professional Workflow Simplified
With Visual Story, photographers can now deliver a fully edited and curated photo gallery instantly, on-site and on the day of the big event – eliminating days of work previously spent organizing and editing assets. This is made possible by the connection of the app to a compatible Sony camera. While the photographer is shooting, all images are automatically transferred from the camera to a connected smartphone or tablet, as well as Sony’s cloud service[iii]. Images are then automatically organized using Artificial Intelligence (AI), and can be sorted based on metadata, star ratings, shooting timeframe, focus position, and more.
AI will also sort based on different types of images from the event, including cake and ring ceremony, speeches, first dances, and others, automatically detecting if a subject’s eyes are closed in an image. Additionally, when reviewing images shot with more than one camera, the photographer can also filter images by camera for added sorting options.
Effortless Edits
Using Visual Story’s auto preset application, wedding photographers can automatically apply edit presets that they have created or fixed presets – significantly reducing time spent editing images. By simply registering an edit preset prior to shooting, users can apply that preset to all images saving time and effort all while maintaining a consistent look throughout the entire shoot. The application is also equipped with a variety of editing functions, from basic corrections such as exposure, white balance and contrast, to more advanced corrections such as hue, saturation, and luminance.
Sharing Made Simple
Using cloud collaboration, images can be synchronized on multiple mobile devices for easy viewing. Visual Story also allows wedding photographers to automatically create an online gallery for their clients, which can be delivered instantly on site. This can be offered to their client as an additional service, or complimentary and included in their wedding or event package.
Ratings and selections made while creating a photo gallery can be downloaded as an XMP file, then transferred to another application on a PC to simplify the final delivery process. As a bonus, photographers can also embed a logo, their social media information and more, directly on the images within the photo gallery – making it easier than ever to brand and market their business, especially when their clients share the images on various social media platforms.
Visual story is perfect for a variety of events from weddings to parties and corporate events to family photos and more. It is ideal for any situation where many photos are taken that need to be delivered instantly. Visual Story will continue to evolve in these various applications, reflecting our customers’ needs.
[Related Reading: Is Sony Gaining Ground In the Camera Industry In 2020? What About Canon & Nikon?]
Compatibility and Availability
Visual Story is available now for iOS in the Apple App Store for free and is compatible with select Sony cameras including Alpha 7C, Alpha 7R IV, Alpha 7S III, Alpha 9, Alpha 9 II. Alpha 7 III will be supported in a future firmware update planned for Spring 2021.
Sony’s new Visual Story is available to download for free HERE, and development on additional platforms is under discussion.
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