Customer Reviews

Photo-Objects 50,000 Premium Image Collection

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've found this collection pretty useful. I've used it as a resource for several websites and printed promotional materials. I can't say that it covers every subject or covers the subjects it includes very comprehensively, but there is alot here for everyone at some point. The content is a little lopsided in ways: you'd expect more of something in one subject while having far too many uselessly similar images in another. But if you have a little extra money to burn and need a library of common everyday objects and shots of people in different contexts, this is probably the best bet. Definite pros are the image browser that lets you peruse the entire achive using a dynamic keyword index that filters the content while you type using a list of associated keywords for each image. You don't need to have a CD inserted since it puts the entire library condensed into thumbnails on your harddrive. Nice feature! You can then plainly see from the list which CD you need to insert (there are 8 of them). From there you can pull the image up, choose the size/resolution, mirror it, squeeze it, skew it, select the graphics format, optimize it for whatever application (word, powerpoint, website,... whatever), then choose any background color you can imagine (a feature missing from most clipart archives), then click 'save' or 'save as' and you are done. The software also comes with a full-color dead-tree edition showing all the images in the archive in case you are the kind of person that can browse printed material easier.

The collection is good, probably better than anything else out there right now, and considering the limits that I sense with it, I wouldn't even consider buying one of Hemera's smaller collections.

The photos in this collection are as good as any from the other major players like PhotoDisk and Eye Wire ... and they typically charge hundreds for a disk with 100 photo objects.

In addition to the great variety of objects, they are all set with a clear (alpha) background which makes them very easy to work with. Photos can be saved as jpg, gif, tiffs and more.

The interface is the best yet. If you allow for a full install (149 megs) you will be able to search by keyword and view thumbnails on your pc without every needing to look at the full color book of images that comes with the software. Each image uses many keywords so your search results in lots of choices.

The software also will allow you to create titles that combine any graphic and any font. For example, you could combine the words July 4th with images of American flags ... or spell water using an image of the ocean.

I buy lots of software (too much) and this was an absolute delight. It may be the only image collection you'll ever need. An OUTSTANDING VALUE. It deserves more than 5 stars.

If you are looking for the highest quality clip art images in bitmat format you will not have to look any further. I have purchased the collection of 25,000 images several months ago and have found them invaluable. The ease of converting them to floating objects in Photoshop or Photo-Paint is as easy as loading the mask channel that is part of each file.

With this software package you get loads of images, 50,000 to be exact. Unfortunatly most of them are poorly composed so they're really boring. Because of this I would not recommend this package for professional designers. Also, despite the ability to export images in many different formats and resolutions, none of them are suitable for print. Even at the highest resolutions, images will be pixilated when printed. One positive for this product is the search engine and image viewer. When entering a search word, it updates the appropriate matches as you go. This saves time and makes it very easy to see what's available. Here's the bottom line, get this product if your interested in web design or you just want images for comping. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

If there is a single image collection you should consider buying, this is it. Frustrated by juvenile graphics found in most clip art? Then look no further. I have used this on a number of websites and in presentations and to date have always found an image that matched what I had in mind. Another strong quality in this is its ease of use. Even if you are not a professional graphic artist or computer maven, you will find the interface user friendly and a snap to transfer the image to your program of choice. Really one of the best collections out there for the money.

First off, all the images look really nice. They're very colorful and sharp enough for website use. A wide range of topics (keywords) are covered. Exporting the images is simple and flexible (sizing, image formats, transparent backgrounds).

And now for the peeves. As with TV, you have a whole lot of channels, but there's nothing good to watch. Perhaps I don't have enough imagination or my circumstances have not been right just yet, but I have yet to find a use for these images. I'm into my second web project and none of these photos "fit". Yeah, some are close, but ...

For example, I was in need of a specific household device to use in my project. Photo Objects had about 2 dozen+ images of this type of device, but they're all old and beat up looking. Perhaps if I was after a nostalgic look they would be perfect, but I want new and current.

Another example, I needed some people images to attract the eyes of my site visitors. Well, to put it simply, don't expect to see any supermodels. In fact, a couple of the models I would rank as just plain ugly (again, this is purely subjective). If you need average looking, every day type people, you've got them here. It has decent ethnic representation from what I've glanced through.

So, if you have modest needs or want to quickly accumulate a portfolio of images to have on hand, Photo Objects can be seriously considered with its pretty reasonable price.

Keep in mind that my peeves were based on my situations and yours will differ. I have only given a critical eye to the topic images relavant to my projects which, of course, is just a small percentage of the whole product.

I bought this for use in making websites, which I do for a living. The ease of use is great. I found the search feature quite productive and found tons of images covering many categories.

However, I must complain about what another reviewer here mentioned. The photos are high quality resolution wise and being able to customize the background is an excellent feature. But, the actual objects in the photos were less than satisfying. The objects were old and outdated. The items, as another reviewed mentioned, indeed looked old. And yes, the majority of the human models were far less than attractive.

I am largely unable to use most of what is on these CD's to design professional commercial websites. Because I wasn't able to use it for what it is largely intended for, I rated this two stars. However, please note that there are good points, it is just the subjects of the pictures are not one of them.

I purchase this item, because I do an internal newsletter for my company. I needed images (preferably photos) as fillers and to add a little punch.

I'm not sure what the difference is between this product and Hemera 50,000 Photo Objects Volume I, because the package looked the same. Marketing ploy?

Anyhow, you can find almost everything you want. There are several pictures of the same object taken at different angles or the same person taken with different poses or expressions. In otherwords, variety suffers a little. Many of the images were a bit antiquated and some pictures were just (for lack of a better term) downright stupid. For example, there is a man dressed in Colonial-era attire typing on a computer.

True, the models are not very attractive or hip looking, but the people in the "business" category are realistic. (My personal favorite is the belly dancers who have a whole lot of belly and not much dancing.)

The quality for websites is good; for my electronically mailed newsletter, it was excellent. I even printed it out and the quality was very good. I didn't notice any pixilation.

If you are a pro in the big time, this isn't for you (but then you could probably afford your own pics). If you need images for small to medium business use or personal use, this is a good product. If you need images for social club or school publications, this would also be a good product for you.

I've used these CDs a LOT - and I mean A LOT. They import easily into things like PowerPoint presentations and web pages, and handle transparency well. There's also a wide range of topics that are easy to search.

However...

Many of the photos are variations on the same thing, just from different angles or in different poses. This is also a very Euro-centric collection. Many objects (e.g., cars, buildings, military, Christmas) are European with no American counterpart.

Overall, it was good enough that I enthusiastically bought Volume 2, but limited enough that I returned Volume 2 and kept only Volume 1.

The Hemera "Photo Clip Art 150,000" contains almost all the images in this collection, but this is nearly 4x the price for 1/3 the images. What is the difference? The images here have about a 20% higher resolution and transparency masks (i.e. Photo Clip Art forces you to have a colored background, but you can have no background with photo objects).

Neither is really suitable for print unless you don't want to print any of the photos beyond 2 inches high/wide. If you're designing for the web, you're usually going to throw a background in behind photos anyway, or if you need the transparency, you can easily select some obscure color for the background and "magic wand" it out in 30 seconds.

So, if you bought the whole photo objects collection, you'd spend nearly ten times as much to get mostly the same photos (i.e. Photo Clip Art has 26 photos of an Asian woman as a nurse while Photo Objects has the same 26 photos plus 3 more) a little larger and with transparency.

If you're a professional designer who would use this extensively, the extra cost might be worth it. But if you're dabbling in web design, get the "Photo Clip Art 150,000" instead and save yourself a LOT of money.