*This article is a re-post from Arthur Bright of the Dispatch Times. Original Article Link here: https://www.dispatchtimes.com/live-portrait-technology-gives-photographers-a-lifeline-in-the-battle-to-save-print/153399/
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Back in 2012, Gary Peterson, the chief executive of San Diego-based independent research analysts Gap Intelligence predicted that the future of monetized prints will come down to a kid in the garage type open source third party app developer. Gary must have known Los Angeles based 20 something year old entrepreneurs Robert Nunn & Samuel Zaribian when he made that statement. They are the co-founders of a start-up called Live Portrait which is a platform and app created for professional photographers to make their printed photos interactive. They have partnered with industry giants such as Panasonic as well as the top volume photo print lab companies in America in both the school and portrait photography market, (Bay Photo & Advanced Photographic Solutions among others). They are also endorsed by the Photo Marketing Association International (PMAI) and received the 2015 out of the Box Innovators Award.
So, what exactly is a ‘Live Portrait’? It’s essentially what a photograph would be if photos were invented in 2015. Photos have always been the static representation of a moment while videos are the moment, fully immersive with audio and motion.
The Live Portrait app is something in between. They’re the normal photos you hire a professional photographer to take and print, but they come alive with an embedded video clip when you feel like remembering the moment. In today’s smartphone ‘do it yourself’ era, this tech makes buying printed photos and sharing them much more likely. My son’s Little League photographer used Live Portrait and it is the only reason I bought the wallet print package, if you ‘scan’ my son’s baseball picture with the free app a video clip plays of him swinging the bat and saying his team name and position (his grandparents loved it!). In today’s digital world, if you are paying for prints it’s a no brainer that a customer would either pay a little more or be swayed to buy more prints if their prints come to life Harry Potter style.
There’s nothing inherently revolutionary about the Live Portrait app from a technology standpoint. The app uses Augmented Reality and Image Recognition in its simplest form. These videos “come to life” only when you hold your smartphone up to the print using the app (and after the Harry Potter Smoke effect dissipates. Seriously). The appeal of Live Portrait is its simplicity: it does nothing but scan photos, there is no user signup or account creation. The app can realistically become the photography industry standard ‘QR code’ style scanner for printed photos because the app interface doesn’t overwhelm you with information. In fact, you never “manage” the video itself: if you want to see the video you need more than the app, you need the hard copy print. Personally, I deleted the app after scanning my son’s photo and showing my family and friends, but it doesn’t matter because the video is there whenever I decide to remember the moment, just like the photo.
Quite frankly, professional photographers need this. BILLION dollar companies including Apple & Facebook believe that the new ‘normal’ is that photos should move, and professional photographers are NOT in their business model, consumers are. If you don’t embrace this concept you will be competing against it. If you are looking for market validation take a look around. Apple has made it standard for their photos to move ‘With Live Photos, you can turn those instants into unforgettable living memories.’ Instagram is expanding its range of apps by introducing a new video-looping service to rival the likes of HTC Zoe and the iPhone’s Live Photos. Boomerang takes a quick burst of photos in-app, and then turns them in to a moving photo, or video, that loops forward and backward. Don’t call it a GIF though, it’s a ‘Boomerang’ Facebook also recently announced that you can have a moving profile photo. You can bring those moments to life anytime simply by pressing anywhere on the photo.
It may be considered gimmicky by some but nostalgia sells. I wish I could open a photo album of my own old school pictures or wedding album and remember the moment with video clips. I wish all those smiles in the framed photos in my house moved. Live Portrait technology demonstrates that emotion is really at the heart of a consumer’s treasured photos and in my opinion, is here to stay because it provides an easy to use, advanced digital workflow for connecting video and audio content.
