Version 19.04.00. Whaaattt? That's a big jump from the previous version 3.5.0!

The previous version naming system worked best for software that had a major release once a year. Development of Imaculum is on-going in a granular way, so the new version name system works better for iteratively updated software. This version (19.04.00) has been released in April 2019:

19 = 2019
04 = April
00 = First release of the month (01 at the end would mean an update to that month's release, 02 a second update, etc.)

Imaculum adds personalised watermark overlay and premium pricing features

We’re thrilled today to announce significant new updates to Imaculum. Following much appreciated feedback from users, we’ve added personalised watermark overlay and premium pricing features to better enable event photographers to offer bespoke branding to imagery and increase revenues.

Personalised Watermark Overlay

For many event photographers, theft of images from their Viewing Screens by customer smartphone cameras is a serious problem. A branded watermark over the images displayed in the Viewing Station strongly helps deter people from stealing your work.

Users can create a bespoke or branded watermark in Photoshop and upload it to the system to automatically overlay over all images shown in the Viewing Station.

Premium Pricing

Event photography covers a wide variety of sectors, audiences and needs; and photographers need to be able to capitalise on that.

For example, a photographer at a black tie event might want to offer a variety of products at different price points to capture different levels of enthusiasm from customers. Using Imaculum's Premium Pricing feature, arrival photos taken as people enter the event venue can now have a regular price associated with them and portraits taken at your studio set-up have a premium price associated with them.

Our new Premium Pricing function allows a photographer to quickly and easily assign different prices to products; with the Viewing Station automatically displaying the correct price to your customers.

Your premium products can now generate you additional revenue from your images.

What else is new?

Experienced users of Imaculum may notice a number of little tweaks and refinements. We've re-worded several of the on-screen messages to make them easier for your customers to read, we've improved support for additional currency symbols, and on-going work to improve the overall performance and stability of the platform.

Existing users can download and update to this latest version of Imaculum by logging in to your account.

And for those of you who aren't already using Imaculum, you can sign up for a free trial here.




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What's in a name?

Once in a while I'm asked about the origins of the name 'Imaculum'.

Having heard that 'Kodak' was a word constructed by George Eastman, I decided to research its origins in a little more depth.

George Eastman liked the letter 'K' - he felt "it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter". Eastman then spent time creating words that started and ended with 'K'.

I've also heard that he wanted the word to be unique around the world, cannot be mispronounced, and could not be associated with anything other than the Kodak brand.

Using Eastman's naming process for inspiration, I set to work to create a name for the software I'd recently devised in my mind.

Imaculum has four core principles:

1. Ease of use for the photographer - no tech knowledge required.
2. Ease of use for the customer - no prior use of the software should be required to know how to use it.
3. Convenience for the photographer - automate as much of the image workflow as possible.
4. Convenience for the customer - enable them to find, view and purchase their images as quickly and easily as possible.

The forth principle meant that the idea of using face recognition processing to match a person's face with a face found in a photograph was built into Imaculum from the outset. This process can find photos which contain the customer's face from within a gallery of thousands of images in a matter of seconds. Other search mechanisms within the software are also available to help a customer find their images, but currently face matching remains unique to Imaculum.

So it was from this unique feature that a seed of an idea for the name was borne. Considering that I don't have a favourite letter, I needed a different reference point to progress with! My father had often attempted to translate latin mottos found on the coats of arms often seen in English National Trust homes, and this memory had stuck with me over the years.

Imaculum uses a camera to look at the customer and then in real time it matches their face with a face in a photo so, in relative terms, a customer would ultimately be looking at a mirror image of themselves.

The latin for image is: imago
The latin for mirror is: speculum

I think I drew up a list of about 15-20 variations of new word using these two latin words. Unfortunately I've lost the original list, but the variation 'Imaculum' stuck.

I feel it is hard to mispronounce (although I've seen it mis-spelt a few times as Immaculum), and time has shown it to be memorable.

Kodak went on to become a global brand by making photography accessible to a much wider range of people. Henwig's aim is that Imaculum makes event photography accessible to a much wider range of photographers.