The Cephas Picture Library
Photographers on the Web have a real dichotomy to contend with: photo-quality images take up massive bandwidth and therefore take an age to download, so most are compressed, which degrades the image; but the whole point of their site is to demonstrate the fine quality of their work. The solution found by Cephas is to compromise somewhere in the middle with reasonable quality, and acceptable speeds, though this site is pretty slow at standard modem rates.
The text content here is minimal, which is only to be expected of a site promoting the photographs of the Cephas Picture Library. Where it occurs, it consists of information about the business, copyright warnings and a gentle sales pitch. The photos do carry short captions.
On the home page are a half dozen or so colourful oval icons which are links to the site's main photo collections. Each photo collection has its own introduction and index page. Wine, for example has geographical categories for the photos, as well as links to other sections such as Grapes and Bottles and Glasses. There is also a button for Home. Within any one of the Categories pages there are buttons for Back and Home.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Wine & Vineyard Photos Cephas is basically the work of photographer Mick Rock. Next time you browse through Decanter or Wine magazine you will be astounded by the proportion of photos that are drawn from Cephas' bank of 100,000 wine images. That vast collection is represented by hundreds of sample images in this site. The Wine & Vineyard Photos index page has collections of French, European, United States and Southern Hemisphere images. Within each you will find a page of small thumbnails. Clicking on the thumbnail will reveal a large-scale version along with a short caption. The photographs themselves are of the highest quality and it is quite fascinating to browse through the collection for a while. Cephas' terms and conditions state that you may make use of these images free of charge, but only in certain strictly defined circumstances. Otherwise, fees must be paid. There are also collections under this heading of photographs of Grapes, Glassware and from Recent Trips.
Other Photos As well as wine and vineyards, there are collections for Food and Drink, Spirits and Beers and Travel.
Exclusive Prints If you fancy owning a high quality hand-printed original you may choose any image from the Web site, or from any book or magazine in which Cephas' work has appeared (and those are many!). Two sizes are available: 12x10in and 20x16in costing £75 and £165 per print respectively, including postage and packing.
OTHER FEATURES
A News section tells you about the latest commissions and awards for the company.
The text content here is minimal, which is only to be expected of a site promoting the photographs of the Cephas Picture Library. Where it occurs, it consists of information about the business, copyright warnings and a gentle sales pitch. The photos do carry short captions.
On the home page are a half dozen or so colourful oval icons which are links to the site's main photo collections. Each photo collection has its own introduction and index page. Wine, for example has geographical categories for the photos, as well as links to other sections such as Grapes and Bottles and Glasses. There is also a button for Home. Within any one of the Categories pages there are buttons for Back and Home.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Wine & Vineyard Photos Cephas is basically the work of photographer Mick Rock. Next time you browse through Decanter or Wine magazine you will be astounded by the proportion of photos that are drawn from Cephas' bank of 100,000 wine images. That vast collection is represented by hundreds of sample images in this site. The Wine & Vineyard Photos index page has collections of French, European, United States and Southern Hemisphere images. Within each you will find a page of small thumbnails. Clicking on the thumbnail will reveal a large-scale version along with a short caption. The photographs themselves are of the highest quality and it is quite fascinating to browse through the collection for a while. Cephas' terms and conditions state that you may make use of these images free of charge, but only in certain strictly defined circumstances. Otherwise, fees must be paid. There are also collections under this heading of photographs of Grapes, Glassware and from Recent Trips.
Other Photos As well as wine and vineyards, there are collections for Food and Drink, Spirits and Beers and Travel.
Exclusive Prints If you fancy owning a high quality hand-printed original you may choose any image from the Web site, or from any book or magazine in which Cephas' work has appeared (and those are many!). Two sizes are available: 12x10in and 20x16in costing £75 and £165 per print respectively, including postage and packing.
OTHER FEATURES
A News section tells you about the latest commissions and awards for the company.
COMMENTS
login to add a comment...A pretty basic site, but one that's of interest to both wine-lovers and photographers I'd imagine; or wine-loving photographers I'm certain! The images are very beautiful and informative. It is slightly frustrating to sit out the 20 seconds it can take for a larger image to appear, but then any further compromise on quality in the chase for speed would have made the whole exercise pointless.
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