Study reveals Snapshot of American Photo-taking Habits
HP Survey Shows Consumers Eager to Use PC Photography
Every weekend people around the world take more than 2,000 pictures every second. Yet, after glancing at them, most people store their photos away and forget them.
Most people, however, say they want to do more with their pictures and would, if there were a simple, inexpensive way to develop photos on their home PC. This fact and others were discovered in a recent survey commissioned by Hewlett-Packard Company.
The survey, conducted for HP by International Communications Research, an independent marketing research firm, examined American photography habits including how photos are stored, developed and displayed. In addition to their current photographic habits, respondents also were asked how they would use PC photography -- a breakthrough in consumer photo technology that transforms a personal computer into a photo lab. Those surveyed said they would use PC photography in the following ways:
- print only selected pictures rather than all photos taken (86 percent);
-enlarge or reduce pictures (83 percent);
- store photos in a computer so they will never be lost, torn or yellow with age (83 percent);
- make copies (81 percent);
- touch-up or change an image (78 percent);
- make creative projects, such as calendars, greeting cards, collages and newsletters (77 percent); and
- send photos to friends and family over the Internet (70 percent).
"It's clear from this survey that families are looking for new and innovative ways to enrich their photography experience," said Vyomesh Joshi general manager of HP's Home Imaging Division. "The proliferation of PCs in the home is providing people with a flexibility that didn't exist before. People can now choose which photos they want, print those in the convenience of their own home and control the look of those photographs by editing, cropping and enhancing them with photo-editing software."
A New Generation of Photography
Many innovations in printing and scanning technology have paved the way for PC photography. With traditional photography, control and creativity end when people take the photo and drop the film off at the processing lab. PC photography helps meet a family's desire to develop photos quickly and share copies with relatives and friends. It also provides creativity and control, allowing the picture-taker to store and enhance photos and to incorporate those images in calendars, newsletters, invitations and a variety of other creative projects.
"PC photography is changing the fabric of amateur photography," said Mike McNamara, technology editor of Popular Photography, the nation's leading consumer photography magazine. "New photographic innovations combined with PC technology are revolutionizing the way families will preserve their memories in the future."
A Profile of America's Photo Habits
Other research underscores HP's findings about the passion Americans have for taking and displaying photos. Research by the Photo Marketing Association (PMA), for example, shows that more than 80 percent of all U.S. households are active picture-takers. PMA's survey also found that women take more pictures than men, and they more frequently request double prints to give to family and friends. The PMA study also found that respondents do very little with photos aside from placing them in albums. HP's research agreed with this data, finding that at least 75 percent of the photos developed every year in the United States are left in the photo-processing envelope or are stored away in a box.
Hewlett-Packard Company
