Adobe Beefs Up Stock Photo Library, Tips PowerPoint Plugin

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Adobe got into the stock photo and video arena two years ago when it acquired Fotolio, and today it announced new partnerships that will bolster its Adobe Stock collection: news images from Reuters; sports photos from USA Today; 400,000 images from Stocksy; and a Microsoft PowerPoint plug-in.

Adobe Stock has increased its collection from 40 million to over 90 million assets in two years, according to the product's VP, Claude Alexandre. That covers still images and video, including 4K-resolution content.

The USA Today collection covers NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, MLS, and pro golf, for starters. These assets from what Adobe calls the Editorial Collection, will come with licensing prices ranging from $49.99 for a small standard-licensed image to $499 for a premium, full-resolution shots under an enhanced license.

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Adobe teamed with Stocksy because of its "edgy, vibrant, contemporary imagery," Alexandre said.

New to Adobe's Sensei AI-powered search are aesthetic filters, which will let designers search for photos using other photos—drag an image onto a target to find similar ones—and filter searches with sliders for things like Vivid Colors and Depth of Field.

"We're trying to replace searching with words with searching more naturally and more intuitively," said Alexandre. "It's difficult with words to describe the feelings or emotions of what you're looking for."

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Adobe Stock has long been integrated into the company's Creative Cloud applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator, but Adobe will now integrate its products into a third-party application—Microsoft PowerPoint—for the first time.

The plugin lets PowerPoint users search with the new visual features, license media without leaving the presentation software, and combine visual with text search. The add-in, which puts a button on the program's Insert menu, will enable presentation creators to go way beyond the included clip art for more polished results.

The Reuters content, Stocksy content, updated Sensei search technology with Aesthetic Filters, and the PowerPoint plugin are all launching today, while the USA Today Sports content will be available soon, according to Adobe.

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