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MELVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2017, approximately 1.2 trillion photos were taken; turning millions of people into prolific photographers¹, who are spending a tremendous amount of time arranging and searching through their library of photos. To help photographers streamline their workflow and continually improve their craft, Canon U.S.A., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced the company's first online photo-community platform – RAISE. This new platform utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to help photographers organize and categorize their photos through auto-tagging.

Features and benefits of RAISE include:

• Organize – Through the use of Canon's AI engine, photos uploaded to the platform can be auto-tagged through category and subject tags, as well as photo-centric tags such as the composition, style, emotion and color. Users can upload high-resolution JPEG images to the platform and all photographers retain ownership of all images uploaded to RAISE.
• Explore – Photographers can receive insights from the RAISE community to learn and help improve their skills to step-up their photography. They can also draw inspiration from the platform with a feed personalized for them based on their own uploaded photos, tags and preferences.
• Share – Photographers can create Collections within RAISE to privately share with current and prospective clients as well as loved ones, who may not be a part of the RAISE community. A photographer's work can also be shared publically within the community to receive recognition as well as photo-centric compliments from other photographers, like "great lighting," "beautiful composition," etc.

An Adobe Lightroom plugin version of RAISE, which is compatible with Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, is currently scheduled to be released next month. This will further enhance the usability of the RAISE features such as auto-tagging images within a user's Lightroom library through RAISE collections in the platform.

"Creativity is born from community – from collaboration with like-minded individuals," said Kazuto Ogawa, president and chief operating officer, Canon U.S.A., Inc. "With RAISE, we are building that community for photographers. Through this new platform, photographers from all different professional backgrounds and skill sets can come together to share their talents and connect with others in the community. Simply put, we hope RAISE will inspire the next generation of photographers to RAISE the bar and propel their creativity to new heights."

The new platform along with Canon's latest solutions will be showcased at this year's Wedding Portrait & Photography Show (WPPI) in Las Vegas from February 27 - March 1 in the Canon booth #121.

For more information about RAISE and/or to join the community, please stop by the Canon booth at WPPI or visit, raise.usa.canon.com.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean markets. With approximately $36 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2018^† and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2018. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA.

^†Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

¹Based on the Infotrends Worldwide Consumer Photos Captured and Stored, 2013-2017 Study

SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc.