In this week’s episode of The Circle of Confusion, the professional photography podcast, we get very agitated.
We revisit the developing Pinterest story and Roger gets cross with the Master Photographers Association. Peter and Neil try to calm him down, though Neil has his own problems as he mourns the death of an earless rabbit at the hand, or feet rather, of a camera man.
We also put out a call for overseas correspondents to join the podcast team.
Bunny squished
Celebrity can be a killer. That’s what an earless bunny in Germany found out at least, when he was trampled to death by a cameraman who had been filming him.
The rabbit may now be stuffed an put on show. James Dean can count himself lucky.
Neil once photographed a chameleon with an unusual camouflage strategy: be incredibly small. He didn't tread on it and it survived the encounter with him © Neil McShane
Photographers aren’t terrorists – SHOCK
In the podcast, we also discuss the new campaign in the UK launched to protect photographers’ rights in the face of ever tightening security measures. It turns out that photographers aren’t actually terrorists. Who’d have thought that?
The campaign hopes to get the message across amidst heightened security during the Olympics in London later this year.
The best coverage we’ve seen so far of the Pinterest v Photographers debate was a post on Rob Haggart’s APhotoEditor blog. It is well worth checking out and following all the links.
Among the more remarkable things that Rob highlights is the fact that Pinterest CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann has deleted his own Pinterest boards. Click the link to see what happens: http://pinterest.com/ben
MPA
This week, the Master Photographers Association in the UK sent out a newsletter containing the following passages:
“On the subject of weddings, we are aware of a number of complaints being made by wedding clients regarding the quantity of wedding images being provided to view and the clients then claiming that more images were taken and they have not received them all. In a recent case before the Civil Court a Judge agreed with the clients where around 800 images were taken at the wedding and after deletions the photographer supplied the client with 300 preview images. Costs were awarded against the photographer who was ordered to hand over the unused images but unfortunately the photographer had already deleted them: further costs/compensation were ordered.
“The motto of this story is that if you edit images and provide a ‘selection’ for the bride to look at DO NOT DELETE the retained images but keep them on file in case this happens to you!!”
Roger, an associate of the MPA, gets especially worked up about this in the podcast. It’s worth the price of admission alone.
Correspondents
We’re looking to connect with six photographers around the world who are willing to act as correspondents for us. That would take the shape of coming on air with us once in a while to discuss the issues facing professional photography in their part of the world.
We’re actively approaching photographers to sound them out. We’d also like to hear from you if you think that this sounds like something you’d be interested in.
There is no pay, no honour and no glory.
It will be a lot of fun, though.
Drop us an email at mailbag@circleofconfusion.ie if you’d like to connect with us about this.
Blatant plug for our wares
Don’t forget, you can purchase the first episode of our landscape photography video series Dynamic Range for just €9.95, and as a bonus, the pilot episode is just €4.95! You’ll receive the download link via email as soon as you’ve completed the purchase.
Pingback: Wedding Photography - An Open Letter To The MPA | The Documentary Photographer
I will be expecting episode 2 of Dynamic Range to come with the finished version and all the uncut bits. Hope you haven,t deleted any bits!
Stupid court judgement.
Kevin – we’ve taken legal advice on this. Episode 2 will be bigger, longer and uncut. Including full frontal nudity from that regrettable decision to film after several pints of Guinness. But hey, better than being sued for not giving you absolutely everything!
Moooon Riiiver…. =)
That’s it. I’m going to sue George Lucas. I want to see EVERYTHING they filmed for Star Wars! I want to see what ended up on the cutting room floor! I’ve paid my money to see the film, I have a right to see it!
Would you lads mind if i started posting a link to your blogs on our new camera clubs facebook page? We are called Leitrim Camera Lovers.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/LeitrimCameraLovers
@Robert – Please do. Post away.
It occurred to me, while listening to you boys talk about Pinterest AGAIN!, to ask the following question:
Is there any difference between
a. Using a photographers’ image without his permission
b. Reading someone else’s poem & hosting it online (for instance, while a group of photographers are avoiding raindrops in County Mayo)
What I actually want to ask about is – Black & white conversion. But, I couldn’t resist stirring things up a bit first.
In the instruction I’ve received, Photoshop is used to convert to B&W. But, the instructors mention that there are other products available, some of which might be better than PS. Since you have an expert that specializes in B&W, I thought that “the boys” might give us some hints and reveal a few secrets.
Thanks,
Rich
PS – I didn’t comment on the MPA stance RE: wedding photographers because it seemed nonsensical to me. What did get my attention was that there are those who feel that creatives should not be entitled to own (and therefore benefit from) the work they create, i.e. copyright/patent protection. How would they feel if the fruits of their labors could be snatched from their hands without recourse?
@ Rich – You raise an interesting point. We’re definitely OK on the poem by George Fox, provided I have the right man in mind. He died in 1880 and his works would no longer be copyrighted (it lapses 70 years after the creator’s death).
However, both Paul Durcan and John F Deane are still with us.
We shall look into it.
-Roger-
@ Rich – Thanks for your comments and questions.
To answer to your B&W conversion question. There as as many ways to convert to B&W as there are days in the year. Between stand alone programs and Photoshop type plugin, I have nearly tried them all but keep coming back to the Dodge & Burn tools in Photoshop. I do my normal RAW conversion to 16bit tiff in Lightroom ( or Aperture ). I then open this file in Photoshop and convert to B&W using an adjustment. At this stage I try the best possible highlight detail available from the file. When I am happy with the conversion I do the magic “mononeil” effect – Dodge & Burn baby. I use the Shadow – Midtone – Highlight section of the dodge&burn tool to slowly build up the effect I’m after in me head. I never go above 5% on the intensity slider. There is no quick any to do this as every image will be different and I will have a different vision as to the final image. So no “one click” solution.
Hope this helps a bit.
Pinterest are listening. Reminds me of the first days of Instagram:
Updated Pinterest Terms
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on an update to our Terms. When we first launched Pinterest, we used a standard set of Terms. We think that the updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy are easier to understand and better reflect the direction our company is headed in the future. We’d encourage you to read these changes in their entirety, but we thought there were a few changes worth noting:
Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for us to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.
We updated our Acceptable Use Policy and we will not allow pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse.
We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.
Finally, we added language that will pave the way for new features such as a Pinterest API and Private Pinboards.
We think these changes are important and we encourage you to review the new documents here. These Terms will go into effect for all users on April 6, 2012.
Like everything at Pinterest, these updates are a work in progress that we will continue to improve upon. We’re working hard to make Pinterest the best place for you to find inspiration from people who share your interests. We’ve gotten a lot of help from our community as we’ve crafted these Terms.
Thanks!
Ben & the Pinterest Team