Image copyright and the internet – a cautionary tale

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I’ve been looking at content delivery and security services for some of my websites lately, as these services can offer both faster delivery of web pages, and varying degrees of protection against hackers and unwanted ‘bots’. Many sites (large and small) use such services to enhance performance for their visitors, and in this respect, and the enhanced security, they are useful. I did however find a problem with one of the providers – they removed the image copyright data.

The importance of image copyright data

If you put your images on a website it is important for many (perhaps most) professional photographers that copyright information is embedded in the file, as without it there is no way of knowing who the photographer (or copyright owner) is. Without this information in the file, the image can easily become an ‘orphan’, and then lose copyright protection in an increasing number of legal jurisdictions. Other data can be embedded for other purposes – see the Embedded Metadata Manifesto.

For a professional photographer using the internet as a showcase it is important that the copyright information remains with the file, as an orphan file loses protection, and may be used with little or no payment to the photographer. Continue reading “Image copyright and the internet – a cautionary tale” »

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My garden in August

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Sony have kindly returned my camera, fixed, so time for an update.
The poor summer weather continues of course, but the season moves on. I’ve unearthed the last of the potatoes at the weekend (I only grow second earlies – Charlotte – as storing maincrops is just too much trouble, and invites problems with blight) and the peas are coming to an end (this just plain simple bad planning – though the runner beans are beginning to crop so that doesn’t really matter much. I’ll soon to have too many to use, and will need to think about switching the freezer on again!)

one lone plum

my one lone plum this year

The fruit crop this year is mixed – one lone plum is ready to be picked the other tree had none, while the two pears haven’t yielded even a single fruit. The brambles (those that I haven’t yet managed to kill) have a supply of insipid fruit, as always not worth picking, which is why I’m trying to get rid of them! The self seeded raspberries at least have some taste.

apples from the garden - unknown variety from one of the old apple trees.

The first of the apples are ripening. I usually have plenty to give away, and probably will this year too.

The apple trees are doing better. The house was built on the site of an old orchard (it’s on nineteenth century maps) and some of the trees were left. They were probably mature when the house was built, they’re definitely getting old and a couple have died since I moved here. Cropping is erratic, but usually at least two or three of the trees will have a reasonable crop. The birds get much of them, as they grow too high to be reached without climbing into the tree, which I’m not about to do!

filberts on my hazel tree

A cluster of filberts on the hazel tree

I planted a small hazel tree when I moved here – its grown somewhat since (and was heavily pruned earlier this year). I’ve not noticed any in earlier years but, this year we have some nuts (I think filberts, but cannot remember the species now so can’t be sure.) I need to keep an eye on them to have a chance of harvesting them when ripe, though the local squirrels will probably make a claim on them before they’re really ready. I can hope … Continue reading “My garden in August” »

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Three Golds and ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’

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Sheep may safely graze

monochrome photograph of sheep in Manesty Woods, Cumbria. Photo copyright 2011 Mike Finley, all rights reserve

Sheep peacefully grazing in Manesty Woods, Cumbria

I’m pleased to say this photograph has been awarded a Gold Label in the group I belong to in the ‘United Postal Portfolios’ group I belong. It’s the third Gold Label I’ve been awarded in this year, and will be exhibited with them and other Gold Label prints at the UPP’s Annual meeting.

 

My other two gold label prints were:

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The ‘Rule of Thirds’ – a rule for lazy photographers

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The ‘rule of thirds’ is often quoted as a compositional rule that photographers should follow, and by ‘judges’ who really should know better if they are going to talk about composition!
It’s just a grossly over-simplified version of two other guidelines that artists have used as a starting point for centuries, and the original guidelines (not rules!) are more informative and not that much more difficult to put into practice.
Of course, being a lazy photographer, I’ve not bothered to put together a long post with examples … especially since someone else has already done it! … go visit the lazy rule of thirds by Jake Garn!

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