This was posted on the veggie boards. All quotes are from 2007 HOFer Bernadette. The quotes are her words and can be veriefied over there.
I'm sorry this is so long, but that's what happens when she gives so much disputable information!
Honestly Bernadette, I don't even know where to start in addressing your posts. You have contradicted yourself so many times and put out so much inaccurate information that it's making my head spin. So, I'm going to go back through your posts to address what you've said. Now, keep in mind, I'm not saying you did anything wrong. I am saying that your words here speak volumes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Secondly (and i honest to goodness hope that my numbering this first and second isn't coming off as defensive...just hurried and expensive internet access...wanted to chime in), this contest pushed me in ways I've never been pushed before. I'm mostly a point and shoot camera girl (I love the incognito shots I can get) but I pushed myself not only for this contest, but also for the trip I went on shortly AFTER HOF to learn how to become one with the SLR. Tripod, wireless timer, almost (but not quite) manual settings and all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, you went on a trip after HOF (it must have been either Tibet or Mt. Ranier, since those are two trips on your fiance's gallery). Those trips were in April '07 and July '07. Both trips show that the 20D was used which makes sense. Your blog said that he replaced the 20D with a 40D recently. So, if you were learning SLR, tripod, wireless timer and manual settings in April 07 or after, how did you take the rafting photo in 2005? That is when your photo is marked in the gallery that was used in HOF of the rafting trip. The metadata (EXIF) for that photo shows that a Canon 1D (which is a pro SLR) was used for the rafting photo. That's ok, we'll pretend, for the sake of arguement, that you rented a 1D for the day of the rafting trip. If you just learned how to use a digital SLR this year, it would have been difficult, at best, for you to have shot the photos of you rafting 2 years prior on a professional DSLR.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm actually kinda honored (or reading too much into this) that you think my photos were too good to be taken by me. Or maybe it was just so many couple shots. Funny bit on those--lots of those were NOT on a tripod. They were with the camera set up all ghetto fabulous style on a rock. Or on a tree branch. Cause I roll like that (smile).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's not that the photos were too good for you to take, and it has nothing to do with it being a "couple" thing (Although that is your fiance behind you in the raft. Just noting this to establish the fact that he wasn't protecting a 1D on the shoreline while you were rafting). Yes, a rock would hold a 1D. A branch would not. It's too heavy, sorry.
Let's go on to your 2nd post:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for bringing up one of my FAVE entries (Sport, Rafting) and one of my fave shots from the Cannon Beach trip.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm sure that must be a favorite. Since you used that photo for your SOY entry and for a scrapping contest earlier this year.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before I go into the details, I just want to say that I am not at all offended by the questions and I appreciate when you point out specific photos you want to learn more about. I really AM flattered when people call out my photos because I enjoy sharing with others what I learned through lots of trial and error at a time when I was learning a LOT about how to take technically good photographs.
I signed my first affidavit in good faith that I had read, understood and complied with the rules of the contest. I read the CK boards as I prepared my entry and to that, I made a conscious decision that I’d stretch myself to learn how to get something comparable in quality to replace photos I had but didn’t take. Most times, I failed miserably and had to come up with a whole new layout. But in the end, I had a whole entry that I was proud to call all my own.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just want to make sure I understand this. You say you had a photo you didn't create, so sometime after November 06, you decided to replace the photos you didn't take with ones that you did take to comply with the rules. Um, ok. Let's leave this alone for now. I admire the fact that you read and understood the rules that the work had to be your own for your entry to be valid. I'm sure we'll revisit this later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What now causes me doubt is not the rule itself, but a concern that maybe I wasn’t as strict in my interpretations of the “sole work” rule as I possibly could have been. For instance:
Is it no longer my “sole work” if I submit my photos for online printing and check the box to have the lab professionals change color photos from color to black and white?
Is it no longer my “sole work” if I use a photo that was first visualized by someone else who saw and took a picture of that sunset first before I came up behind her and got my own snaps of the shot?
Is it no longer my “sole work” if I recreate a photo I saw elsewhere—ie, I went to a similar spot, staged some people, set up my own camera, took the shot of a pic I saw elsewhere?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have pulled out only these "sole work" questions since they are the only ones relating to photography. The others are smoke-an-mirrors that only deflect from the subject at hand.
In order: #1 - It is still your work when a photo goes to the lab and is converted to b&w. It was your ISO, your shutter speed, your f/stop, you push the shutter release (whether on the camera or with a remote), you composed the shot. The processing does not change any of that. #2 - for the same reasons as above, that sunset photo is your sole work. Now, if you admire the sunset, and the camera to the person that you sidled up to, hand them your camera and ask them to take the photo, it's no longer your work, even though it's on your camera. Would be tough to prove, since the photo files would be consecutive and on your camera, none the less... #3 - It is your work if you take the photo, even if inspired elsewhere. For example, if you go to Yosemite and take a photo of Half Moon Dome, it is your photo. It does not belong to Ansel Adams because he took a photo there 50 years ago that is in reproduction all over the place. Again, your composition, your settings, your shutter release, your perspective your settings (bears repeating), your photos.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the Sport Rafting photo: I created that photo (it is a composite of SEVERAL shots).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The photo used on your HOF entry was not a composite of photos. It is, though, a mirror image of the photo on your fiance's site that was taken with a 1D, which is a .jpg. You see, when you do a composite of photos and save it as a .jpg, you lose your metadata. The metadata for this photo is still intact. You can do the mirror image during the print process without altering the metadata.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An unmanned, timed tripod shot from the bank produced “interesting” results. Lots of blurring, lots of missed shots, some unbelievably LUCKY shots.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few things here. You used a tripod two years ago when you've already told us how you use rocks and trees for the camera. 2nd, a 1D Camera, lense, tripod are (or were at that time) about a $6,000 investment. (The 1D is pro and does not come with a "kit" lens, so it had to be purchased separately. $6000 would be the low end for the set up used). The 1D can be set on a timer at a 2 second or 10 second interval. Pages 100 and 101 of the 1D manual explain the timer setting process. You can not do burst shots with a 1D. Each time you want a times shot, you must go to the camera and set it. Now, lots of blurring, lots of missed shots, lucky shots you say. Let's call that a minimum of 5 attempts by you with the timer. So, that's 5 times you got out of the raft, went to the shore, set the timer, ran back to the raft (within 10 seconds) and paddled through a rapid to get the shot with you in it. Not real likely that you could do this, but I'm going to assume that you do have these amazing powers that allowed you to scurry between shore and raft in the water within 10 seconds. Actually, you had to have done 10 shots, since the 2 on the site are numbered 0621 and 0630. That is a lot of run/swim action to get those photos! Oh, one other thing it indicates on the metadata of the photos is that these were multi segment photos. They were shot as part of a burst, which again could not be done with a timer. Therefore, either someone had their finger on the shutter (couldn't be you since you're in the photo), or it was done by remote. We could assume remote, except that you have two hands wrapped around the oar.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I took several more photos (from the shore) of rafters going by and the tripod really helped to “sweep the scene” to follow the action and to steady the zoom to get the shots.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no "sweeping the scene" in this. That's called "panning", by the way. Anyway, panning is done in things like auto racing, biking, some running, etc, action where it's on a relatively level horizontal or vertical plain. Rafting is not a level plain in any direction and is very eratic. When you pan, the background is blurry because you are following an object in motion with a stationary background. The trees in the background of your photo are perfectly in focus. Your paddles are in focus. The faces are in focus. These are because 1 camera was focused on the scene and the camera was stationary (either on a tripod or in a tree.) Just a side note of interest. People that are published in newspapers get busted all the time for this. Because their backgrounds will have motion blur, but the wheels on the car or bike will be absolutely clearly focused. Defies all laws of physics and is an indication of photoshopped work which takes away the integrity of the journalist and the paper that prints said picture.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the digital altering to mash it all together, if you look closely you’ll see the “I give up” imperfections of created moments. I really DON’T have a mustache and I’m really not THAT thick. Those are the limits of created photos. The purpose of “creating” the shot was to learn to work with layers in photoshop. It was one of my freebie layouts only because I thought it was too "technical" for the fave photo assignment and it was too complicated to detail as my technique assignment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm so glad you clarified that you did this picture in Photoshop and working with layers! Complicated detail is definately difficult to explain as a technique, that's for sure. And, I'm so impressed that you were working with layers in Photoshop! They are easy once you've worked with them awhile, so I pat you on the back for jumping into something this complicated when, as you say, you were just learning to work with layers in Photoshop! Yes, we will revisit this quote in a moment.
We won't quote the rest of this post since it it mostly deflecting from the actual questions about the photos.
Let's move on to post #3 by Bernadette:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While I was at Everest Base Camp this year, I had my little point and shoot and was totally jealous of the shots I'm sure the SLR crowd could have had. At those altitudes, in that cold, the SLRs were all freezing up. Our's included. My point and shoot kept on clicking. I have photos of the summit of Mt. Everest in that tiny moment it peeked out of the clouds because I wasn't warming my battery pack in my armpit. Do great with what you have.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's great that your p&s kept on clicking. It looks like your fiance's camera did just fine, though. Tibet/Mt Everest by Bernadette's Fiance on their 20D SLR On a side note (again), what an amazing trip to experience. I especially enjoyed the photos of the monkeys and the monks. Wonderful stuff!
Anyway back to our discussion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same goes for photo editing software. I respect and totally appreciate the greatness that is Photoshop. When all is said and done, I prefer and create all my digi layouts in Microsoft Digital Image Pro/Suite. $99 at Costco. Relatively inexpensive, exponentially (for me) easier for what I want to do 99.9% of the time. That .1% of the time that it isn't enough is when free trials come in handy to confirm for me that really, yeah it is enough. Again, do great with what you have.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whoa, hold your horses. 99.9% you do in Digital Image Pro? Because it's easier. And, you like to do great with what you have. Yet, you did all that work, hours of layering work in Photoshop, to make that river rafting photo? By the way, be careful on referring people to Costco to purchase Digital Image Pro/Suite since Microsoft discontinued Digital Image Pro last year. You can no longer buy it. Microsoft will be supporting it for another 2 1/2 years, then support will no longer be available, either. Again, though, when you alter and/or rename your photo, it eliminates the metadata, which is still available on your photos as posted. So really, it doesn't matter what you say you used for that picture, the one posted and the one used on your layouts are simply a mirror image with the data still intact, therefore no post processing from the original.
In conclusion, or rather as a synopsis, we have:
*Photo of rafting taken with a 1D; only photo in all of your fiance's photos that is a 1D (the rest are 20D or a Fuji point & shoot).
*File numbering isn't even close to anything in Robert's gallery, but (ironically) matches the file numbering system of Snow Dragon Adventure shots, the company that takes the photos for River Riders, which is the rafting company on the raft you are on.
*You don't use photoshop, yet you spent hours layering various photos to come up with a photo that is identical to the one from Snow Dragon. So identical, in fact, that if you mirror it and lay it on top of yours, it matches exactly.
*You set a timer that only runs on 10 second max intervals and does not do shutter burst to get your photos. You left it unmanned on the banks and it happened how? How did the timer get set? It logistically couldn't happen that way.
I'm sorry, Bernadette. I wanted to believe you when you originally said that you took them. But, the more you elaborated on the process, the more you crossed yourself and made it all to obvious that this is not your picture. Please just stop.
As difficult as the entire HOF issue is, I would actually assume that possible legal action against you may be more scary. By using your photo and having it published (two different times, once in a magazine and twice online), as well as signing paperwork saying that it is yours, that you took the photo, you have now gone into an area of copyright infringement and may well have legal action with regards to that situation. I suppose that depends on how generous the owner of Snow Dragon is feeling when it comes to the ownership of her photos.
Good luck with everything. It's such a shame because you are talented, you have amazing stories to tell through your pages, incredible opportunities with your scrapbooking and instead, you want to perpetuate your tales of taking a photo at the expense of losing the respect of your fellow scrappers.
If you can actually explain any of this. Any little portion of this, I'm sure myself and anyone else would love to hear it. Just don't keep going the direction you started. It's a dead end road you're heading down.
For anyone with comments on how long all of this took, it took less than 30 minutes to research. It's all out there on the net. About 20 minutes to type it all up. Not long at all. So There.
Love,
Anastasia Beaverhausen
|
|
