In this post, I would like to talk about the different categories of "the MySpace photograph." Some of these include: the self portrait, the glamour shot, the muscle man, the "I don't know how to use Photoshop" picture . . . and many more.
To start, I must say our world is based on aesthetics. Pop culture is where people look to decide what is beautiful. With that said, people want what they see in pop culture. They want to copy it. Most MySpace photographs are an attempt at being artistic without being obvious about it. Yet a good portion of these are overdone: too much makeup, trying to seem mysterious, too intense of colors, attempting to model (when the person hasn't a clue what they're doing), and a bad use of mirrors.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally bashing on the MySpace genre. It can be fun to be playful and experiment with photos and Photoshop. I am simply explaining the style, and pointing out that it can be a little overdone.
Now, getting into the meat of the subject: the MySpace photograph. MySpace photos have become a genre of their own. Friends of mine have said, and I quote, "That is such a MySpace pic." For myself, that is a generalized term for several categories of the MySpace photograph. I will now explain the styles of MySpace photos (listed at the beginning of this entry) and will go into more detail in upcoming posts.
First is the self-portrait. Usually there is no sign of a tripod, just the use of the left of right hand. Another study of the self-portrait shows that people like to seem mysterious -- that is to say, they like to turn away from the camera.
Second is the glamour shot. The glamour shot can also fall into the modeling category. Either way, it involves putting on pounds of makeup for the camera.
Third, badly photoshopped photos -- I know not everyone is a pro with Photoshop, and many are simply experimenting. Yet they look tacky -- using intense colors, color balance that simply isn't balanced, and high contrast.
Lastly (this is one of my favorites): the muscle man. Almost every guy has one of these on MySpace. The t-shirt is off and he isn't acting like he's in a muscleman competition, flexing everything . . . but he is flexing, and acting like he doesn't notice the camera, when he really does. Oh, it just makes me laugh every time.
These are not all of the styles of MySpace pictures, just the most predominant. As I stated above, I will go into more detail with these categories in my next post. I hope that anyone reading this can get an appreciation for (or simply an understanding of!) the MySpace photograph.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
"The Times Are A-Changin' " - Bob Dylan
A friend Steve Smith sent me an article on digital photography from wired.com. The article is about digital photopros and photo(shop) realism. Keeping in mind that the article was written in 1995, the technology they are talking about is brand new and now its the norm. It only took the first paragraph to get me thinking.
When President Clinton went sailing off Martha's Vineyard with singer James Taylor last August, Associated Press photographer Stephan Savoia took pictures of the seafaring celebrities from a boat 130 yards away. Nothing unusual about that, except that when Savoia finished shooting he didn't develop his film - he had no film to develop. Instead, he removed a pocket-sized hard drive from the side of his camera, slipped it into a docking station attached to a PowerBook, and reviewed all 30 of his shots on the laptop's screen. After selecting his favorite image, he fine-tuned its colors, wrote a caption, and then, using a cellular phone, transmitted both image and caption to a central computer at AP's New York headquarters. Even though Savoia was slowed by bouts of nausea as he worked in the cabin of the pitching boat, the process took him only 15 minutes. The photograph was in newsrooms around the country long before Clinton ever reached shore.
- Jacques Leslie
This is a perfect example of what transitions photography has gone through. The photography industry is interested the newest, fastest product on the market. Now that the digital camera, more specifically the digital SLR, has become the new standard in cameras, all equipment revolving around it are only one step behind. ..."he removed a pocket-sized hard drive from the side of his camera"... pocket-sized hard drive? That is amazing when thinking that in the 80's a portable hard drive was the 5 1/4" floppy disk. Now there are portable hard drives the size of a quarter. The drives also go up to several gigs of memory.
For now, this is one of several photography accessories I will be talking about. As i said before, the photography industry is interested in the newest, fastest product on the market. Even with the obsticales Stephan Savoia was able to shoot 30 frames, upload them to his laptop, render the photos and send them to a central computer by phone in only 15 minutes. As said by Bob Dylan, "The times are a-changin'. "
When President Clinton went sailing off Martha's Vineyard with singer James Taylor last August, Associated Press photographer Stephan Savoia took pictures of the seafaring celebrities from a boat 130 yards away. Nothing unusual about that, except that when Savoia finished shooting he didn't develop his film - he had no film to develop. Instead, he removed a pocket-sized hard drive from the side of his camera, slipped it into a docking station attached to a PowerBook, and reviewed all 30 of his shots on the laptop's screen. After selecting his favorite image, he fine-tuned its colors, wrote a caption, and then, using a cellular phone, transmitted both image and caption to a central computer at AP's New York headquarters. Even though Savoia was slowed by bouts of nausea as he worked in the cabin of the pitching boat, the process took him only 15 minutes. The photograph was in newsrooms around the country long before Clinton ever reached shore.
- Jacques Leslie
This is a perfect example of what transitions photography has gone through. The photography industry is interested the newest, fastest product on the market. Now that the digital camera, more specifically the digital SLR, has become the new standard in cameras, all equipment revolving around it are only one step behind. ..."he removed a pocket-sized hard drive from the side of his camera"... pocket-sized hard drive? That is amazing when thinking that in the 80's a portable hard drive was the 5 1/4" floppy disk. Now there are portable hard drives the size of a quarter. The drives also go up to several gigs of memory.
For now, this is one of several photography accessories I will be talking about. As i said before, the photography industry is interested in the newest, fastest product on the market. Even with the obsticales Stephan Savoia was able to shoot 30 frames, upload them to his laptop, render the photos and send them to a central computer by phone in only 15 minutes. As said by Bob Dylan, "The times are a-changin'. "
Monday, February 26, 2007
Stealing Photos Online
People have the rights to their photos. Yet it seems very easy for anyone to copy and paste a photo and call it their own. I am interested in knowing just how many people have stolen a photograph claimed it?
Is there has a difference between down loading a photograph for a back ground or screen saver and down loading a photo to make a framed print? Perhaps there is no difference. Maybe it takes selling another persons photograph for it infringe on the copyright laws. I took a look at guidelines for being a Flickr.com member and a gettyimages.com member; here is what their sites had to say.
Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! has no responsibility for content on other web sites that you may find or access when using Yahoo!’s products or services. Material available on or through other web sites may be protected by copyright and the intellectual property laws of the United States and/or other countries. The terms of use of those web sites, and not the Yahoo! Terms of Service, govern your use of that material. It is Yahoo!’s policy, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe or repeatedly infringe the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Yahoo! and/or others.
In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") and other applicable laws, Getty Images has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at Getty Images' sole discretion, account holders who infringe the intellectual property rights of Getty Images or any third party.
Both companies explain them selves well. Click this link Flickr’s Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy to read more and to read more about gettyimage’s Copyright infringement Policy click this link.
This is still an open topic of discussion. I will find the details of copyright laws and break them to decide if the laws should change or if the fit with the digital era.
Is there has a difference between down loading a photograph for a back ground or screen saver and down loading a photo to make a framed print? Perhaps there is no difference. Maybe it takes selling another persons photograph for it infringe on the copyright laws. I took a look at guidelines for being a Flickr.com member and a gettyimages.com member; here is what their sites had to say.
Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! has no responsibility for content on other web sites that you may find or access when using Yahoo!’s products or services. Material available on or through other web sites may be protected by copyright and the intellectual property laws of the United States and/or other countries. The terms of use of those web sites, and not the Yahoo! Terms of Service, govern your use of that material. It is Yahoo!’s policy, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe or repeatedly infringe the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Yahoo! and/or others.
In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") and other applicable laws, Getty Images has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at Getty Images' sole discretion, account holders who infringe the intellectual property rights of Getty Images or any third party.
Both companies explain them selves well. Click this link Flickr’s Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy to read more and to read more about gettyimage’s Copyright infringement Policy click this link.
This is still an open topic of discussion. I will find the details of copyright laws and break them to decide if the laws should change or if the fit with the digital era.
Monday, February 19, 2007
The Beginning
Photography – capturing a moment in time, one of the best ways to record history. Family portraits in the late 1800s and into the 1900s looked more like a line up for a sports team. Straight faced and stiff, at times it was hard to tell if it was a family I was looking at. Now, into present day families show emotion towards each other. The photos are less formal and less linear. Making copies is only a click away; so many family members may have copies. Everyone and anyone may view your photographs online if you wish. Online albums are a possibility now. Put your photos into a template a company prints them out and puts them into a book and sends it to your address. Photographs are traded in a matter of seconds. They are traded either through e-mail, photo sharing sites like Flickr.com, aol instant messenger, file transfer protocols and more. I am saddened in the fact how impersonal printing a photograph has become. Very few people anymore go into a dark room. We now live in a digital world. Personalizing a photograph has a new meaning now. I think that photo sharing has become less personal because, most of the time people are simply sending a file. Having a tangible photograph on paper is more meaningful. Just like receiving a written letter in the mail is more meaningful than receiving an email. I guess it’s just the American way, faster and more efficient. The American way isn’t always the best way, yet we all fall into buy into it.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
The Second problem
Now, what you all have been waiting for... THE SECOND PROBLEM! When I click on a photo to view it, to the right of the enlarged photo is my photostream. The photostream is a list of all of my photos that one may move too. A photograph of Adams Oregon is covered by a nude male here. Once I click on the photo it is my image of Adams Oregon.
Both of these problems are very frustraiting. To make my teeth clinch even more once I uploaded this screen shot is was covered by a beautiful black and white photo of a tree! Its time to get to the bottom of this problem.
This is a new study that I will be looking into more with file sharing in Flickr and other site.
Both of these problems are very frustraiting. To make my teeth clinch even more once I uploaded this screen shot is was covered by a beautiful black and white photo of a tree! Its time to get to the bottom of this problem.
This is a new study that I will be looking into more with file sharing in Flickr and other site.
problems in Flickr
I got up this morning thinking i'd check my Flickr account seeing if anyone had commented on a photo or sent me a message. I did get my first comment! I am very excited it has given me hope to this project. Also this morning my Flickr account has taken a turn i would not have expected. Two things have happened. One, on my photo page as shown hery, my photograph is covered by another photograph. It is the sunflower in this screen shot I took of my page. When I click on the photo it does go to my photograph of a photoshoped face in the sky. I can't explain this at all. I am now in the process of emailing flickr and getting to the bottom of this. Like I said, there were two things wrong. The second is in my next post coming up in just a second.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Introduction
Photography has come a long was since it begun in the 1820s. The development of large format to 35mm cameras and now the fast development of the digital camera have pushed the popularity of photography. Since digital cameras have become so inexpensive anyone can own one. This has boosted an increase in recording a person’s life story. People are emailing family members pictures, AOL instant messaging friends pictures and making website specifically for their photographs. File sharing with photographs is growing and will keeping on growing with the documentation of life.
The study of file sharing is a blog project set to discover what people like about being able to file share and see what people don't like about file sharing. I will also find out the copyright laws in general. More specifically with copyright laws, What photo organizing web sites say about copyright laws and if each site is difference or not. When I know the laws I want to ask how many people have broken these laws and if people think they should be changed or not with the increase in the ability to pirate almost anything.
A portion of this assignment is about the incorporation of a multimedia piece. I will be putting together slides shows of pictures from people that file share with me, slide shows of my own photos that people may comment on (and I hope people will), and linking pictures that relate to topics that I will be writing about.
The study of file sharing is a blog project set to discover what people like about being able to file share and see what people don't like about file sharing. I will also find out the copyright laws in general. More specifically with copyright laws, What photo organizing web sites say about copyright laws and if each site is difference or not. When I know the laws I want to ask how many people have broken these laws and if people think they should be changed or not with the increase in the ability to pirate almost anything.
A portion of this assignment is about the incorporation of a multimedia piece. I will be putting together slides shows of pictures from people that file share with me, slide shows of my own photos that people may comment on (and I hope people will), and linking pictures that relate to topics that I will be writing about.
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