“Attribution: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work – and derivative works based upon it – but only if they give credit the way you request.

Noncommercial: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work – and derivative works based upon it – but for noncommercial purposes only.

No Derivative Works: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

Share Alike: You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

Note: A license cannot feature both the Share Alike and No Derivative Works options. The Share Alike requirement applies only to derivative works.”

So now you understand perfectly what to do when you use a CC licensed photo in your blog, right? No? Well, allow me to give you an example. Let’s say you go to Flickr and search their Creative Commons section. You find that adorable picture of a cat dangling from a screen door that would be perfect for Fluffy’s blog. Now what? You have to properly attribute the photo.

How do you do that? Well, according to Creative Commons, if you are using the work without making any changes to it, then you must “keep intact any copyright notices,” credit the author, and provide the URL back to CreativeCommons.org pointing to the license selected. If you are altering the picture (making “derivative use”), then you need to identify that your photo is a derivative work, ie. ‘Photo based on [original work] by
Kevin Watson –
About the Author:

Owner, blogger Geektout.com.

GeekTout is a blog dedicated to all of the things that you geek out on. Delivering your daily dose of news, tips, humor, music and gear with sardonic wit and a definitive point of view. Everyone’s a geek. What kind are you?

.”

The best place to do all of this for a photo is in a caption just beneath that cutesy picture of the kitty. If the author specified how you should credit her, be sure to use her language. Otherwise, the caption should begin with something like “Photo by
Kevin Watson –
About the Author:

Owner, blogger Geektout.com.

GeekTout is a blog dedicated to all of the things that you geek out on. Delivering your daily dose of news, tips, humor, music and gear with sardonic wit and a definitive point of view. Everyone’s a geek. What kind are you?

.” If you got your picture from Flickr, link back from the name of the photo’s author to their Flickr profile page. And don’t forget to link back to the Creative Commons page for the license you’re using, ie. “Photo by
Kevin Watson –
About the Author:

Owner, blogger Geektout.com.

GeekTout is a blog dedicated to all of the things that you geek out on. Delivering your daily dose of news, tips, humor, music and gear with sardonic wit and a definitive point of view. Everyone’s a geek. What kind are you?

(License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs).”

If this seems like a fair amount of work to create the proper attribution, that’s because it is, but hey, you’re getting free creative for your website. And in my next post, I’ll give you some tips for automating the process of creating these captions in Drupal. In the meantime, good hunting!

“Sure!” You say enthusiastically, then almost as an after thought you ask, “What are we shooting?”

The person you are talking with has decided to go for the World Speed Record in a wheel chair. Now, I’ve taken photos of people and I’ve taken photos at more traditional sporting events, like Football, Basketball, and Soccer; but how do you gear up for something you have NEVER shot before? The first photo tip to remember is to always have business cards with you. Because even though he said “the other day” you realize it has been almost two years since you had this discussion, but you did give him a business card and obviously he kept it.

Back to the problem at hand, this photo shoot is prior to the actual event. The photos he wants you to take are to be used as promotion shots. The customer suggests a local park for the photo shoot location. The first photo obstacle is the location itself, yes there are some nice points but, this park has office building on one side and a huge school on the other side. Always be aware of the background in your photo shoot.

Admittedly this was a new situation for me, but the first dozen shots or so just didn’t feel right to me. Then my mind starting thinking about how I take photos of little kids at weddings; I get down on their level. Yes, this was a full size adult, but the photos didn’t feel right until I was at the same level he was. If the subject is looking down and you photograph looking down at him, there is no interaction. Always take your photos with interaction in mind.

This particular person designed this particular wheel chair specifically for racing. Being totally naïve regarding handicap racing, I had to reply on his expertise to get the right photo. Regardless of the type of event you are shooting, remember this photo tip: use other people’s knowledge to make your photos look more professional. In wheelchair racing for example; the front wheels control all the steering. If I had only shot photos with his hands resting on the back wheels, anybody who did know the event would know I (the photographer) didn’t know what I was doing.

Even though we started this photo shoot early in the morning, the higher the sun got, the more dramatic the shadows got. When the subject was in an actual racing stance and he was leaning forward in his chair it did create some really deep shadows. I experimented with a reflector, a flash and some photos with both. Even though it was a beautiful day, quote “not a cloud in the sky”; I had to be prepared to control the existing light.

To review the lessons learned when photographing something totally out of your everyday experience, this is what I had to learn, or relearn to get the job done:

A) Always have photo business cards available, you never know when they can lead to new and exciting photo opportunities. (Even two years later.)

B) Always be aware of the background! That sounds obvious, but you want to make sure the subject is the main center of attention in your photo, not a reflection off an office window.

C) Always take photos with interaction in mind. Originally I was going to say at the same eye level, but during this photo shoot I also got down and took pictures at ground level as well.

D) Always use other people’s expertise to make your photos look good. This is especially true when shooting things you have never shot before. The subject is much more likely to approve of your work if he or she knows they actually helped with the input.

E) Always be prepared to control the light in your photo to meet the needs of the shoot. A bright sunny day is not always the best time to take a great photograph. Remember this: the brighter the light, the harsher the shadows.

A final thought, as a photographer, your most valuable tool is your mind and the ability to think and see creatively. Do not get so wrapped up in one specialty area of photography that you forget to apply those same photo tips to other areas as well. Life is a journey, not a destination. Likewise, who and what we are as photographers is what we learn from the different types of things we allow ourselves to photograph.