Copyright and the internet, my rights, and then there's yours

Recently I've had a bit of trouble.  Most people know that I've been having a massive problem with juniors taking photos from my website for their facebook pages.  I asked one of them to remove the images and then got accused of all sorts of things.  That's not what this blog post is about, but it is part of the background.

While the experience was terrible, it did make me want to find out more about copyright, taking photos and putting them up on the web.  So what did I find out?

Interesting that here in Australia, we have no right to privacy when you are in a public place.  So if you are in a race on a public road then I can photograph you without permission.  The law does not differentiate between children and adults. 

When the sport takes place in a stadium, or somewhere indoors, once I have permission to take photos from the owners, or the people who are responsible for the building, so at DISC that would be CSV, then I can take photos of whoever I like there.

Where it starts getting tricky is what I can do with the photos.  Apparently I have to be very careful about how I display the photos on the web.  No names, no addresses or phone numbers.  As long as the photos are not crude or distasteful and I don't give any identifying details, then I can display them on my website.  Though, if I was asked not to put photos up because of other issues, eg custody problems, witness protection.  I'm not going to be difficult.

So what does all this mean, basically I can take photos of anyone I like when I am in a public place or have permission to take photos, and I can put them up on my website, and you can make sure I don't do anything bad with them.

Another problem seems to be with the whole copyright thing.  Who owns it?

I own all the copyright of the images that are on my website.  Just because you may be in them, does not mean you have a right to use them or copy them.  It really is that simple.  Copying images to facebook because you like them and then thanking me for the photos is still stealing.  It doesn't matter what you do with the photos, if you make a copy of the image onto your computer it is breaching copyright and you can get into a lot of trouble for it.

Also, when you copy the images to facebook you are breaching their terms of use conditions and they can take action against you.

I've tried to explain it simply.  If you look you can find a whole lot of information on the internet about copyright.  You really need to be careful, not just with my stuff, but when you try to copy any image from the internet.  You should make sure you are allowed to do it first.  Look for images that are available on public domain, or put the word free into your search engine.  From what I can work out it is ok to use stuff if for education reasons, and facebook isn't educational, so be careful.

The last thing you want is to be sued for a massive amount of money because you did breach someone's copyright.  The defence, I didn't know, doesn't really work in the legal system.  Parents should know what their children are doing.

Consider that my website is a shop, you can browse, but you can't take anything from that shop without buying it first.  If you do, it is the same as shoplifting.

Experimenting with the Camera

My daughter was out training the other day with another girl and they were riding behind the motorbike.  I was on the bike taking some photos and working out how I was going to do it for the race coming up this weekend. 

Since the girls were motorpacing and right behind the bike most of the time it was too difficult to take photos so I took to taking photos of the scenery.  The sun was setting and put on a magnificent display.

Then it changed again and looked almost like it was on fire.

On the way back in the van, being a passenger for a change I tried taking some photos on the freeway.  It was getting dark so I slowed down the shutter speed to a few seconds.  I tried taking some photos out the front of the windscreen.  Here is one of my first attempts.

I ended up having to put the camera into the manual mode so that I could really control what I wanted.  For some reason when it is in shutter priority it wouldn't let me take photos at a few seconds.  After putting it on manual I was able to take some photos with the shutter being open for between 1 1/2 seconds up to 8 seconds.  I really liked the way the light dances around.

As we were going through the etags gates,  I discovered that I could get some lovely purple light.

I love the colours and tried to get as many as I could.

I haven't played much with the camera since getting it and I think it is about time I did.  I need to remember how much fun it is.  I used to love taking photos and I think the fact that I can see what I've taken straight away is going to make me love it all over again.  I can't wait to go out again and do some more.

Road Racing and Photos

Last weekend Blackburn Cycling Club ran its inaugural Warburton Road Race.  It wasn't without its problems, but I'm not going to talk about them here.  Really I wanted to talk about trying to photograph road races and the difficulties.

One of the first problems, or really the only problem is how?  Do I just take one photo of each group from the same place or do I move around?  Of course, who wants to stay in one place and only take photos for about 5 minutes.  The riders would go out and then come back, so you would get them twice, but it is better to get them in lots of places.

This is where the real problem starts, how do I move around?  I ended up using my car and followed the races, trying to get ahead when I could, and waiting at certain points for the riders to come past.  Isn't too bad doing it that way, but when the race is on a long windy road, then it does get hard.  I couldn't get past the riders, or it was really difficult.  There was quite a bit of traffic on the road, so when I would come up to a bunch of riders, I would have to wait my turn to get past them.

There was some beautiful countryside and I wanted to get some Graham Watson type shots, but it was too hard.  I probably should go and scout out places first and try to find good places ahead of time.  Doing it while out there was hard, trying to look for good places to photograph, watching out for cyclists, and trying to drive, don't make it easy.

I hope I did get some shots that showed what beautiful scenery there is around Warburton.  As for taking photos at road races, motorbike please.  I have got my helmet, and a motorbike jacket, what more do I need, oh yeah, a motorbike and someone to ride it for me.  Or just the bike, as it turns out I never got rid of my motorbike license so I can still ride one myself, now just need to convince the husband.

Trials of Photographing Netball

I know I've gone on before about what a challenge photographing netball is, the walls that are put up, and the experience of it isn't too different. Over the last week and a half I've taken photos at Parkville, Hisense Arena, and my local club. The easiest was my local club, and the hardest was at Parkville. Hisense Arena was a pleasure to photograph, but getting the accreditation wasn't easy and I'm not sure it is going to be something that I will be allowed to do again, well not soon.

Going to take photos of people playing netball at my club, was exhausting, but I don't have the hassles that I have at other venues there. The people running the centre know I have permission and I can just walk around and take photos. The exhausting part is that there are so many Macleod teams and they are all playing during the day, so you don't really get a break if you want to take photos of them all. I couldn't do all of them, but I did quite a few and will catch the ones I missed next time.

Going in to Parkville is a different matter. I hate the suspicion you are treated with as soon as you say you are there to take photos. You have to fill out a form, and get the other team to sign it. So silly, because the form doesn't say anything except that you were there taking photos on that particular day. It doesn't ask who you were photographing, what you are going to do with the photos or anything else. Even the signature from the other team doesn't tell them who they are. Not sure who it is meant to protect, not me that's for sure.

They also have this woman who runs around with a clipboard and makes sure everything is above board, but she is not a pleasant person. She was very abrasive and made me feel really bad because I didn't know the rules and, oh, because I was taking photos. I'm starting to understand why kids love photos of themselves, they don't get to see them very often because their parents aren't allowed to take them. Anyway, I found the woman to be really offensive and I made a compliant to the netball and they have organised it now so I don't have to get permission anymore and can just go in there to take photos of Banyule. I will have to take a copy of the permission letter with me because I know I will get asked for it.

Taking photos at Parkville presents a photographer with some interesting problems from a technical point of view as well, it is dark. There are lights, but not enough light to make the courts seem like daylight.  The ISO has to be pushed to the absolute maximum so you can get a fast shutter speed.  You need to use a fast shutter speed for netball.  I don't know where people get the idea that netball is a slow girls sport, I'm here to tell you that it is fast, especially a team that is good and has been playing for many years.  Flash is frowned upon, you can't have a flash going off in a players face, so you have to do the best you can.  It really does require different skills than is needed for photographing cycling. 

As I stated earlier I went to Hisense Arena and took photos of the Vixens last week.  It was tougher getting permission, and not anyone can rock on up and say they are there to take photos.   I had to get a special pass, or a temporary Media Accreditation pass.  It was waiting for me at the door and then I got to go in and down to the basement.  I had to find the media room and then I was introduced to Kate, who showed me around and took me up to the arena where I could take photos.

There is one whole section where the media are allowed, one side of the court.  It was fantastic.  I think I always imagined that we would be placed in one spot and we would have to stay there, but it wasn't like that at all.   We were allowed to move around on the that side of the court, but not behind the goals and not on the side where the players were.  I do remember reading that we were not allowed to approach the players.  We could go up into the stands to take photos, but I decided to stay put.  I really just wanted to observe what the other photographers were doing, so if I get to go again then I have more of an idea of what I can and can't do.

Kate told me that I would have trouble photographing them because of the speed.  That new photographers, or rather people new to photographing the Vixens find it really fast and have trouble.  I have to say I didn't.  I don't know if it is because I have done some netball before, and some of the teams I get to photograph for Banyule are also really fast, or whether the fact that I know the game and can often predict where the ball is going to go has helped.  I loved it.  I loved how fast it was.  I think I like a challenge and you certainly get that.  Probably the hardest part was taking photos of players that was close to me, the lens couldn't quite cope with it.  Doesn't matter, I got photos of the rest of the court.

My biggest obstacle for the evening was the umpire who kept walking down and standing in front of me.  So frustrating, but nothing I can do about it and something you have to work around.  So many times, what would have been a great shot was ruined because she was standing in part of the shot.  Oh well, I probably should have moved, but I quite liked my little spot.

I did get some great shots, well what I think are great, to the top photographers they are probably not, but I was really pleased with my first efforts.  Who knows if they will get better, but I will have to find a way to get some media accreditation.  I would really like to find a way to be able to keep taking photos of them.  A plan is hatching and will see what response I get for it.

I do want to thank the people from the ANZ Championships for organising the pass for me.  It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it.