Tonight we talked about some opportunities to enter some photography contests, and here is the info.

The first is a local contest by the BUZZ Magazines. Entries are due by May 15, 2013.

Another place to look for exhibitions is Call For Entry.

I usually live in a shallow depth of field world shooting sports, and just about anything else for that matter. This weekend I went downtown to shoot some skylines and HDR, and boy did I find some dust bunnies in my post processing. Above about f/5.6, I could notice some dust in my images, and especially when processing HDR images at f/16, those pesky circles were everywhere!

I wanted to check to see just how bad it was before I cleaned my sensor, so I did a little google search for the best way to see the dust and oil. Since this was the first time cleaning my sensor myself, I wanted to be able to see everything. Here is what I found to work the best:

• Aperture at f/22,
• Shutter speed at 1-2 sec,
• ISO 100,
• Manual focus, and made sure the shot was out of focus: this is the secret to only seeing the dust spots,
• Aimed my camera it at a blank notepad file on my computer screen, i.e. totally fill the screen, and
• Move the camera around a little while taking the shot.

And Boy were there a lot of spots!

I chose to clean my own sensor for the first time using a Giottos Rocket Air Blower, V-Swabs, and Eclipse solution, which was a little nerve racking after reading the potential risks. But I wanted a clean sensor now!

If you do not want to take that risk, and want a professional to clean it for you, you can either send it in to the manufacturer, or use Professional Camera Repair on Richmond. They will charge ~$65 for a sensor clean, and a little more for a complete tune up with a faster turnaround than sending in your camera to the manufacturer.

So, check your sensor before you go out to save your time in post processing.

Dee Zunker

So, two weeks have past of the New Year. Have you broken your New Years Resolution’s yet? Well, I have a resolution that you need to make and keep.

Start regularly registering your photos with the copyright office!

I am sure this is something that you plan to get to someday, or maybe, there is just too much information out there that is confusing you. I actually heard some info a couple of weeks ago on a well-known podcast that was contrary to my understanding. I had to check my references to make sure my memory was not failing me.  Well, let me get you pointed in the right direction.

A couple of years ago, I found a book that clarified things for me, the Photographer’s Survival Manual: A Legal Guide for Artists in the Digital Age (Lark Photography Book)
There is a lot of useful information in this book in addition to copyright, and I recommend you add it to your library.

The website  The Copyright Zone is also a good resource.

In summary, you own the copyright the second you take the photo, and infringing on that copyright is illegal whether you register your work or not. But registering gives you more teeth in the legal system, and apparently lawyers will not take your case if you have not registered your image.

You can register your images online at the Electronic Copyright Office. Photos are registered by year and whether they are published or unpublished.

Published images are fully protected from infringement if they are registered within 3 months of the publish date. So if someone infringes one of your images in that 3 month window, it is as if you registered the image at the time of publishing. If someone infringes your image before you register, and you registered after the 3 month window, your payday for the infringement case may not be as lucrative.

An image is published anytime I sell a print or file or post something on the internet unless it is in a password protected gallery for a specific person. Tags such as “published year”, “registered as published”, and “registered as unpublished” with smart collections in Lightroom help to keep track of everything. I use a quarterly schedule to collect all my published images and register them in one batch. Oh, and just because you may miss the 3 month window from publishing does not mean you have an excuse to just not register that image. As long as you register prior to any infringement, you are still protected.

Unpublished images are collected and registered once at the end of the year.

Each registration is $35 for an unlimited number of images. So if I register published images quarterly, and unpublished annually, that is 5 x ($35) = $175/year. At a minimum, you can take a chance with the published images, and register them annually at $35 for published, $35 for unpublished, and a total of $70/year.

So there you have it. Registering your copyright is not difficult or expensive, so just start doing it!

I have been registering my images for the past 2 years, and I feel a little better about sharing my images on the internet as a result. I am still leery about the various implications of the terms of service on the social networks, especially with the recent Instragram discussions, but that is a discussion for another post.

I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on January 22.

Have a great 2013!

Dee Zunker
President – Houston Photographic Society

A few HPS members went on a last-minute field trip to photograph at a Pow Wow on November 12, 2011. The video was created by HPS activities coordinator Nathalie Brouard featuring photos from the participants.