Most Dope: 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

REVISED END OF YEAR PROJECT!! woohoo

Shutter Speed - Shooting Action Revisal

By: Noah Carl

When this project was assigned (Shutter Speeds), I was a photography newbie. I had no idea how to really work a camera, and words and phrases like "Aperture, "ISO" and "Shutter speed" were all foreign terms to me. I executed this assignment cleanly, but to be honest I took an extremely boring photo. It was simply Wesley jumping up and down. However I really enjoyed the assignment. Although it was extremely simple, I really liked the idea of capturing a moment on a camera that the human eye can't even detect and remember. There were no real challenges and difficulties, but I do remember having to try multiple shutter speeds before settling on the fastest setting to take photos of this nature. The second time around, I chose to revise this assignment because I really really enjoy taking action photos, those quick moments that are so difficult/impossible to capture with the naked eye. I also made it a more interesting shot by getting two people to run and jump over the barrier while posing, making for some entertaining shots. After setting up low to the ground and taking multiple shots in rapid succession, I went back to the lab and had to pick my favorites from those jumps. After picking the photos that I thought were the most entertaining, I edited them slightly to make them more appealing to look at. What now looks like a few simple shots actually took some work on my behalf. As I continue on with photography after this class, I know that high shutter speed action shots are primarily what I will be shooting. That is another reason why I chose to revise this assignment, it will definitely help me prepare for my photographic future by defining my style. I have definitely learned that for shots like these, a lot of the time you just have to hold down the button and hope for the best shots to come out. However, you also need to take into account the lighting and colors because otherwise the shots will look boring and useless. What started what sounds like a simple assignment, I actually learned a lot through completing a second time.

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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Copyright Infringement Article - Rihanna vs. LaChapelle

http://www.pdnonline.com/news/Rihanna-Settles-Laws-3825.shtml

Rihanna has reached an out-of-court settlement agreement with photographer David LaChapelle, who sued her earlier this year for copyright infringement. Terms of the settlement were not released to the public. LaChapelle wanted at least $1 million in damages from Rihanna, claiming that some scenes from the video for her hit single called "S&M" were rip-offs of sadomasochistic images LaChapelle had created and/or published over the years. The photographer said in his lawsuit that Rihanna had asked multiple directors to create a "LaChapelle-esque video" for "S&M," and that she had provided a storyboard for the video that actually included prints of some of LaChapelle's photographs. Her lawyers argued that although her video and LaChapelle's images expressed similar ideas, they did so in different ways. The images are very similar in appearance, and I personally think she did take off off LaChapelle’s imagery to film her music video. However, under federal copyright law, it is the execution of ideas (and not the ideas themselves) that are protected. The ruling cleared the way for a trial in the case, forcing Rihanna to decide whether to defend her position before a jury- or settle out of court. She decided to settle out of court. WE don’t know how much she settled with LaChapelle for, but I would have to assume it was a large sum of money as Chapelle feels that his ideas and images have been robbed.

On the left is Rihanna's images and on the right are LaChapelle's. Clearly ideas were used. The imagery is vivid and provocative, probably offensive to some. The subject matter is not protectable, the court stated, but the particular way that Rihanna's video portrayed the scene--for example the set, wardrobe, "generally frantic mood" and lighting--was "substantially similar" to LaChapelle's images, the judge said. Personally I feel like LaChapelle did deserve a large settlement after seeing some of his images and then watching the video. There are many obvious similarities that can be seen as copyright infringement of his images throughout the music video. The song's title, "S&M", also refers to sadomasochism, the subject matter in which LaChapelle's photographs were centered around.