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Jun 26, 2015 20:55:02   #
13oct1931 Loc: Lebanon, Indiana
 
Recently I took some photographs of some beautiful scenery being shown on the television.
Can I claim "ownership" and enter them in a county fair photo contest? Is there a problem with copyrights? I "doctored" them quite a bit, so they are not precisely the same.
THANK YOU.

Alyn McConnaha
alyn1477@mymetronet.net

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Jun 26, 2015 21:02:46   #
DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area
 
No you can't!

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Jun 26, 2015 21:12:28   #
lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode
 
13oct1931 wrote:
Recently I took some photographs of some beautiful scenery being shown on the television.
Can I claim "ownership" and enter them in a county fair photo contest? Is there a problem with copyrights? I "doctored" them quite a bit, so they are not precisely the same.
THANK YOU.

Alyn McConnaha
alyn1477@mymetronet.net


Can I ask you a question?
All legalities aside.

Do you think that would be an ethical thing to do?
You want to take photos of someone elses images and ...... claim "ownership" and enter them in a county fair photo contest

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Jun 26, 2015 21:27:47   #
blackest Loc: Ireland
 
13oct1931 wrote:
Recently I took some photographs of some beautiful scenery being shown on the television.
Can I claim "ownership" and enter them in a county fair photo contest? Is there a problem with copyrights? I "doctored" them quite a bit, so they are not precisely the same.
THANK YOU.

Alyn McConnaha
alyn1477@mymetronet.net


You can claim but I doubt you would succeed. If you took a video camera into a film showing and recorded the film would you have any ownership to disneys latest blockbuster? or if you photographed or photocopied most of a book would you own it?

So why would photographing a monitor or tv screen be any different?

secondly assuming that there wasn't a problem with doing so the resolution of your photo copy would be so poor it wouldn't get anywhere in the competition.

There is no harm in looking at a picture figuring out what works in it and creating a similar scene, that might work out in the county fair.

You'd have to learn how to operate your camera, how to compose a scene, how to use the light. You might not win but you would become a better photographer.

A win or a place in a photographic competition recognises the skill you have attained.

Suppose you won, on the back of a copy, you would know you cheated and you were not a good photographer, you would know you are a fraud. Then what about when you do get caught, you would be publicly humiliated and it would follow you around like a bad smell.

Sure study these images, see if you can produce similar work, then sooner or later you will produce your own unique images, they still might not place in competitions but they will be yours and you can be proud of them.

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Jun 26, 2015 21:29:06   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
DWU2 wrote:
No you can't!


:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

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Jun 26, 2015 21:33:52   #
Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.
 
13oct1931 wrote:
Recently I took some photographs of some beautiful scenery being shown on the television.
Can I claim "ownership" and enter them in a county fair photo contest? Is there a problem with copyrights? I "doctored" them quite a bit, so they are not precisely the same.
THANK YOU.

Alyn McConnaha
alyn1477@mymetronet.net


Are you really serious? Especially since you are posting an e-mail address?

I have some nice books of photographs by Ansel Adams, Helmut Newton and Annie Leibovitz, would you consider photographing those and entering them in a competition as well?

They would probably be a little more identifiable, but no more subject to copyright.

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Jun 26, 2015 21:37:36   #
Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN
 
Significant similarity is what is being questioned. Look up appropriation law. if an image is significantly altered it ceases to be the original and is therefore considered something else. This is how Richard Prince gets away with what he does.

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Jun 26, 2015 21:38:52   #
Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN
 
As far as direct appropriation without alteration look up Sherie Levine, After Walker Evans. If I recall there was a lawsuit which the case study is often cited in current matters

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Jun 26, 2015 21:39:23   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
Darkroom317 wrote:
Significant similarity is what is being questioned. Look up appropriation law. if an image is significantly altered it ceases to be the original and is therefore considered something else. This is how Richard Prince gets away with what he does.


Bad form though.

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Jun 26, 2015 21:42:44   #
Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN
 
Ethics and legality are separate things. I never said it was ethical or moral

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Jun 26, 2015 22:04:50   #
St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet
 
13oct1931 wrote:
Recently I took some photographs of some beautiful scenery being shown on the television.
Can I claim "ownership" and enter them in a county fair photo contest?

NO

13oct1931 wrote:
Is there a problem with copyrights?

Is scares me you have to ask.

13oct1931 wrote:
I "doctored" them quite a bit, so they are not precisely the same.
...

Sadly now, yes...
http://www.google.com/#q=modify+a+photograph+to+avoid+copyright

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Jun 26, 2015 22:09:33   #
lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode
 


That search found this.

No, you absolutley cannot do that, despite the wishful thinking of many answerers. You're taking a copyrighted work (the images) and using it for your own profit. The fact that you're slightly changing it does not matter.

You are creating what is known as a "derivative work." 17 U.S.C. § 106(2) is the statute which deals with this, and states that only the copyright holder or an authorized user may create a derivative work. Unless and until you obtain express permission from the holder of the copyrighted image (and probably pay them handsomely) you are not authorized to create these kinds of modifications

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Jun 26, 2015 22:14:03   #
St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet
 
lighthouse wrote:
That search found this.

No, you absolutley cannot do that, despite the wishful thinking of many answerers. You're taking a copyrighted work (the images) and using it for your own profit. The fact that you're slightly changing it does not matter.

You are creating what is known as a "derivative work." 17 U.S.C. § 106(2) is the statute which deals with this, and states that only the copyright holder or an authorized user may create a derivative work. Unless and until you obtain express permission from the holder of the copyrighted image (and probably pay them handsomely) you are not authorized to create these kinds of modifications
That search found this. br i br No, you absolut... (show quote)


I should have been more informative as I was addressing the issue of use, and sale, not copyright. Thank you for catching this.

How Richard Prince Sells Other People’s Instagram Photos for $100,000
http://www.diyphotography.net/how-richard-prince-sells-other-peoples-instagram-photos-for-100000/

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Jun 26, 2015 22:14:37   #
SharpShooter Loc: NorCal
 
13oct1931 wrote:
Recently I took some photographs of some beautiful scenery being shown on the television.
Can I claim "ownership" and enter them in a county fair photo contest? Is there a problem with copyrights? I "doctored" them quite a bit, so they are not precisely the same.
THANK YOU.

Alyn McConnaha
alyn1477@mymetronet.net


Your skills for shooting pics on the TV must be improving?!?! :lol:
SS

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Jun 26, 2015 22:15:30   #
St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet
 
SharpShooter wrote:
Your skills for shooting pics on the TV must be improving?!?! :lol:
SS

It's a sad day when a photographer wants to steal another's work... S-

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