[olavf]

They’re softpaws. Kinda like Lee Press-On nails for cats. She can get a bit scratchy – especially on the furniture….

[olavf]

I have no idea, Farktographer. People accuse me of either drugging my cats, or shooping them.

/Yoinked from Zero_Exponent because he yoinked it from me 😉
//found it in a GIS for my username lol.

[olavf]

I saw that one. Maybe tomorrow if I’ve got the time. Ain’t happenin’ today =P
(though I could have gotten one in yesterday if I’d know about it. Oh well.)

[olavf]

Another thought – when I’m taking pictures of my kids for something specific, like a Farktography contest or whatever, it’s also easier than just getting them to sit down for portraits. Not just because they’re kids – I’ve got them set up for something very particular in my mind, and explain it to them, and coach them towards that. At that point they’re more of a model than a family member so it’s not as ‘personal’ (well, most of the time).

/that said, I’m kinda suprised I got three shots I was happy with last weekend at all

[olavf]

For me, I think when I photograph friends & family, I hold the photos to an even higher standard than if I were to do studio work for pay (which I don’t). I’ve learned to be more forgiving of minor flaws when I’m taking street photos because it’s less than ideal conditions, generally, and I know I only get one take (if I’m lucky). When it’s friends & family, I think you want everything to be ‘perfect’.

[olavf]

I’d vote for deaconblues or dad. I like the idea of dad in B&W too.

[olavf]

Mountains is going to be interesting like that for us too, I think. Fortunately, neither of has drawn blood…yet

[olavf]

We actually try not to use shots from the same set/specific location/outing in any contest.

Same here, but that’s not always possible. (like this week’s contest – we’re kinda subject-limited)

[olavf]

I don’t see why not. If Uncle Willie in a speedo by the pool is allowed, that one should certainly be game.

[olavf]

I’m partial to B and D. If I had to chose one, probably B, because I suspect it shows his personality better 😉

[olavf]

Orionid makes a good point re: Plamadude‘s ‘special case’, I think. It sounds a lot like someone setting up the camera so someone else could push the button. I think most people would agree if it were a standard film camera and the same thing were done, that it’s a “not really yours” kind of deal.

On the other gray end – where he and Kes were doing the modeling – I’d say that really isn’t that gray at all. Helping with initial setup isn’t the same as taking artistic control, or even significantly affecting the artistic process. Certainly not any more than offering tips or suggestions during a shoot.

The gray area in my mind is setting up the shot (and camera), handing the camera to someone else, and telling them where to point it. That seems like there’s a more direct influence on the shot going on (as opposed to an indirect influence).

If we go back to plamadude‘s case, I would suggest that if one were ‘pushing the buttons’ and asked for help when they didn’t know how to do something, then they could probably claim ‘ownership’. Not so much if someone were giving them step-by-step directions.

[olavf]

I’ve been chewing on this for a couple of days, and I have a few more thoughts:
Firstly, I’ve been under the impression that ‘you have to push the button’ has been a fairly hard rule around here. I may have misunderstood that, but it’s almost certainly my understanding of how the rules have been interpreted.

Now, the contest rule (as posted) is a much more gray “you must be the farktographer” which is probably the more correct rule, and certainly allows for some wiggle-room. All things considered, it’s pretty fair to say that Elsinore would be considered the photographer in most cases, and by most people. On the inverse, it would also be fair to say that her sister definitely was not the photographer, because *all* she did was push the trigger. And the same case could/should be made for remote sensor/trigger devices, where a machine is ‘pushing the trigger’. (We *do* allow those, after all).

The big question is where is the line in the sand drawn, and how is it policed/posed to a questionable shot. Should that be a hard rule? A rule-of-thumb? Rule with exceptions by consensus? Dropped altogether and left up to the Farktographer to interpret? I suggest this would make a good side discussion without clogging up this thread too much further, particularly since Els has said she’s inclined not to use it for other reasons this week.

[olavf]

Historically (at least in the past three years) the rule of thumb has been that you have to be the person that pushes the trigger, at least as far as I’ve been told.

I know it’s a grey area, but maybe we need to have a discussion and define it better, but I lean pretty much on the end of ‘you gotta set up the shot, you’ve gotta push the button’. Otherwise we’re going to have a really hard time drawing the line in the sand.

-edit: I know that ‘help’ has always been allowed, but the ultimate thing has been ‘who pushes the button’ right?

Example: some self-portraits I’ve taken, I’ve had Kat sit roughly in the spot while I dial in the settings. Then I swap places and she looks through the viewfinder and tells me when I’m in the spot. Then I set the timer, pull the trigger, and get my body back in the same location before the shutter fires. So, yes, she helped me, but I set everything up, and I pulled the trigger, and did 98% of the work, really. She helped me set up the shot, but when things came down to it, she wasn’t even looking in the viewfinder when I pushed the cable release.

And I’ve drawn some pretty hard lines here to keep us honest. With two Farktographers in the house, it would probably be pretty easy to cheat, there, if we wanted to, or even wanted to think about how to.

But, I think a line has to be drawn somewhere. As soon as someone else is holding the camera, and squeezing the trigger, they’re having a direct effect on the framing, composition, and timing of the shot. The other person is a technical director, and model, and camera owner at that point, IMO.

My 2.5 cents.

[olavf]

I think on an average afternoon out I’ll do about 100 shots, give or take, if I’m inspired. Events may be a bit higher, but as a whole it depends on what people are doing. (I just can’t take a bunch of shots of people drooling out of the corners of their mouth, you know?)

The other main thing that can effect my shot count is the lighting. If the light is sketchy, I tend to try and wait for the ‘good’ shots because I know which ones just won’t work.

[olavf]

I’ll work out the costs over the next couple of days and see how it looks based on 5-6 people, and we can go from there?

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