On 5/21/06, Peter Mackay <peter.mackay(a)bigpond.com> wrote:
Nor is having the idea for a particular photograph enough to give you
copyright over an image taken by somebody else. I don't know about
"setting
the settings" - you may have some point here - but on examining this image
it doesn't seem to have been taken in any particularly challenging
lighting
or other conditions. Depth of field, the "flat" lighting of an overcast
day
- it all looks to me like the camera was set on automatic and the
autofocus
picked out the subject.
It looks to me unremarkable in every way. There must be a million happy
snaps out there taken in the same location all looking much the same.
If it's so unremarkable and so uncreative, isn't the whole question of
copyright totally moot? Can you claim copyright over the way you parked your
car? Over the way you filled in a cheque? Over your choice of TV watching on
a given night? Such a bad photo as that one hardly seems to fulfil any
criteria for creativity - the person aimed in roughly the right direction
and pressed a button.
Point and shoot? That's about all that anyone does with a digital camera
nowadays.
Most people - but not all.
Steve