Bloomingpedia talk:Taking pictures

Size limitations

User:Chrobb: What's the maximum size for images?

Images should be at least 200x200 pixels in size and no more than

User:Mark: You know, I think I fell asleep before I reached the end of that sentence. I think that the maximum should be 1600x1200 or something high like that. I'm not too concerned about using up disk space, because there is a lot of it. But it would be nice to keep the compression on the images somewhat optimal if it doesn't hurt the quality. Some of the images I was taking looked fine at 50% jpeg quality and it lowered the size from like 400K to 100K. Given that a lot of people in and around Bloomington are still on dial-up, I'd like to keep the size of images around 100KB to 150KB if possible. Does that sound reasonable?

Yes, this sounds reasonable. I don't think we want images over 100K since it'll make page loading a bear for some people. We can always look at that as an edit issue, too. If someone adds a huge image, we just recompress it and upload it. Part of the self-policing system.

What is public property?

What is considered public property besides the obvious government owned things? For instance, there is a picture I took inside Game Preserve that has an unidentified person in it. Does that count as private since it is someone's store? What about sidewalks, campus, campus buildings, etc. ?

Generally, streets, sidewalks, and government buildings are public property. Most stores are private property and you should get permission before photographing (Game Preserve example above); if you have permission, that is pretty much carte blanche. If someone in the store looks at you oddly, ask them if they mind being in the picture and explain what it is for. If they aren't too keen, ask them to step aside or wait for them to leave your field of view, then snap away. This is being polite, you are within your legal bounds to photograph them if you have the owner's permission.

If you are on public property and can see *easily* into private property, you can take the picture without asking permission; this is *not* being a Peeping Tom. If the view into the private property is obscured (curtains, shutters, etc) then trying to work around the obstacle *is* being a Peeping Tom and you are at fault (and possibly a pervert). There is no copyright to one's image unless you make profit from the image; in that case you had better have a signed model release. Since the Bloomingpedia seems to be a not-for-profit and can be considered a source of news/information, you won't ever need a model release. Just be polite and ask first. I am not a lawyer, but I am a semi-pro photographer and I'm researching issues like this for my own needs. Chris 22:09, 22 February 2006 (GMT)