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TWiP #167 – Death by Groupon

September 21, 2010 13 Comments

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On this episode of TWiP, iStock Photo makes some changes, a photographer learns how Groupon can easily be Mob-on, and architectural photography Jeffrey Totaro joins the team.

Hosts: Frederick Van Johnson, Syl Arena, and Jeffrey Totaro

NEWS & DISCUSSION

Special Guest Jeffrey Totaro Joins the TWiP Crew
Jeffrey discusses his experiences as an architectural photographer after a career in architecture and structural engineering. Highlighting the challenges of shooting exclusively on medium format cameras, the team looks at how various tools are used to capture the light.

iStock Angers Contributors With New Royalty Formula
After announcing changes to the royalty structure a number of contributors expressed outrage over the potential financial repercussions to their businesses. Hopefully in an upcoming episode of TWiP Rich Legg or Nicole Young can join in to share their thoughts on recent changes with iStockphoto.

Photographer Accused of Fraud via Groupon
Atlanta photographer Dana Dawes posts a deal that was too good to be true through the bargain website Groupon. As the story unfolded several allegations of stolen images and the inability to schedule 1000+ clients in a reasonable time frame led to the cancellation of the deal. More information about the photographers involved is available at Dana Dawes Photography and Tanya Shields Photography, along with all the drama direct from the Groupon posting.

Egyptian Newspaper Doctors Peace Talk Photo
An Egyptian newspaper manipulates an image from the Mideast Peace Talks so that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak walked in front of other diplomats. This story questions both the ethical and technical approaches to digital image manipulation by news agencies.

Original Image

Original Image

Altered Image

Altered Image

Source PDN Pulse

LISTENER QUESTIONS

QUESTION #1: From Sassamatt: I have been looking into migrating from my Nikon half sensor to a full sensor, and looking at the samples to see how the quality would improve. I can see no difference between the pixelation point on the half (D80) or full sensor (D700). They appear to be the same! How can this be?

Syl: The larger the sensor the shallower depth of field will be. Technical issues aside, don’t look for more pixels look for better pixels.

Jeffrey: The effective field of view can be a major factor for choosing between crop and full frame sensors depending on the subjects you’re shooting.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

WRAP UP

Follow us on www.twitter.com/ThisWeekInPhoto

Join the Flickr critique group. You can also join our Facebook group.

Frederick Van Johnson – www.frederickvan.com and www.twitter.com/frederickvan

Syl Arena – www.speedliting.com and www.twitter.com/syl_arena

Jeffrey Totaro – www.jeffreytotaro.com and www.twitter.com/jeffreytotaro

CREDITS

TWiP is brought to you by SquareSpace – the fast and easy way to publish a high-quality web site or blog. For a free trial and 10% off your new account, go to – Squarespace.com/twip, offer code TWiP. Be sure to check out the brand new Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter widgets that are now available. Check out www.squarespace.com/examples to see some great sites create with SquareSpace.

TWiP is also sponsored by Audible.com, the leading provider in spoken word entertainment. Audible has over 75,000 titles to choose from to be downloaded and played back anywhere. Visit Audiblepodcast.com/twip for a free audiobook of your choice. This week’s picks from Frederick: KaChing by Joel Comm, Jeffrey: The Great Bridge by David McCullough and Havana Nocturne by T.J. English, and Syl: The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre by Dominic Smith.

Producer: Suzanne Llewellyn

Bandwidth provided by Cachefly. Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro

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  • TanyaShieldsPhotography

    HI guys!! Thanks so much for cahtting about the Groupon scandal! As one of the many photographers caught up in this, I think I can speak for all when I say that we appreciate you telling the story relatively accurately (unlike CBS Atlanta!).

    Unfortunately, you incorrectly indentified me as the photographer for Morgaine Owens stolen “baby in hands” image. While two of my own images WERE stolen (maternity & newborn) this was not one of them.

    Given the nature of this scandal, and it’s swift travel through the internet world, I wanted to set the record straight ASAP.

    Cheers, Tanya Shields
    Halifax, Nova Scotia
    CANADA

  • FullMetalPhotographer

    I hate to say this guys but you got the DX and FX wrong. The Depth of field does not change when you change from DX to FX format. http://bit.ly/9AXBVf

  • jeffreytotaro

    Hi FullMetal:
    One thing I like to think of in regard to depth of field is easier actually in a film example. Yes, for a given lens DOF will not change with format for a given shot. However if you change lenses between 2 formats to achieve a similar field of view, then the DOF will change. For example, a 90mm on a 4×5 film camera, gives a similar angle of view as a 180mm lens on 8×10 (an extreme example perhaps but good for illustration), but the 180mm lens has less DOF (shallower) than the 90mm, since it is a longer lens. So for a larger format you get less DOF in this example.

  • FullMetalPhotographer

    Hi jeffreytotaro,
    You are right and wrong. I have shot 4×5 and medium format. You are correct about film formats, but digital is different. This is why.
    The companies did not adjust the distance between the lens and the sensor plain. They kept it the same. So what you have is literally a cropped sensor. With the film formats they adjust the focus distance for coverage the format. so you would pull the lens further back from the film plain. You change the focal length.

    That is the difference. If you want to see an example of this take a Nikon D3 or D700 and you can change Put a FX lens on one these bodies then take a photo. Now manually change camera format to DX, then and take a photo. You will find the focus will stay the same and the DOF will be the same the only thing that will change is the crop. This was the easiest way for 35mm film camera companies to go digital with the least amount of change.

    In fact Kodak converted 35mm cameras like the F5 by place APS sensors into digital cameras.

  • jeffery saddoris

    Frederick-

    Thanks very much for mentioning our “Shut up and shoot” shirts on the show and as one of your picks of the week. We hope people dig them and enjoy the community at http://fadedandblurred.com

    Jeffery

  • http://brooknjeremy.org JeremyP55

    What happened to the Photo Mission? It has been missing for a few shows?

    Jeremy

  • blaggers

    Shouldn’t freds pick of the week be the 7000, not the 700 he mentioned?

  • http://www.frederickvan.com Frederick

    Whoops, I mean’t to say D7000! Though the D700 is currently my fav body.

  • http://www.adambindslev.dk adambindslev

    Great episode – but maybe a little too much emphasis on the business of photography. I would suspect (looking at the forum), that only a very small subset of the listeners are professionals who are trying to make a living from photography. Not that the discussions about iStock, copyright and so on are not relevant for all os us – but it might take up a bit too much on the show.

    And in the discussion about iStock it was quite appearent that the hosts had a disregard towards the “weekend warriors” that are not professional dedicated iStockers … I would think that some listeners might have felt a bit insulted by that. You can be serious about photography without being able, willing or daring to take the plunge into being a full time pro. That should not be dismissed.

    I would have written this (rather lengthy piece) in the forum – but I have a feeling that the hosts are not really following the forum – at least none of you are responding in there.

    Still love the show

    Adam

  • libbyneder

    Just discovered this podcast. I’ve been shooting for about two years now, and I’m thirsty for every scrap of knowledge I can find. I’ve been trolling itunes for a good photography podcast and yours BLOWS everyone else AWAY. Also…I NEED that Canon 70-200 mug. Thanks!

  • mcfoto

    Hey guys – great podcast. I am a pro-shooter from New Zealand and have been enjoying the podcast stuff for a month now. But man you gotta send me one of those canon mugs man they are cool!!!

  • http://www.ninkasi.com ninkasi

    Amazingly after hearing the podcast, saw that an Australian version of Groupon was doing something similar (http://www.ouffer.com/ouffer/179). In this case I don’t think that the photographer is trying to do a scam – he’s simply an enthusiastic amateur photographer trying to start a business. Looking through his sample photos (http://www.alvinwong.com.au/), a few look good, many are ordinary, and some are well…. highlites are blown out, focus points are off, horizons are sloping, I wouldn’t have put them up as examples of my work I gotta say. Good luck to him though.

    So far 59 people have taken up the one hour session – as he says it will be done by “his team” there is no guarantee that you will get him so it’s quite possible that you will get a different enthusiastic amateur taking the happy snaps…. this also means that even if a couple of hundred people sign up it could be managed relatively quickly….. as a means of starting up a business it’s not a bad way of doing it though – you get experience, people aren’t overcharged as you’re learning, but the price is a once off “special” so established photographers with experience don’t get hurt.

    So for the price of one of those staged photo shoots in a shopping centre, you get a “CD with up to 20 high res” (so not raw) candid photos taken with a DSLR – bound to be one or two shots that are ok…. again, I can see a need for this sort of thing with a lot of people only owning the camera that’s in their mobile phone, and not being able to afford a “proper” photographer, and not interested in the shopping centre option…. so good on him. I wish him luck!

  • random

    Im sitting here in England and I’ve never heard of ‘Groupon’ or the concept. I can’t see how it could work for *anything* as an open ended commitment. So I Google it a bit and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s all some sort of American April Fool’s thing – in September. I found another ‘photography deal’ on Groupon and it had me rolling on the floor (Sarah Esther & her cowboy dolphins…). So ha ha well done had me fooled for a while!!
    Best Wishes
    -random