Hello to everyone! This is my second? post. Maybe my first, not actally sure.
Since I could not find a forum or thread dedicated to Ethics, I guessed. Maybe the Coffee Klatch is a good place for my question.
I've got a really cool photo, that I thought up, designed, and set up. (I don't know yet how to post photos here....) I call it "self portrait."
It is a panorama of beautiful trees, surrounding a large pond, with ducks. And I am standing on the bank, taking pictures.
Since there was really no way I could have set up my small Minolta point-n-shoot camera, and known how to pose "me" in the picture I wanted, I took a friend with me. She is the same height and build I am.
So I posed HER. I looked through the lens, got the edges of the picture so I knew what to leave in, and avoid on the edges.
Then, I went over to her, put a twig where her right toe was, and where her left heel was, so I knew exactly where ***I*** would stand.
Then, I told her how to set up the camera. I said, for instance, "Leave out the concrete "pad" under the bench. I don't want that to show up on the Right. And be sure to get the very tip of the distant cedar tree, straight ahead. Stand so that you are in the shade from the bushes on the left...etc etc
I had her take three or four shots.
Well, only ONE of the several she took turned out. The rest, she didn't follow my directions!
The ONE turned out splendidly.
Now: Is this really my self portrait or not? Can I take full credit, that this is an original shot, or not? If not, how do I say what it **is**? I would like to exhibit it, and sell it.
Do I need to get a permission slip signed by my friend to exhibit it and sell it? Should I give her a cut in what I make from any sale?
flo