Is there a protocol for taking photos?

Should you ask before you get snappy happy?

Before I get down to my questions I would just like to thank all of you who answer questions in the forums. I have learnt so much here during the very brief time I have spent in SL.

My questions are about taking photographs. I would like to know:

1. Is it the 'done thing' to get permission from avatars or land owners before taking a photo?

2. Can I tell if someone is taking a photo of me, ie is there a pop-up or sound that tells me a photo has been taken?

Thanks in advance for your wise (and wise-cracking) assistance.

Mimmi

If you're doing "snapshot" in-world you get a camera sound and your avatar does a 'phototaking' type of animation, so yes people will know.

If, however, you use the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard and paste into an art program... nobody will know

If you're just taking pictures for your own enjoyment, it's probably not that important to 'ask permission' ... although courteous. If, however, you're planning to use them on a website or some other commercial thing to demonstrate SL, you probably should ask permission.

I couldn't care less if people take a picture of me and stick it up on flickr or something, but not everyone feels that way. One well known avatar tried to "copyright" herself to stop people using her in images - after a famous griefing episode where a big presentation/announcement to gathered media representatives was disripted by a flood of dancing penises - which, however, backfired as the more she tried to make an issue of it and get the images/movies removed, more and more people put them up and it became a very famous clip in Youtube and other places.

Broccoli

Hi Mimi and welcome to the forum

To your second question first........ No, you can't tell whether someone is taking a picture of you personally, but you can tell whether a picture is being taken around you by the camera noise... unless someone is taking a "quiet snapshot to disk" (setting in the snapshot window).

As to your first question....
I'd say if you're taking pics for your own personal enjoyment and don't post them or use them elsewhere you're fine.
If you're taking pics of your friends to share with friends and such, I'd say you don't need to worry.
If you're taking pics of public spaces and posting them elsewhere to share fun places to explore, I'd say your fine.
However, I take pics of musicians at live gigs all the time and tend to post them on Flickr and I do usually ask whether they would mind. But I'm weird that way.
Now..... if you're taking pictures of people doing private things in their private homes........ I'd say

Thanks Broccoli and Sally. Those were exactly the answers I needed.

If I want to take a pic of something awesome, and there are avatars in the frame, then, as I suspected, it would be polite to ask if a photo would be ok (just like in RL hey?).

And standard fair use would apply to taking pics of other stuff that you might want to show to a friend, eg awesome architecture or landscaping.

But for using pics in public forums (blogs, web pages etc), get permission!

Cool.

As an aside to Broccolli's aside, way back whenever, before I had even contemplated diving into the maelstrom that is SL, I watched a doco on SL and that particular griefing episode was featured. So thanks for the most excellent reminiscence worm.

Cheers, Mimmi

?
Post them here for all to see ?
Put them on a megapprim ?
Offer to delet them on payment of a substantial fee ?
What ?
finish that sentence dammit

I always ask before I take pics while doing the naughty stuff

but I always send my partners copies of the pics anyway

That's the official policy.

***takes a few snaps of kitty as she reads from the rule book 'all official' like

But doesn't that fall under the:



lol, don't mind me.. it's late and I couldn't stop laughing.

It's not late and now I can't stop laughing

/me checks the calendar

Typical Lindenspeak... define "reasonable", it's different to every person.

Broccoli

Hey!

I would have actually just posted it as-is, but you can't just post a quote without some "real" text .

Darn does that mean the nude Adam and Eve campers I photographed in mall I should delete? I was hoping to make a painting someday of them

I'd think it would be pretty obvious on a case-by-case basis.

If you're doing something in a public place with 10 other avies around you, you can't think you have any privacy. Anyone there could take a picture.

If you're doing something in a public place with only one other person there, you could reasonably assume the two of you have some privacy. Someone peeking and snapshotting from a sim away would be out of line in my opinion. If someone else tp's in you fall into the above scenario with no expectation of privacy.

If you're doing something in a non-places listed parcel (that you actually own/rent) you could reasonably assume you have some privacy there and someone who simply tp's over (or stands outside camming in) and starts taking piccies would be out of line as well.

The only way you'd know someone took the pictures is if they started handing them out/displaying them anyway, in which case you're simply harassing. I simply see the quoted bit as a warning, the same way we have a "rule" about not sharing chat logs *shrugs*.

If I want to photograph another person, I always ask. If I want to photograph an object, I never ask. I'm afraid it will answer.

About camera sounds, if you are using your alt-camera to view someone from far away, can they still hear the camera if you take a picture?

Yes, and it might object.

--
Aes

If you enable the Client menu (CTRL+ALT+DEBUG) there's a 'Quiet Snapshots to Disk' function that lets you silently take snapshots using the snapshot-to-disk feature only (it's either ALT+~ or CTRL+~). If I'm taking a photo of a really funny looking newbie or whatever, that's what I do.

If it's just an interesting looking avatar that I'd like to remember, I ask.

If it's just my friends, I don't ask- just take the pics.

Just like "save chat log/im history", the "Quiet Snapshots to Disk" function never works for me.

You should also be aware that you can hide avatars (all of them) using the Client menu (under Rendering and then the first submenu). I think the keyboard equivalent is shift-control-alt-4. This way you can take pictures of landscapes and builds without the avs showing.

I suggest waiting a few seconds after hiding avs before taking pictures though. I haven't noticed it recently, but "hide avs" used to also hide other things like linden trees and certain scripted objects in my client, but they would usually show up again after 5-10 seconds (just leaving the avs hidden).

"Quiet Snapshots to Disk" works fine for me.. I thought I was having problems until I realized that I have to turn it on again every session I need it.

-d

Is there any way to hide avs and buildings? Like.. anything not a linde tree or something? Lol.... that would be awesome...

Or just hide everything but terrain would be cool too..that possible?

Yep, and I use it quite a lot!

Client menu --> Rendering --> (first and second submenus)

If I remember correctly, shift-control-alt-(number) does:
1: simple objects (prims with no scripting and maybe no alpha)
2: ?
3: linden trees
4: avs
5: surface patch (the ground)
6, 7, and 8: I think ground (in the horizon), water, and sky, not sure which order
9: all prims (including people's prim clothes, which is fun
0 and - : linden grasses and I think particles (not sure which is which)

Hmmm... I know clouds is in there somewhere too. The second submenu has other things like fog.

For picture taking, you can also remove individual objects from the picture. Somewhere in the client menu (I think under rendering) is "hide selected", which makes everything you've selected in edit mode totally transparent. You can still see the yellow and blue outlines, but they won't show in the picture (unless you have "show UI" turned on).

ETA: I also find hiding things useful for (a) reducing lag when you don't need to see certain things around you, and (b) building. I have a large meadow covered with linden trees and linden grasses, but if I want to build there I can just hide them and build like the field is totally empty (which works because they are phantom and can't be selected while hidden).

i like taking what i call action shots, just random shots of av's doing things, dancing, hugging, chatting, what ever mixes in with there environment, some of the stuff i'v taken looks great with a little bit of cut and edit.

some people when they hear the camera noise go a bit mental tho, i can't go and ask them first if i can take the shot as then it'll no longer be a 'action shot' usually they settle down after i give them a copy but i'm quite surprised at how crazy some people get about you taking photo's of there AV.

so if your in a situation to ask perhaps it's best to, hell they'll most likely pose for you. but if your not in that situation just take a quite picture so you don't upset anyone

I usually don't take shots at all, but I don't care if people do around me. I'd like to take more, but I always forget. At any rate, one of the nicest things someone has done was when I took Lexxi flying in the biplane - we had a blast, and at the end of the evening, she sent me a whole slew of pictures she had taken of us in the plane and her car. I was so busy concentrating on not crashing into the mountains that I didn't even know she had been taking them. What a great little gift to remember the evening by!

ok - I know that was off-topic a little. It just reminded me of that.