P3D Re: Computer Graphics, artistry and photography

[jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Gabriel Jacob)]

John Roberts writes,
>Even this restricted topic has some interesting points to
>consider. For example, suppose somebody creates a
>"virtual Manhattan", with great care to accuracy of depiction,
>and I find some point of view that makes a particularly striking
>picture, but which neither the creator of the digital file nor
>the architects of the city envisioned? 

Oh wow, that's exactly what I was thinking about too! I was
contemplating this dilemma but originally passed on posting any
thoughts on this. Now that John brings it up, I will. :-)

Harold Baize's argument is a good one but is not so black and white.
I thought of some of the points Ray Zone brought up but couldn't
have formulated my thoughts down as well as he did. I think there
was a court case a few years ago where a photographer was selling
pictures of a famous tree which also happened to be the trademark
of some company (I forget the details). The court ruling on this
was since it was a "public" tree, the photographer could sell his
images and the company didn't have exclusive rights to the trees
image. 

John Robert's point of the "virtual Manhattan" is a good one. I
was trying to come to grips about this but couldn't. One major
difference between John's and Harold's computer model example
is one of scale. In Harold's example the "artist" is only
presenting an object or very limited objects. Albeit they
can be viewed in almost infinite points of view. 

In John's example, the "artist" is not really trying to
portray a virtual image but rather a virtual place. These
virtual environements are designed primarily for exploring
and not to make any kind of presentation.

Traditionally in these virtual environments, computer snap-
shots haven't been restricted by the people or companies that
created these places. They have been used in books, internet,
and by individuals without any stipulation on how these images
taken from these environements would be used. But now there
are environements where even this is starting to be restricted.

Regardless of any restrictions there should be some
acknowledgment on the part of the image-taker/manipulator of
where the image originates from. The question though, boils
down to...
If there are no restrictions and proper credit is given, is
it fair to enter such an image in a competition?

Gabriel



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