Amazing Public Domain Images

One of the few photographs to show the Earth in its entirety, The Blue Marble was shot on December 7, 1972 from Apollo 17 as it left orbit on the way to the moon. Officially, the photograph is credited to the entire crew, but it was mostly likely to have been taken by Jack Schmitt using a 70mm Hasselblad. It was the last time that humans have been high enough to shoot the entire Earth in one frame and is one of the most widely distributed images in the world.
Image courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center

Photopreneur has a great write up on some public domain images that are simple outstanding. Many times when you see these images it means that someone has paid to enable you to see that image as photopreneur points out, whether it is the publisher, the ad company or the buyer.

Photopreneur points out that, "when it comes to photography, some of the best things really are free. That’s because copyright only lasts as long as the owner’s lifetime plus around seventy years so many images have fallen into the public domain, and also because one of the biggest sources of images is the US government. And because the government serves the citizens, the citizens own the images."


This photograph of a jellyfish was shot by Henry Kaiser of the National Science Foundation under the Ross Sea ice in October 2005. It's a pretty amazing example of a free image.
Photography: Henry Kaiser




The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI/AURA), ESA, NASA

Explanation: The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts. Pictured above is one of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy. This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than common fire. The greater Eagle Nebula, M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust inside of which is a growing cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an open cluster of stars. The above image in scientifically re-assigned colors was released as part of the fifteenth anniversary celebration of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Creators of Content- Listen up for Copyright Clarification

PACA or to those that don't know the Picture Archive Council of America has produced a PowerPoint presentation which provides a ton of very valuable information regarding copyright law in the US and how it applies to the use of imagery in advertising, the news media and fine art. You can download the presentation here on it's website and is a must review for all creators and users of photography.

Topics that are covered range from what copyright protects and the length of the protection, as well as highlight such topics as fair use, what is an infringement and what is not, and explains how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be used to remove infringing works from the Internet. A Must Read.

You will find answers for:

* When do you acquire copyright protection?
* What is and isn't protected?
* What rights does the owner control?
* How long does copyright protection last?
* How to define Public Domain?
* Is copyright notice needed?
* Who owns copyright?
* Can copyright be transferred?
* Limitations on owner's rights
* Definition of Fair Use?
* Why should you worry about copyright?
* Who is responsible?


A lot of the terms that they are trying to clarify in the presentation have gray areas and multiple meanings depending on who you speak to. Nancy Wolff, PACA’s legal counsel and an expert on copyright law, was the creator of the PowerPoint presentation but she came up with all the language to help others understand the terms and usages for us non lawyer types. I'd be interested to hear what others say about how she defines terms and the case studies she picks. These are all very hard terms to define and pinpoint.

If you have a bit of free time and want to learn more about Copyright and topics related this is a good use of your time.