Code Of Ethics For Photography

I found interesting topics about code of ethics for photography. An article I pulled up from this link gives us guidelines of photography code of ethics especially for photographing people. While an article from this source gives us insights of photographing wildlife. And for those interested in photojournalism a guideline from this link may help you. Here is those articles:

1. Photo Ethics: Aim High When You Shoot

Chitrabani, a Christian communication center in Calcutta, India, has developed a set of guidelines for still photography which provide thoughtful insights for all who go around ‘shooting pictures.

What to Photograph

What you shoot and how you shoot is determined by why you shoot and whom you shoot for.

Then photographing people do not treat them as if they were things.

Do not take people’s pictures, give images, especially to the imageless.

Never depict people as useless or inadequate. It is their helplessness which has to be Shown.

Do not invade anybody’s privacy except when it is necessary for depicting certain social situations.

Yet, boldly reach into personal life, bearing in mind that the photographs you take are your brothers’ and sisters.

How to Photograph

Never art for art’s sake, just try to make the best possible picture.

There is no need to prettify people and objects; they have their beauty, and a good photograph exudes beauty.

Sensationalism diverts attention from the essential.

Shun extra long lenses. A short lens draws you near your subject.

Try to establish a rapport with the person you photograph.

Social Concern

Let not your photographs drift away from context.

Earn the right to see what you wish to show.

Your social concern is to document life with empathy.

Be true to the image people want to have of themselves, but at the same time do show what you believe is their real image. The dignity of the poor, in particular, demands that their situation be known.

A documentary coverage can never be total. Complete a biased image by another biased image.

Be an iconoclast – a destroyer of established images.

Your Public

Photos should not be used to exploit the persons portrayed.

Refrain from showing a photograph if undesirable manipulation cannot be averted.

Your photos have no place in art shows.

Lending your photographs for “illustrating” articles that have hardly anything to do with the persons photographed is like lending your voice to somebody else’s speech.

Destroy the myth that photographs are duplicates of reality.

Ethical documentary photography is not your sole responsibility. But your photographs encourage certain responses in the viewer.

2. Wildlife photography ethics

First and foremost, view wildlife from a safe distance for both you and them. Respect their spatial needs. If the animal interrupts its behavior (resting, feeding, etc.), then you are too close and must distance yourself.

Never force an action. Be patient! The most beautiful photographs result from natural action.

Never come between a parent and its offspring. I’ve seen tiny bear cubs distressed, treed then separated from their mother by a throng of tourists eager for a closer look. This is unacceptable behavior.

Never crowd, pursue, prevent escape, make deliberate noises to distract, startle or harass wildlife. This is stressful and wastes valuable energy in needless flight. The impact is cumulative. Consider that you may be the 65th person to yell “hey moose” at that animal that day while it’s attempting to tend to its young.

Never feed or leave food (baiting) for wildlife. Habituation due to handouts can result in disease or even death of that animal and injury to you.

Never encroach on nests or dens as certain species will abandon their young.

Never interfere with animals engaged in breeding, nesting, or caring for young.

Learn to recognize wildlife alarm signals and never forget that these animals are NOT tame no matter how docile or cuddly they appear. No one would argue that you should not try to pet a bull yet there have been numerous instances where a tourist attempted to have his/her photo taken next to a bison with disastrous consequences.

Do not damage or remove any plant, life form or natural object. Do pack out trash.

Acquaint yourself with and respect the behaviors and ecosystems of the wildlife you may encounter. By doing so, you will enrich your experience tremendously.

Finally, and most significant, remember that the welfare of the subject and habitat are irrefutably more important than the photograph.

3. Photojournalism Code of Ethics

Photojournalists and those who manage visual news productions are accountable for upholding the following standards in their daily work:

Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects.

Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.

Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording subjects. Avoid stereotyping individuals and groups. Recognize and work to avoid presenting one’s own biases in the work.

Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see.

While photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events.

Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images’ content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.

Do not pay sources or subjects or reward them materially for information or participation.

Do not accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage.

Do not intentionally sabotage the efforts of other journalists.

Ideally, photojournalists should:

Strive to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in public. Defend the rights of access for all journalists.

Think proactively, as a student of psychology, sociology, politics and art to develop a unique vision and presentation. Work with a voracious appetite for current events and contemporary visual media.

Strive for total and unrestricted access to subjects, recommend alternatives to shallow or rushed opportunities, seek a diversity of viewpoints, and work to show unpopular or unnoticed points of view.

Avoid political, civic and business involvements or other employment that compromise or give the appearance of compromising one’s own journalistic independence.

Strive to be unobtrusive and humble in dealing with subjects.

Respect the integrity of the photographic moment.

Strive by example and influence to maintain the spirit and high standards expressed in this code. When confronted with situations in which the proper action is not clear, seek the counsel of those who exhibit the highest standards of the profession. Photojournalists should continuously study their craft and the ethics that guide it.

Converging Lines For Better Framing.

When framing a landscape shot one of the types of environmental features that many photographers look for and like to incorporate in their shots is converging lines.

Perhaps the classic example (and one that’s probably been overdone) of converging lines are railway tracks.

Position yourself in the middle of two tracks (after taking a look at what might be coming from behind) and you’ll see the two tracks on either side of you appear to get closer and closer together as they go into the distance.

Take this shot and the natural reaction for those looking at the scene will be for them to follow the lines off into the distance. In a sense the two lines act like a funnel which directs the gaze of those entering them in a certain direction.

The same effect can be achieved with roads or pathways, converging fence lines, a set of stairs, power lines or virtually any other lines that run parallel into the distance or that actually converge at some point.

What Can Make a Line?Almost anything can create a line within a photograph. There are three main categories of lines that can be used in leading lines. These are: natural, man-made, and suggested.

Natural

Natural leading lines are things such as rivers, tree tops, edges of flower patches, geese flying in formation, or even an alligator’s tail. Anything that creates a continuing line within your frame can be used as a leading line.

ManMade

Manmade leading lines are lines that do not naturally occur in nature. Manmade lines can be things such as roads, power lines, rooftops, fences, rows of windows or doors, support structures for bridges, or the bridges themselves. As with natural lines, the composition of the line isn’t important as long as it creates a solid pathway for the eye to follow.

Suggested

This is where leading lines gets a touch tricky, and perhaps a little controversial. Not everyone calls a suggested leading line part of the leading line composition rule. Because it falls into lines, I prefer to consider it part of leading lines rather than a wholly separate tool. A suggested leading line is a broken line or an absent line that is strongly suggested by the positioning of items within the frame. These suggested leading lines are most frequently due to line of vision. This is when a subject in the frame is looking directly at a specific point with nothing between the two to visually separate them. For example, a person holding an apple and looking at the worm crawling out of the apple with the background strongly blurred between the face and the apple/worm. In addition to the lack of separating objects between two points in a suggested leading line, it works best when the distance between the points is the shortest comfortable route for the eye to take. This means that while the distance might be longer for the eye to wander around the frame a bit, if another composition tool is present that suggests a different visual path (say the rule of thirds), the eye will follow the other progression of sight instead of the suggested leading line. In other words, if in our hypothetical subject looking at the apple/worm photo there was a large bee on a rule of thirds intersection point above the main subject’s head, the eye of your viewer would be drawn away from the suggested leading line to that blasted bee so that the visual path might be subject-bee-apple/worm instead of subject-apple/worm. Use caution when attempting a suggested leading line as the composition has to be just right for it to work strongly. However, if everything comes together properly it is a powerful option for a leading line.

Do the Lines Have to be Straight?No, lines do not have to be straight. In fact, some of the most interesting lines are curved or even looped. As long as there is a definite path for the viewer’s eyes to follow, the line can take any path you wish. For example, a twisted road leading up a mountain still works as a leading line although it takes the eye through a twisted path within the photo.

Using Sets of Lines TogetherOne of the most obvious and often used lines is a railroad. The rails themselves are strong lines that are usually in strong contrast with the surroundings. However, the gravel beside the tracks creates lines and the tree tops (or power poles) following the tracks create even more lines. Because these lines all work together and run in the same direction, the strength of the railroad line is greatly increased by the support of the secondary lines around it.

You can also use converging lines together. A flock of geese in a V formation is actually two lines coming together at the point of the V. In this case you have two lines joining and the eye follows those two lines like an arrow pointing to the intersection of the line.

Conflicting Lines just like some lines can be used to strengthen each other, others can fight each other and confuse the composition. Crosshatch wire on fences is a good example of this confusion. There are so many crosses of the wire that it stops the eye from moving anywhere in the photo. Roads intersected by multiple power lines and trees growing out of people’s heads are good examples as well. Any time lines break another line they run the risk of creating confusion. If you use crossing lines you must be very careful to have something of interest at the intersection or the lines will conflict with the rest of the composition