Friday Happy Hour: Lock Down Your Facebook Photos with McAfee & More

Friday Happy Hour: Lock Down Your Facebook Photos with McAfee & More

Sometimes it feels as though the Internet is a blessing and a curse – it opens so many doors, but that can be just the problem! A common concern for photographers is the ease with which people can steal their images, but moving forward we might turn to McAfee’s new Social Protection tool (at least for Facebook photos). And what blessings do we thank the Internet for this week? How about a telling interview with an Olympic photographer on the Lens blog, Art Wolfe’s brand new art project, and several other photo projects that were brought to our attention. Enjoy the roundup.

McAfee Social Protection locks down your photos on Facebook

Photographers have varying responses to Facebook’s copyright terms and conditions, and some worry that if they post their photos then they will get stolen. To ease your qualms, security software company McAfee has released a new tool called McAfee Social Protection. The tool uses a special browser plugin that must be used by anyone wishing to view your photos – anyone who isn’t using it will see blurred versions of your images.

McAfee’s systems represent a new approach to image protection because your photos are actually uploaded to their servers rather than Facebook’s. Plus, if someone tries to take a screenshot of your images via the “Print Screen” key, they’ll get a lock symbol – effectively preventing them from downloading or taking a screenshot.

McAfee Social Protection is scheduled to launch for PCs at the end of August, and will become available for Mac, iOS, and Android by the end of the year. (via PetaPixel)

New York Times photographer on shooting his 5th Olympics

Doug Mills, a New York Times staff photographer, is over in London shooting his fifth Summer Olympics. In an interview with James Estrin of the Lens blog, Doug discusses the restrictions on photographers at the games, how technology has changed the way he shoots, and how he gets those underwater swimming shots. The best line comes from answering, “Why do you do this? It’s exhausting, and no one is making you do it.” Says Doug, “I love it. I’m a competitor, too. I’m competing against other photographers; I’m competing against my body.” (via The Lens Blog)

Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times

The Human Canvas Project by Art Wolfe

Art Wolfe says his latest project, The Human Canvas Project, has actually been a work in progress from over 30 years traveling to remote cultures where nudity is the norm. The project combines his love for painting and photography, and while the resulting images are ultimately photographs, Art will tell you that they represent much more than that. We’re wholeheartedly impressed.

Photo by Art Wolfe

Photo by Art Wolfe

Photo by Art Wolfe

Art was also recently profiled in our free guide, Selling Nature Photography. Check it out for a firsthand interview with Art on how his 30+ year career has shaped his approach to the photo business.

Storytelling with silhouettes

Indonesia-based photo enthusiast  Hengki Lee finds a way to tell a complex story with his simple black and white silhouette images. Lee, whose photo series was featured this week on My Modern Met, says, “The idea behind my shots are simply about curiosity, dream, poetry and emotion. ‘The beauty of being different’ is the message I am trying to get across by portraying works which do not belong to the mainstream.” Lee’s shots are also usually composed of one lone subject in the midst of activity or sport. Check out a few of our favorite shots below and more on Lee’s 500x site.

Photo by Hengki Lee

Photo by Hengki Lee

Photo by Hengki Lee

The anatomy of a celebrity shoot

Ever wonder what goes on during a celebrity press junket shoot? Photographer Tim Rue has your answer: Tim recently shot Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones to promote their upcoming movie Hope Springs in USA Today, and relayed the play-by-play of the quick morning shoot to Wonderful Machine. Rue had four days advanced notice and roughly 45 minutes to set up; but one date change, one location switch, an angry publicists, and two minutes of shooting later – Rue had the wining frame. Check out the full rundown to see how the day played out.

Photo by Tim Rue

New Zealand photographer races to capture trail runners

Here’s an unknown breed of adventurer for you: trail runners. More than just running on hiking trails, trail running can encompass extreme conditions, dangerous peaks and drops, and often going long distances without encountering another human being. Unless, that is, you’re fortunate enough to come across New Zealand outdoor photographer Paul Petch, one of the so-called “lensmen” who capture the excitement and emotion of train running.

Paul was recently featured in Trail Runner Magazine and tell them, “I try not to over-complicate the process. When I look through the lens I focus on two things. One: in a technical sense, photography is all about light. Two: my job is to simplify what others get to see. Some aspects of poor light and conditions can be overcome using a good lens and understanding exposure.” Check out some of Paul’s images below, and then head over to his website at www.outdoorphotography.co.nz for more.

Photos by Paul Petch

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There is 1 comment for this article
  1. ST84Photography at 7:37 pm

    While I like the McAfee idea of preventing screen grabs, the concept of blocking views of the photo from anyone who doesn’t have the app means it’s more likely to fail – why would I bother uploading an image that no one can view?

    A better tool would be one that retained metadata on FB-shared photos, thus preventing loss of earnings through so-called “orphan work”. These days, all it takes for someone to rip off your images is for them to upload it to an FB account (not their own acc, most likely), then save it again, and then claim the image is an orphan work because there’s no metadata for contacting the owner with.

    That’s the bigger issue involved in theft from online images right now and, sadly, the McAfee app does absolutely nothing to address this.

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