h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know the volunteer page says:

'...you need to be capable of more than just photo manipulation'

but what does that actually mean?

I've done a bit of tinkering with some photos of haws on a hawthorn tree, and I reckon the results are more Community Artist than Photographer. See what you think:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/skankyrich/Hawthorn

I can also do banners based on photographs - an example is the top banner on http://www.h2g2aviators.com

If you think I'll be of any use to you, give me a shout; if not, then not

Hallo skankyrich -- The problem that the BBC perceives with photo manipulation has to do with ownership and copyright issues. They are extremely nervous about this and our editors will always play it safe when it comes to photographic content. Therefore it's preferred that we do original art.

I think I recognize the filter you're using on the hawthorn image, and it's a nice result: I did a series of images for scenic notecards with a filter called Buzzpro, and they sell well. But I wouldn't classify them with the art I did for the Community Artists. Others may disagree with me.

Lil

Thanks for coming back to me so quickly, Lil. I understand absolutely what you're saying; it's just that I find the artistic possibilities of Photoshop so interesting that I couldn't avoid asking the question any longer

The only point I would query with you is that there is already a Photographers' group, which appear to be fairly well trusted on photographic content. I can quite easily get my photographs accepted through that group. I haven't asked the group about manipulated photos, but I would imagine that the group would feel they're more artistic works than photographs, and therefore less acceptable than 'straight' shots.

So the Community Artists would be worried about ownership but not creativity, but the Photographers would be worries about creativity but not ownership, I guess (the Photographers take everything on trust).

I'd like to think that the line would be a little more blurry than that, but if not that's fine, too. I'm always happy to be involved if I have something to offer, but if I don't, that's fine as well