What Makes a Picture a Portrait?

Jean-Paul Sartre, 1946, by Henri Cartier-Bresson

While proctoring today I was flipping through some books I picked up at the library. The first I looked at was A Virtual Zoo by Frank Horvat, a book comprised of digital composites of zoo animals placed on wilderness backgrounds. Maybe it was the purposeful disparity between location and habitat, but I didn't really get into it.

Then I picked up Tete a Tete by Henri Cartier-Bresson ("HCB"), a legendary french photographer (if only I knew how to do accents in Blogger!). For the record, my favorite photograph is HCB's Behind the Gare St. Lazare, Paris. Everytime I look at it I can feel the lone figure just taking off and flying away. Anyway... Tete a Tete is a compilation of many of HCB's portraits including legendary figures like Picasso, Faulkner, Jung, Monroe (Marilyn, that is), Stravinsky, and many others. While reading it, I finally realized the difference between a picture and a portrait.

Wait, let me back up a bit.

Lately, I've been pondering what makes a good portrait for purely practical reasons. If I am going to photograph my friends and their children, I need to know what will please them. Also, I've been thinking more and more about doing some senior pictures for some of the students I meet in my other job. But in order to do these shoots, and do them well, I need to know what to aim for.

Obviously, the technicals need to be right, such as focus, shutter speed, depth of field, composition, and dynamic range. I still haven't completely mastered that stuff but I am getting there. But what takes a photo from a snapshot to a portrait that the parents and grandparents want to stick on the mantle and brag about? For senior pictures, what will please both Jane, Jane's parents, and make all Jane's friends go on and on about how it looks just like her?

Well, E. H. Gombrich's introduction to Tete a Tete cleared that up. Pictures stop a moment in time. Portraits are pictures where the captured moment represents the personality of the subject. Put another way, portraits capture an essence of the subject's personality.

Note I say an essence. Good portraits will capture one element of a person's personality: her happiness, his authority, her anxiety, his pain... Depending on the purpose of the portrait, certain elements might be prized. For public figures, especially in historical portraits, the public persona is what is prized, so the portraits are strict, authoritative, and show the subject as very strong. Other portraits are designed to show the softer side of the subject, such as maternity portraits.

To take it a step further, great portraits capture more than one element of a personality. Everyone has multiple sides to their personality -- I act differently around my kids than I do at work or when I play poker with my buddies. In order to teach, I often feel that I need to put on a character, an exageration of me who is more extroverted, more engaging, and more lively. While it is easy to capture a single expression, it is difficult to capture an expression nuanced with more than one aspect of the subject's personality. If you can capture the decisive moment (HCB's term), the portrait will appeal to a large audience. Furthermore, those that don't even know the subject will be drawn in and engaged and feel a connection with someone they've never met. The Mona Lisa smile is more than just a happy smile.

Returning to Tete a Tete, Plate 47 (reproduced at the top of this entry) is an excellent example of a multi-dimensional portrait. Jean-Paul Sartre caught my eye and I was immediately drawn in, learning new things second by second about the person and photographic artistry. First, I examined Sartre himself: intelligent, thoughtful, distracted. Wait! His eyes are looking in different directions! Who is he talking to? Then, the background drew me in: a bridge, probably Paris, misty buildings, a few out of focus figures. And then back to Sartre: this is the place he inhabits, his environment. After all, it should always return to the subject in the end.

Simply beautiful.

So, how can I please my clients? Capture personality as much as possible. Personality is contained in facial expression, posture, gaze, location, and props, among other things. Of course, all of that stuff is hard to keep in mind as you struggle with the technical stuff. It should get easier with practice though.

And, if I want to be a portrait artist instead of a simple photographer, it needs to be done.

Running This Blog: Addendum

This morning, when I was playing with the new Google Analytics, I realized a few things which I wanted to add to the original Running This Blog post. Instead of modifying that post, I decided I had enough material to make a new post. But read the original post first!

I'm still getting used to the new Google Analytics interface. I will say the look is much nicer (see right; if the screenshot looks funny it is because it is from my Linux machine at work). The new interface also seems to have more capabilities in terms of drilling down to specific data. For example, how many people visited today? Where were they from? What pages do people in California look at? What web sites did they come from?

Backlinks

The first important revelation is that my traffic from Strobist is not bounces off Technorati, it is from the backlinks on Strobist. Backlinks are a list of pages on Blog*Spot (and other places -- I'm not exactly sure what or who is responsible for tracking them) which link to a given page. So, when I looked at the sources in the new GA this morning, I could actually find out where the references came from (see the bottom of the lede above).

Turns out, by linking to Strobist, Strobist automatically linked back to me in a very relevant fashion. My most popular page over the last three weeks is AoaP: eBay Lens. If you look at the Strobist referring page (the second $10 DIY Macro page) I'm the third link down. Not too shabby. It probably helps a lot that the title of my post shows my page will be useful to them. Looking through the info on GA, I found that all of my popular pages are popular due to backlinks on Strobist. I also vaguely remember the Strobist post that mentioned the backlinks, but then promptly forgot about it until today.

I went ahead and enabled backlinks here and figured out a few things. First, it will add backlinks for your own pages. This could be useful as a secondary site-navigation method if you do a lot of self-linking to help people get around your blog (like I do). Second, it will backlink to sites not on Blog*Spot: I have had a backlink on at least one page which looked like some sort of blog post aggregator. Third, since the blog owner can delete links, I got rid of the link above because it doesn't lead anywhere useful.

Backlinks are really helpful things for a blog-owner: not only will Blogger build a list of useful links for you, you can control which links show up. It even shows a little preview of what is in the linked page if you click the triangle!

Signal to Noise Ratio

While I was pondering the deeper meaning of backlinks (you can tell I'm a computer scientist) I realized why Strobist is such a fabulous site: it has a high signal to noise ratio. But, maybe it is best to explain the signal to noise ratio (SNR) in terms of digital photography.

All digital imaging chips have a certain amount of noise which usually manifests itself as variations in color and intensity (often called image grain). Now, if you make sure to spread the pixel values of the image (signal) across the full range of possible pixel intensities, you'll have a pretty clean image. But, lets say you really underexpose... and then try to recover the lost data. Amplifying the signal (increasing contrast) to cover the full range of pixel values will also amplify the noise, giving you a grainy image even though your contrast is good.

The same signal and noise relationship occurs with ISO. If you increase ISO, you are just telling the imaging chip to be more light sensitive. But, increasing ISO also makes the chip more sensitive to noise (which is at a constant level). That is why high ISO images are grainy. Low signal to noise means grainy (noisy) images, high signal to noise means clean (smooth) images.

The signal to noise ratio relates across many disciplines, especially in my area of research, robotics. I constantly deal with noise in my sensors and software. But it also applies to web content. For instance, in a typical thread on Facebook, you probably won't find much useful content; mostly it is teenage girls chatting back and forth about their day or who looked at their boyfriend the wrong way (I'm not looking forward to my daughter growing up, can you tell?). That means a low signal (information) to noise (everything else) ratio. A reference site, like Wikipedia, has a pretty high signal to noise ratio -- a lot of information, very little useless chatter. Of course, one man's signal could be another man's noise. Ditto for women.

I've found that blogs (especially comments on blogs) and online forums often have a low signal to noise ratio. Not too many nuggets of wisdom are buried in the description of what the blogger did the previous day. Even worse, since many bloggers don't link their posts enough, you could see the tail end of an interesting idea and then search for a half an hour to find the earlier post that discusses it. A low SNR as far as I am concerned.

SNR even applies to my family; sometimes my son goes on for ten minutes about something he could sum up in two sentences. I've considered telling him that he has a low SNR but then I'd have to explain what it means!

On Strobist, Mr. Hobby edits his pages to make sure they are kept up to date and everything follows logically from previous posts and other parts of the site. In a sense, it is less of a blog and more of a web site which happens to use Blogger for editing, but the end result is a useful resource where you can quickly find the information you find useful (if off-camera lighting appeals to you).

As far as I'm concerned, increasing the SNR should be every writer's goal (web page or otherwise). So, how can you increase your SNR?

1. Edit mercilously and try to avoid long-winded explanations (my problem).
2. Link appropriately so people can find what they are looking for.
3. Analyze your audience and adjust content to what they are interested in.

Pretty basic stuff, but good things to keep in mind as you work on each entry.

And did I mention that Google Analytics could help you with #3?


Later: I'm not the only one who has noticed the influence of Strobist readers spilling out to other blogs through the backlinks. I found out about Wiedebas' blog when he left a comment, and found out about Chris (who also has seen a jump in readers from Strobist) through one of Wiedebas' entries. Wiedebas also brought George Barr's Behind The Lens to my attention. I'll need to spend some time reading through their pages (and other bloggers). Or, I suppose I could actually do some work while I am at work...

I guess I forget how useful leaving comments is in terms of networking in the Blogosphere. My biggest problem is just finding time to read them.

Anatomy of a Photo: eBay Part II

For many of you, getting a good photo of an eBay item using a DIY Macro Studio should be old news. I know I've talked about it before. So why do I have a Part II? Because I found a lighting scheme that seems to work pretty well (and only requires one flash or lamp) and also wanted to put in more details about the post processing. Don't worry though, this post will have less words and more pictures than the last few.

So, the task: to get some good pictures of my Nikon SB-20 for an upcoming post. Since I was already taking some eBay pictures of a video card, I used the same set up, but the first picture came out dark and I was momentarily confused. Then I realized that by taking a picture of my SB-20, I couldn't use the SB-20. Duh.

Lets start with the flash scheme. As usual, I can't take claim for coming up with the idea (darn that David Hobby guy). The basic idea is this: use a single source of light (in this case, a flash) but position the light box to provide a light source on both sides of the object. (Click to make the pic larger to see details)

In fact, the way I set it up, there is a ring light effect: the flash hits the near copy paper (diffusing through it), hits the far box flap (covered in copy paper, see at trend yet?), and also spills onto both the top and bottom of the box entrance. The result is pretty even lighting from all around the entrance of the box. The balance between the two sides is controlled by moving the flash closer or farther from the box (light intensity drops with distance, but the distance between the two sides will stay the same).

Total Cost: $0 (since I have plenty of copy paper, old boxes, and scotch tape)

And remember, I used a flash, but you can use any old light source (flashlight, desk lamp, etc). If you don't use a flash, use a tripod because your exposure time will probably be pretty long. I can't remember the exact settings (and they don't matter that much) but I think it was something like F/11 and 1/4 power on my Sunpak 383 for 1/200s (flash sync speed). Really I just kept shooting (in manual mode) until my histogram was nice and spread out and I liked the balance of lighting on the flash. FYI, I used an eBay trigger for synchronization.

So, now I have the photo at left. Not great, to be brutally honest.

You know, the more digital photos I take, the more I realize that post processing can take an mediocre photo and elevate it to a good or sometimes even a great photo. But, if you have to start with something, after all, garbage in, garbage out.

The first step is obvious. Crop it to get rid of the distracting stuff.

Then, time to fix the crappy color balance. I'll be devoting a future Quick Tip to color balance, so I'll just give a quick description here. When I took the photo, I set the 350D to the "Flash" white balance. For some reason, I got a redish tint (maybe some of the box wasn't covered in paper so it polluted my white light?). It also may have been the ambient, but I doubt it. The good news is that fixing the white balance afterwards is easy. The bad news is you lose a little color detail unless you shoot in RAW mode, but for this image, it doesn't hurt the quality much.

In this case, I adjusted the color balance in Paint Shop Pro XI as shown to the right. Photoshop has something similar, I am sure. Just click the Smart Select button and then put the target onto something that should be white in the original image (left image). The resulting color balance will be shown in the right image. There are other options too, but I find I rarely need them. Just make sure you select something that is supposed to be white.

Next, adjust the contrast and force the background to white; I usually use curves, but anything where you can see a histogram is useful works well. In the image at left you can see the PSP XI curves view with histogram. To be quick and dirty, I'll just bring in the left-hand curve to start at the first black pixels, and bring the right hand curve into a position inside the final peak (this is the white of the background). After all, you want to push the background to a pure white. Don't go too far or you'll start losing highlight detail.

Even after that one side of your image will still not have a pure white background because of variations in lighting. Of course, that wouldn't be a problem if you had a separate background light, but sometimes you don't have the time and money for that. But the solution is simple -- dodge (lighten) the background of the image as shown in the picture at right. Usually you want to use a small opacity (maybe 10% or so), soft edges, and set it to only modify highlights. This makes the dodge brush very forgiving if you accidentally touch the object edge. While it will take a few passes to bring the background up to pure white, it is worth it to protect the integrety of your subject. The end result is the image that started this entry.

So, that's it. The main thing I wanted to demonstrate was how easy it is to use a single light source to make a quality eBay picture with a white background to make the product jump out of the page. Once you've practiced the technique a bit, it really only takes 10 minutes total to set up, take the picture, and process it.


[If you missed it, read Part I.]

The One Where I Talk About Running This Blog

As I promised a week ago, I'd like to describe some of the tools I use and tricks I've learned from running this blog. By no means am I an expert; in fact, it is quite the opposite, I still have a ton to learn.

My motivation has never really been to develop a popular website like Strobist. Frankly, a large website like Strobist would be a pain to run and it'd become just another obligation. But this blog does scratch some of my itches: an itch to be heard, an itch to organize my thoughts, and an itch to create something useful.

Everybody wants to be heard. It is a basic element of humanity -- we want our presence to be acknowledged. Of the billions of people on the earth, we feel we are special, and we want someone else to notice. If you look out in the blogosphere, being heard is the overwhelming reason people create blogs. Sadly, just creating a blog doesn't automatically make you noticed as a lot of bloggers have learned; people need a way to find out that you have a site. More on that later.

Also, I find writing really organizes my thoughts. And as I get older, I forget things more and more, so having a repository of my better thoughts (photography or otherwise) is useful. If I forget the specific macro setup I used at one time in the past, I'll be able to look it up here. If I want to remind myself of some of the basics, I have an entry or two here for that too. If I forget how crappy my pictures were when I started out, I don't have to go far :)

Finally, I, as many people, have a desired to create, to accomplish something. Lets be honest, just going through daily life feels pretty useless if you don't get anything done, and I am all about measuring progress. Here, I can measure progress in hits, posts, comments, etc. In a way, it feels a bit like a video game (and I've played my fair share of those). Just like those guys (and girls) who spend tons of time in WoW (and you know who you are) socializing, building experience, and making their digital self more powerful, running a blog feels a lot like building up an online character. Instead of interacting with virtual entities, you're actually interacting with real people and trying to attract them to your site. Pretty cool actually (and reminds me a lot of a game called Theme Park).

But how do you manage a blog? How can you attract readers?


Tools of the Trade:

A method of editing and posting HTML. Obviously, I use Blogger, which works pretty well although it does have a few things that bug me to no end (why not make your composition window a little taller!). Anything will work as long as you find it easy to use. In the old days (you know, 10-15 years ago), I used to make all my web pages by editing the raw HTML... yeah, it isn't worth doing that anymore, especially if you want to post a lot of text! The best part of Blogger is that it is completely free.

A method of tracking visitors. I use Google Analytics for this, which is another awesome free service from Google. The opening image of this post is straight from my GA page. An amazing, amazing resource which I'm just beginning to learn to use. You can see who is coming to your page, what they look at, how often they look at it, and even what type of browser they use. And there is no cost whether you have a dinky little site like mine or a monster site with millions of dollars running through it. Very nice, Google. (but how is it that you make money again?)

It is amazing the level of detail GA can give you. For instance, I was wondering if I could increase the main text width of this blog (currently set at 400 pixels, but it makes it difficult to post larger photos or photos with wrap-around text). So, I looked in GA for the last two weeks, and behold: nobody surfs this site with less than 1024 pixels horizontal resolution. So I'm safe to do it, if only I could figure out how. Hee-haw, isn't the Internet fun?

[Addendum: Google Analytics just rolled out a new beta interface. I don't like it so far; it crashes Fire Fox every time I bring the mouse over the thing that changes the date.]

Attract readers. This is arguably the hardest thing to do and there are many, many options at your disposal. Obviously, you could hand out fliers on the street with your web address, but I can't imagine that'd be too effective. In fact, as many people as there are that surf the web on a regular basis, the constant stream of new sites popping up makes it harder and harder to attract eyeballs. There's a reason people pay money to put ads on sites. In a nutshell, since people usually find out about your site from another site, getting linked on other sites is huge.

This is such an important, key idea, let me put it under its own heading:



Wait for it...


Almost there...


Now!

What I Know About Attracting Readers (in short, not much):

The best resource in Google Analytics is the ability to see where your readers come from. For example, my data at right is based on the last two weeks of data (click to see larger). Ignore the 'direct' referrals; that was me when I hadn't properly filtered out my own hits (something I recommend you do to simplify your analysis).

Currently the top methods of finding this blog are:

• Strobist: Strobists are procrastinators at their heart and they tend to surf the web a lot. Almost 60% of my visitors have been referrals from Strobist. I've linked myself in one comment, but I expect most of the traffic is from a little doo-hickey (yes, that is a technical term) that David Hobby sticks on the bottom of his posts that lets readers search Technorati (a blog list/search service) for recent posts that refer to Strobist. Why it gets tagged as a Strobist referral, I'm not sure, but it does. What I do know is:
  
• Strobist readers spend more time here (on average) than anyone else -- they are procrastinating, after all. And they obviously like some of the stuff I like since they average 1.6 pages per visit (which doesn't seem like a lot, but it is much higher than my other sources).
  
• They like to see pictures, and my Anatomy of a Photo series. (Big surprise)
• Moral: Post items that appeal to known audiences. Use those audiences to build your audience.
  
• Blogger/Technorati: I lumped these two together because they are similar in the way they work. Both show links to randomly selected blogs on their home page and bored people click on them. For Blogger, this means I tend to get hits right after I update (because they have a list of recently updated sites on their main page). Technorati is similar, but I haven't found the direct link yet -- I also may be getting hits from searches in Technorati, but I don't have a way to track them.
• Most of the hits from these sites are bounces: they follow the link, take a quick look, and are gone seconds later because they aren't interested.
• I suppose if you had some really engaging content (such as pictures of young starlets demonstrating the need for underwear when out drinking) you'd keep some readers around, but it is a very broad audience.
• Moral: Short of constantly updating posts to get a few extra hits or very attention grabbing images, not much use.
  
• Google (and other search engines): Most people know that Google is a search engine (if you don't, where have you been?). But, many people don't know that your site (including blogs on Blogspot, now owned by Google) will not be entered into the index automatically. Google has special programs (spiders) that surf the web and add sites by following links at existing sites. So if you don't list your site with Google, you won't show up in any searches. This page has a lot of useful information. I recommend adding your site manually at least once to get the ball rolling.
  
• A nice thing about Google Analytics is the ability to see what people search for to get to your site. For example, many people find my site because their 350D is broken or they are looking for lens reviews. Some find my site because they have a rash or saw a hairy cactus :) But, once I know what people are interested in, I can create new content (or adjust current pages) to better satisfy them and keep them coming back.
  
• Google prioritizes pages based on the PageRank algorithm developed at Stanford. The algorithm made some grad students and Stanford (through the patent licensing office) very rich. But, for us, as web designers, the thing to know is the more people link to us, the higher we show up on search results, and so the more hits we get. Often, though, it is hard to get the process started, kind of like the old chicken and egg problem.
• One thing that could help is increasing the use of commonly searched words. For instance, strobist, naked, Britney Spears, nude, or Heros could help you get some hits. Alternatively, very uncommon words that relate to your subject (like western tussock) might get you hits from a very specific demographic. Do you think David Hobby would be angry if I listed him in the same sentence as Paris Hilton? Probably not, since just linking him will help raise his page rank and get him more hits. And possibly the association will provide Miss Hilton with a little more class...
  
• Another important thing is to make sure your site comes up when someone actually tries to find it. After all, many times your readers will forget your web address and use Google (or another search engine) to find it. I'm actually pretty bad about this: my chosen title isn't very unique. I do come up as the first link if you search directly for my title (it wasn't like that last week, but I requested another scan from Google and I guess it worked).
• The more people actually click on your link in search engines, the higher your priority. But that all goes back to having good, useful, and engaging content. Also, the higher your priority, the more often you'll be crawled (scanned), and the fresher the data will be in the search indexes. This is useful if you update often.
  
• Moral: Do whatever you can to get listed and raise your priority in searches. Also, make sure your pages are search engine friendly and you can easily find your page if you search for it.
  
• DPChallenge (and other forums): A great tool for attracting readers with similar interests is an online forum. After all, they read stuff on that specific forum because it interests them and they read stuff because they are bored (probably at work), so why not let them read interesting stuff at your site? Just post a link to one of your articles and let them come to you. For DPC, I've posted a link in my portfolio/bio, and included it in a few posts where I said something relevant here. I haven't gotten much traffic from it, but I expect that will build.
  
• Usually, this works best after you've built a reputation at a site (as in, you are respected and not seen as one of those guys just trying to promote his web site). Then, just start slipping your web address in occasionally, and you'll get your site known to people who care about your content.
• Don't overdo it: forum readers have seen shameless self-promotion before, and if they think you are doing it, they'll ignore you.
  
• Moral: Find forums that interest you, join them, participate in them, and you'll attract readers naturally. Hell, you might even learn something!
• Viral: I don't actually have any referrals from this, but I know it works -- similar to viral marketing. Sometimes, you can post something so mind-blowing, so useful, so freakish, that everyone who looks at it tells their friends and suddenly, overnight, you have a ton of hits. Often this is what will draw new users in and from those eyeballs, you get a bunch of regulars.
• For Strobist, the most viral page is probably the DIY $10 Macro Studio -- that was the first page on Strobist I ever looked at, and it really blew my mind that something so simple and cheap would look so professional. That page sucked me in, as I'm sure it has countless other photographers.
• Viral marketing could also be something super freakish that everyone forwards around. For instance, if you had a picture of something very rare, like a car accident as it was happening, you might get a lot of hits. It could also work with a video on YouTube which mentions your web address, but that would be less direct.
  
• Moral: Controlling viral referrals is difficult, but if you have an idea or picture that you think is remarkable, post it, spread the word a little, and see what happens.
  

Wrap-Up:

Writing a blog is kind of like talking to yourself in a room. At first, you're the only one around and you're pretty much talking to yourself. Although, speaking from experience, that can be fun on its own.

Occasionally someone might stick their head in looking for someone else, listen to a few words, and then move on (Blogger, Technorati). Other times, they'll be looking for someone else that talks like you, but like what they hear so they stick around a little longer and maybe even chat for a bit (Google, Strobist). Or, they could be friends you told about your little room when you were hanging out at the bar, and they stop in to say "Hi" (DPChallenge). Or you might say something mind-blowing that they tell all their friends about you and your little room (viral). You might even impress some of those people with your wit so they stop in regularly and maintain a dialog with you (regulars, none for me yet, AFAIK).

Ultimately, though, what you do with your little room is up to you. If you want to make it a big room with a regular party, go for it! Know that it will take a lot of work, though. If you just want to talk to yourself, well, you're already set up. And if you want to create a small room where you occasionally chat with like-minded individuals (my aim), that will also take work. Lots of work, as I am finding out.

But sometimes work can be fun, just like increasing your warriors experience in a video game.

For now, I'm trying to build my quantity and quality of posts. In a while, maybe a few months time, I might actively try to attract readers. Currently, I'm happy to see them when they stop in, but I'm also happy to talk to myself.

[I've posted a follow-up to this post here].

Model Release and TFCD Agreement

So, I may be taking pictures of my friend's children this weekend next week (because her baby has a dry patch on his face), so I thought I should get the contract ready.

Read the background info first here. I also asked the fine folks at DPChallenge for advice in the thread here.

The general consensus on DPC was that I was actually talking about two separate pieces of paper: a model release and a TFCD (trade for CD) contract. JenniferDavidGA (among others) was nice enough to send me a copy of her forms including a TFCD contract which is the basis for the combined release and contract below. While I want to have both a model release and TFCD contract, I don't want to overwhelm friends. After all, even my friends will get nervous if the conversation goes like this:

"Please sign this...

and this...

and prick your finger with this pin and apply your fingerprint in blood.

Now, why did Billy run away? I need his blood too!"

So, here you go, feel free to apply it to your own needs:

Combined Model Release and Time for CD Agreement

Whereas [my name], Photographer, and __________________________________, Model, have agreed to enter this agreement for the purpose of "time-for-CD" whereby Photographer will provide photography services to Model at no cost to model, and Model will provide modeling services to Photographer at no cost to photographer, both in accordance with the following Definitions and Provisions:

PROVISIONS

Copyright Ownership
Photographer retains sole copyright of all Images produced.

Proofs
Photographer will provide proofs, either digital or printed, of all Images to Model.

Selection of Prints
Model will, at Model's sole discretion, select Images for Model's prints. All prints will be fully retouched and portfolio grade prints.

Number of Prints
Model will receive ______ high resolution digital prints on computer CD-ROM within 30 days.

Reproduction Rights Granted to Model
Photographer grants Model nontransferable and nonexclusive reproduction rights to the Images. Model shall not transfer, license, sell, lease, or otherwise confer either permanently or temporarily any reproduction rights to any Images, to any third party. Images may be reproduced in print or electronically (such as e-mail or on the world wide web).

Reproduction Rights Granted to Photographer
Photographer may only use Images for self-promotion efforts, including, but not limited to: printed portfolio, electronic portfolio (CD or web site), entry into online photo contests, or an electronic web-based journal (blog). In no case will identifying information about Model be posted in a public venue. Photographer will not use license or sell Images for commercial use without contacting Model and negotiating a new contract.

Entire Agreement
This Agreement contains the entire understanding of the Photographer and Model and supersedes and cancels all previous negotiations, agreements, commitments, understandings, and writings in connection with the subject matter of this Agreement. This Agreement may not be released, discharged, abandoned, supplemented, amended, or modified in any manner except by a written instrument duly executed by Photographer and Model and shall not be strictly construed against either party.

THIS IS NOT A CONTRACT OR AGREEMENT FOR WORK FOR HIRE. THE IMAGES ARE NOT THE PRODUCT OF A WORK FOR HIRE.

Photographer:
[my contact info]
Signature: ___________________________ Date _______________


Model:

Name (Print) ____________________________

Address _____________________________________________________

City ________________________ State ____ Zip ____________

Phone _____________________

Signature: ___________________________ Date _______________

If Model is a minor:

I warrant and represent that I am the father/mother/guardian of ______________________, the Model above named.

Signature of Parent/Guardian __________________________

Comments (a.k.a. notes to myself for future revisions):

• I took out a time for prints provision. I can't imaging I'd ever want to do prints instead of a CD.
  
• I took out a copyright and photo statement (Model shall affix Photographer's copyright notice and photo credit to any Images reproduced by Model). I don't feel write asking them to mark up the images with my name -- I don't even have a logo or anything!
• I explicitly added the reproduction rights for the photographer -- this is my 'pay' for the whole deal, and I want to protect it.