As a photographer, I think it's important to think about how you can give back. This applies whether you are a hobbyist, keen enthusiast, part-time, professional, or some other type of photographer. This can take many forms and shapes, and I've mentioned some of them below.

• Donating Photos or Services to Charities and Non-Profits
  I will normally let charities and non-profit organisations use my photos at no cost, with an appropriate credit, providing they ask for permission, and they agree to my terms and conditions.
  If they're not making money from the use of my photo, then I can't expect them to pay for the photo. Conversely, if any commercial organisation contacts me for the use of any of my photos, then I expect to be paid for the use of the photo.
  
  
• Donating Photos or Services to Government Organisations
  The same reasoning as above applies.
  Here's an example of one of my photos being used by the Australian Department of Environment and Conservation.
  
  
• Releasing Photos under GPL / CC licenses or other similar licenses
  You can upload photos to flickr.com, Wikipedia and various other repositories using GPL and Creative Commons licenses. These licenses allow people to use your photos for free, providing they adhere to the restrictions of the licenses.
  You can choose how loose or restrictive a license you want to release your photos under.
  
  
• Contributing Photos to Wikipedia and Similar Repositories
  When I first started getting into photography, I was often frustrated at the poor quality of many of the photos in Wikipedia articles, so I have made it a point to contribute better-quality photos to Wikipedia articles where I could.
  This could be a matter of pulling appropriate photos from your archives, or it could mean going out of your way to specifically take photos of places, animals or things specifically where you've noticed they are lacking.
  Have a look at at Wikipedia articles for places you're familiar with, animals you have as pets, cars, your cameras, or any other things that you may have photos of or could take photos of - and you might be surprised at the wide range of articles that could do with better photos.
  
  
• Sharing Photography Resources Online
  Share photography-related information, tutorials, how-tos, and other information online via a blog, videos or via some other means.
  I have been publishing a series of blog posts titled Understanding Your Camera that I have been writing as I teach camera basics and camera operation to my children.
  
  
• Sharing Your Knowledge at a Photography Club and/or with a Group of Friends
  Join a photography club and share your photography skills and knowledge, get involved at your local school and teach the children photography skills, or go out shooting with some friends and help each other improve your and their photography skills.
  I try to regularly go on photowalks with friends, as it gives us an opportunity to get out and take photos, share ideas, tips and tricks, see other people's compositions, and learn other things from each other (as well as socialise and have fun).

Over the years, I've released a number of photos on Wikipedia under Creative Commons licenses. One of the photos that has been widely used is one of my youngest daughter as a new-born, who was quite jaundiced when she was born, and had to spend some time under lights during her first few days in hospital.

Samantha undergoing phototherapy to treat her jaundice

Canon EOS 350D, 17-85mm IS @70mm, 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO400

I took the photo in February 2007, and posted on Wikipedia in February 2008 under a CC BY 3.0 Creative Commons license, which allows anyone to use the image (including commercially) as long as they credit myself as the photographer.
The photo has been used on the english Wikipedia pages for light therapy and neonatal jaundice, as well as many Wikipedia pages in other languages.

A google image search for the photo shows it is also being used by many medical journals and articles, and is even being used on the cover of a book. They are all valid uses of the photo - as long as the conditions of the CC license are being met (appropriate attribution).

My daughter featured in the photo above is now aged 10, and is quite proud of the fact that the photo of her is being used so widely!



What about you? How do you give back?
What other ways of giving back can photographers consider?

Digital Photography School posted an article some time ago by Elizabeth Halford titled Should we ever sell raw, unedited images? The article compared the raw unedited images to food ingredients, and editing the photos (aka post-processing) is equivalent to using the food ingredients to cook a meal.
A more recent post on DIY Photography by Caleb Kerr provides similar arguments for not wanting to provide raw unedited photos.

I whole-heartedly agree with the argument that Elizabeth presents in that article, and would never provide raw unedited photos to a client, as the processing of the images is an important part of the photography process for myself as the photographer, and allows me to ensure the resulting photos look the way I want them to look.



Here are some examples of unedited photos (straight out of the camera) vs the edited version.
I've selected a variety of photos from the last few years - and many are from a mission trip to West Timor last year.

West Timor team photo

self-portrait at dawn

Jarrahdale, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/2 sec, f/8, ISO100

Early on Easter Monday morning, I headed out to Jarrahdale with my oldest son and some friends, to photograph the sunrise at a little-known rock called Southern Split Rock.
It was only about 6.5 weeks ago, but it seems a lot longer than that, as so many things have happened since then.

After parking the car on a gravel road as close to the rock as we could, it took us about 1/2 hour to make our way through the bush by torch light, using Google Maps periodically to confirm we were heading in the correct direction (the split rock is located here).

panorama

Jarrahdale, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/200 sec, f/5, ISO400

rock cairn

Sullivan Rock, Jarrahdale, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 1/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO320

Just a few minutes after I re-stacked the rock cairn to what is shown in the photo above, some hikers came past, and one hiker decided to try to add one rock to the top of the cairn. His action caused the cairn to collapse, much to his embarrassment and our amusement. He quickly tried to re-stack the cairn before walking off.

This is at Sullivan Rock in Jarrahdale, where we stopped after a sunrise photoshoot elsewhere in Jarrahdale (photos still to come) on Easter Monday. It is a huge rock in the bush, and is very accessible, as it's located right near Albany Highway (and is somewhat similar to Boulder Rock in Karragullen).

There were numerous rock cairns like this located at various places on Sullivan Rock. I don't know if they were marking any specific spots, or if they were randomly placed by previous visitors. Post a comment if you know.

in the gun sights

Bali Safari and Marine Park, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @40mm, 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO200

A hunter takes aim at an elephant.

The intention of this photo is to make you do a second-take, and wonder why someone is pointing a gun close-range at a seemingly harmless elephant.

This is the fourteenth article in a series on "understanding your camera" that I am writing as I teach camera basics and camera operation to my children.
Here is a very practical example demonstrating why it is important to understand your camera. As previously described in a blog post about exposure compensation, a camera will expose the scene to try to get an average of mid-tone grey, also known as middle grey.

Photo #1 (below) was taken with my phone (Sony Xperia Z3 Compact) at the beach at sunset, wtih the phone's camera in full auto mode. As expected, the camera over-exposed the dark sky as it tried to get the average exposre to middle grey. This does not capture the scene as the human eye saw it, and the sunset colours are lost in the background.

photo #1: photo taken with camera in auto mode

By changing to manual mode, and dialling in two stops of negative exposure compensation, I was able to capture photo #2 (below). This is much closer to what the human eye was seeing, and has captured the awesome sunset colours much better than photo #1.

photo #2: photo taken in manual mode, with 2 stops of -ve exposure compensation

By understanding what the camera is doing (attempting to expose for an average of middle grey), and applying some negative exposure compensation, I was quickly and easily able to get a much better photo of the sunset.

blue and yellow macaw

Bali Safari and Marine Park, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @105mm, 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO1250

During a visit to the Bali Safari and Marine Park in January, I took a few photos of some of the resident macaws in the park. The bright colours of these birds were amazing, and as they were trained captive birds tethered to their perch, I was able to get pretty close to shoot some detailed photos.
The blue and yellow macaw in particular seemed to pose happily for the camera!

For anyone considering visiting the Bali Safari and Marine Park, I can highly recommend it. We had a great time there - the park is very large, and there's plenty to do and see.

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @22mm, 1/15 sec, f/7.1, ISO320

During an early morning visit to Ubud, in Bali, Indonesia, we paused at this bridge for some photos. This is an old bridge that has since been replaced with a more modern bridge on the left side of this photo, and the old bridge has been retained for pedestrians.
The bridge was in pretty poor condition, with plenty of rust holes in structural components, and some areas where you could lose a leg through the wooden boards.

The lush plant growth on each side of the bridge, the interesting reflection of the sun on the car window in the centre of the photo, and Dwi (our driver) contemplating in the background all add some interest.

The black and white conversion was done using Silver Efex Pro 2 from Google's Nik Collection. I love using my wide-angle Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens in urban situations, as it allows me to capture very wide images like this one.

Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO320

Less than a week ago, we were holidaying in Bali, Indonesia. Having been back at work for a few days, our time in Bali seems like a long time ago already!
I'll be sharing a selection of photos taken in Bali in the coming weeks.

These photos were shot at Tjampuhan Ridge, near Ubud. We were here early, to catch the sunrise, and this photo was shot once the sun was in the sky. I love how the low side-lighting emphasises the slopes on the ridge, and provides warm light on the lush greenery.