Cell Phone Videos Have Led San Jose Police to Mount Cameras on Officers to Record Encounters with the Public
Cell phone captured videos may have forever changed the way Police Officers document an encounter with the public. In the last year alone, there have been countless stories of amateur citizen journalist who have had the presence of mind to pull out their mobile phone and take a photograph or video of Police Officers on the job. In some cases, this cell phone media has cleared the officers of any wrong doing, but there have been a few where it has not.
With nearly every cell phone comes at least a 2 mega pixel camera or better, some of these camera phones are even able to take video. Since most people never leave home without their cell, this has created a huge army of citizen journalist and photojournalist all around the world. This army equipped with their trusty cell phones has been given a new weapon: the power of a documented event. This power has lead to many changes around the world. In Iran protesters are able to show what has been happening on the streets, a person in New York was able to capture a plane in the Hudson, and everyday citizens have been able to bring some Police brutality to light. The cell phone has truly become a Global Equalizer as explained in this article.
Cell phone cameras have and will continue to change the behavior of public officials, as well as ever day citizens. In the San Jose for example, Police officers will now have mobile media of their own to show their side of the story, but this may in fact turn out to be a double edged sword. Read more about it here.
At the end of the day, cell phone photos and videos have been able to bring awareness to events that before would go undocumented and would be forgotten.
Check out fizwoz, a marketplace that allows independent cell phone photographers and videographers the ability to auction off their mobile content to news media organizations. fizwoz has a free phone application that can be downloaded here that makes uploading your media as easy as one, two, three. With fizwoz, you are still able to share your content with the world and get you story out, but also have the ability to make some money. Check it out!
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Will Cell Phones One Day Replace Cameras?: Cell Phone Photography Course In the U.K.
The quality of camera phones keeps improving. We’ve been reading articles about cell phones (or are they really cameras with a phone attached?) that will do 12 mega pixels and above. Of course, the number of mega pixels is just one small part of the equation. The quality of the lens has a good deal to do with the final picture (the plastic lens in many cell phones may never equal the glass in even the most basic of today’s point and click cameras) and the imaging processing software is something that experts have pointed out makes a big difference.Even with the best lens, mega pixel count and software, the real determinate of a good picture is the person holding the camera phone. We saw an article today in The Daily Mail about a couple who are offering a cell phone camera course. Since there are typically not a lot of settings one can adjust, we have to imagine that they will spend a lot of time talking about how to get closer to the subject and hold the phone as steady as you can.
Our advice to people who ask about taking news photography is to remember safety first. Don’t put yourself or others in harms way to get any picture. If you have other cell phone photo hints to give people, please share them with everyone here.
New fizwoz Assignment Desk, With Early Adopter “Weather Central”
fizwoz has introduced the new fizwoz Assignment Desk. This allows new media companies to directly interact with the fizer community to harness the power of consumers equipped with ever more capable cameraphones to gather their initial photos and videos from the breaking news stories.
Weather Central has become an early adopter of the new service and will use the fizwoz Assignment Desk to gather weather-related photos and videos from consumers.
To become part of the fizwoz community and receive updates of assignments posted by news media companies, please sign up here. This will inform you of real-time assignments and what kind of photo or video that the news company is looking for. This new feature will allow the fizer community the opportunity to capture relevant mobile content that the user knows the media companies will be interested in.
To check out the full Press Release for the fizwoz Assignment Desk, click here.
Best Practices for Selling Mobile Phone Photos and Videos Online
Whether you’re a citizen journalist who uncovers a big story or just happen to be walking down the street and come across an interesting situation, one thing is probably true, you will have your mobile phone on you. In the past you would have wished you had your camera, but today with most mobile phones you can take pictures and even videos. Almost all new phones come equipped with a 2 MegaPixel camera or better. Some phones, like the Nokia N86 and the new N900 even take pictures at 8 megapixels. Though these camera phones may not have “professional grade quality”, it’s the timing and relevance of the content that is most important today.
Janis Krums from Sarasota, Florida found himself in this exact situation earlier this year. He used his iphone to take this photo of US Airways flight 1549 landing on the Hudson. Unfortunately for Janis, he decided to post this EXTREMELY valuable content on Twitter. By giving his copyright away through the Twitpix service, he helped big media companies make a considerable amount of money. Yes, he got his bragging rights, however he missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a substantial amount of money on a very valuable mobile phone photo.
If you find yourself in this type of situation, you should be prepared and know exactly what to do. Here are three tips that can help you to make the most of your “once in a lifetime” opportunity:
1. Do you know how to take that perfect photo?
It isn’t everyday you see a volcano erupt, a tornado touch down or a celebrity enjoying lunch at a local restaurant. These things may happen, but the question is whether or not you are ready to capture that magic moment with the camera on your phone. The helpful hints in the article “How to Take Great Newspaper Photos” may prove useful in getting that perfect shot.
Even when using the camera on your phone, you can still get a high quality picture. There are plenty of tips and tricks for angles and composition, lighting, etc. including apps that can help.
Nokia: The Nokia N86 is considered one of the best camera phones on the market with an 8MP Camera. Check out the review here.
iPhone: Here is an article from PC Magazine on 22 ways to improve your iPhone photographs.
Blackberry: Here is an article from ZDnet with tips for improving your Blackberry photos and videos.
2. Choose one site to sell your picture(s) and do not post anywhere else
When trying to sell a photo or video online, the worst thing you can do is post your media all over the internet. If you have posted your video on YouTube or CNN’s ireport for example, it is no longer yours, it is now in the public domain. Every news agency and news blog now has the right to post your unique content to their site, driving traffic and revenue to themselves instead of you.
A new alternative to consider is fizwoz, an online photo and video auction marketplace. Using our free mobile phone applications (available for most mobile phones) you can easily upload your content to the online marketplace. fizwoz will then alert all news and media publishers to encourage them to compete with each other to buy the content from you. By allowing you (the person who captured the photo or video) to auction off your content, fizwoz gives you the opportunity to make money by selling your photos and videos from your mobile phone.
3. Post your photo or video at a reasonable price.
When dealing with breaking news, it is critical to post the content as soon as possible. If you decide to sell it online with a company such as fizwoz, post it at a reasonable price, the best way to sell your mobile content quickly. It is much better to do this than try for a higher price and get nothing after similar images begin appear.
Though you may not be able to retire with the money you make from your first photo or video that you sell from your Nokia, Blackberry or iPhone on fizwoz, you will be able to make money. The more you capture and post, the more you can make, especially with the fizwoz business model.
The fizwoz phone application allows you to simply upload your photo or video directly from your phone to the fizwoz mobile media marketplace. From there fizwoz will present your content to all levels of media, from local, national and international publishers, increasing your chances of selling your content at the price you desire.
So, next time you come across a newsworthy event or interesting subject matter, be sure to pull out your mobile phone and take a couple of pictures. Who knows, your photo or video may become the defining image of a national event and make you a considerable amount of money! Good Luck!
Welcome to the Official fizwoz Blog!
fizwoz is the world’s first online marketplace for photos and videos captured on your cameraphone. Use the fizwoz mobile application for iPhone or Blackberry to upload your images. fizwoz alerts media companies around the world when your images match their editorial interests. They bid on your images and the highest bidder wins. They pay you via PayPal and then fizwoz transfers the content to them. Check out the marketplace at www.fizwoz.com.
The fizwoz mobile application is available for most Smartphones including phones for the following operating systems:
iPhone
OS Versions 4.6 and 4.7
Coming soon to:
