| I’ve photographed a ton of money over the last | | | | Directive Number 15-56 FR 48539 (September |
| thirty years. I have photographed money coming | | | | 15,1993) 411.1 Color illustrations authorized. |
| out of faucets, being thrown in the air, squeezing | | | | (a) Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 25 of |
| through an hourglass, covering a planet, as jigsaw | | | | Title 18 of the U.S. Code, authority is hereby given |
| puzzles and serving as a flying carpet. I have | | | | for the printing, publishing or importation, or the |
| PhotoShoped money trees and coins exploding out | | | | making or importation of the necessary plates or |
| of piggy banks. I have made pictures of money | | | | items for such printing or publication, of color |
| being stretched, filling shopping carts and being raked | | | | illustrations of U.S. currency provided that: |
| into piles. I have pictures of money on trees, pictures | | | | 1. The illustration must be of a size less than |
| of piles of money and pictures of stacks of money. I | | | | three-fourths or more than one and one-half, in linear |
| have pictures of money from around the world | | | | dimension, of each part of any matter so illustrated; |
| including, English pounds, Italian Lira, Japanese yen, | | | | 2. The illustration must be one sided; and |
| German marks and, of course, Euros. Heck, I have | | | | 3. All negatives, plates, digitized storage medium, |
| even created an animated stock footage clip of | | | | graphic files, magnetic medium, optical storage |
| “raining money”! | | | | devices, and any other thing used in the making of |
| The first stock photo I ever created using | | | | the illustration that contain an image of the illustration |
| Photoshop was a picture of money…flying through | | | | or any part thereof shall be destroyed and or deleted |
| the sky on egret wings. As a matter of fact, | | | | or erased after their final use in accordance with this |
| seventeen years after I created that stock photo it | | | | section. |
| was used on the cover of Time magazine! It took | | | | Having said that, I never have paid attention to the |
| me two days and ton of work to create the flying | | | | rules…I have just shot what I wanted (hope I |
| dollars. I was using Photoshop 1.0 on a Mac II | | | | don’t write my next article from a cell). Maybe |
| computer. Just rotating a 30megabyte file took 40 | | | | these are rules that the people who reproduce the |
| minutes! I could do that image now in an hour at | | | | images have to worry about more. |
| most. Back then I had to have a color separator | | | | When shooting dollars it is a good idea to phone |
| scan the files and that cost $80.00 per file. | | | | ahead to the bank to make sure that have enough |
| I had photographed Snowy Egrets in the wetlands of | | | | clean new bills. More than once I have shown up at |
| Marin for brochure advertising a new housing | | | | a major bank only to find that they didn’t have |
| development. I photographed a hundred dollar bill | | | | enough fresh bills for my photography needs. Now I |
| and had that, and a stormy sky, scanned as well. | | | | always phone ahead. Banks have certain days on |
| Back then I had no clue about clipping paths, if | | | | which there new bills are delivered. |
| Photoshop even had clipping paths back then. There | | | | It can take more money that one might think to |
| was only one level of undo and no layers at all. | | | | capture great concept pictures of dollars. To shoot |
| Selecting the dollar was done with the lasso tool and | | | | a shopping cart full of money I first filled the cart |
| cleaning up the selection seemed to take forever. | | | | with crumpled paper, and then spread a thin layer of |
| A number of people told me that professional work | | | | one-dollar bills over and around the “filling”. |
| could not be done with Photoshop, and even more | | | | It took every one of my 2,500 one-dollar bills! Even |
| told me I was getting into it too soon. But here we | | | | then there will still some small gaps that I had to fill |
| are 18 years later; the image is still selling, and, as I | | | | with Photoshop. |
| pointed out, even ended up on the cover of Time! | | | | Some day I am sure all of my stock photos of |
| When it comes to money be sure and check what | | | | money will either stop selling or fall to a trickle. That |
| the legalities are in your country. Here in the U.S. | | | | will be when the U.S. finally decides to come out with |
| the following regulations apply: | | | | paper currency as colorful as the currencies of the |
| Authority: 18 UNITED STATES CODE; 504: Treasury | | | | rest of the world. Oh well…. |