Matt Timmons
April 23rd, 2010, 06:47 PM
I was recently reminded of a topic that I thought of awhile back when I saw a photo of a model on her website, and in the photo caption she credited the photographer, but credited herself with "Photoshop done by me". This is a semi-pro model, with Maxim Hometown Hottie credit as well as some regional commercial ads done. The photo was a TFP/trade shot by a semi-pro photographer. The only problem is, the retouching was almost terrible. She of course blew out her eye whites to 255, cranked the saturation up on the color to "alien being" level, and blurred her face up just like we all too often see. The photographer's watermark still remained on the photo, which meant he was going to get the credit (blame) for such an amateur shot. This model contacted me to do a shoot and although she has an impressive resume, I had to decline because my policy is that I forbid any extra post production to be done to my work- for the exact reason that I don't want somebody hacking it up and having it be misrepresented as my retouching work.
So this isn't something that happens all the time because most non-photographers don't yet know how to use PS, but that's changing. So my question/topic is, what are your feelings about somebody tampering with your work? I understand if a client is paying, then they might want alterations done to the photo specific to their needs and a retoucher can be hired. Rather, I'm talking about the usual portfolio projects where the photographer and model, MUA, hair stylist, etc are trading time for prints and one of them takes their file and "enhances it". In this age, prints are no longer the only thing a photographer must provide due to email and web being the main outlet for self promotion, so some kind of digital file has to be handed over.
In my contracts it specifically states that no additional retouching or alterations may be performed to the works without written permission, with the exception of cropping, text or logos added as needed for advertising. I rarely give out hi-res files except to clients, but never to trade clients. What say you?
So this isn't something that happens all the time because most non-photographers don't yet know how to use PS, but that's changing. So my question/topic is, what are your feelings about somebody tampering with your work? I understand if a client is paying, then they might want alterations done to the photo specific to their needs and a retoucher can be hired. Rather, I'm talking about the usual portfolio projects where the photographer and model, MUA, hair stylist, etc are trading time for prints and one of them takes their file and "enhances it". In this age, prints are no longer the only thing a photographer must provide due to email and web being the main outlet for self promotion, so some kind of digital file has to be handed over.
In my contracts it specifically states that no additional retouching or alterations may be performed to the works without written permission, with the exception of cropping, text or logos added as needed for advertising. I rarely give out hi-res files except to clients, but never to trade clients. What say you?