Comments on: Photographer Cut by Getty for Altered Golf Photo Offers Explanation

By: jjon

jjon — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:28:25 +0000

Stupid mistake – but sh*t happens and the photog will suffer the consequences. But – why was a news photographer showing his images from a news event to his subject(s)? What if the golfer said he didn’t like such & such a picture – would the photog have agreed due to celeb pressure? I never let people look at my pix while covering a news event. If they want to see the pics – by the paper, magazine or sign into Getty etc/

By: George Myers

George Myers — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:03:26 +0000

This question is for the pro news photographers out there. Would it have been acceptable to blur or desaturate the caddie and remove the attention or is any manipulation whatsoever forbidden?

By: photoeditor14years

photoeditor14years — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:04:18 +0000

with so many sleazy photographers out there, it’s hard to tell when on is telling the truth. too often have i encountered a badly shopped image only to hear the ‘oops, didn’t mean to send that’ speech.

By: Sarah Reed

Sarah Reed — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:21:33 +0000

Someone needs to fire BP for altering their photo.

By: photgrapherEU

photgrapherEU — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:14:05 +0000

I might believe the explanation. But on a deadline why to demo someone what you do NOT usually do with your photos? If you are in a hurry not to doubble check what you submit, why spend valuable time with demo? If you know you made something sensible not to publish, why not doubble check after editors published it and call it off after it proves the wrong file?
Yes this is serious mistake from a serious professional. I feel sorry for him having to loose a job on such mistake(s).

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:17:57 +0000

Poor guy; this is SO trivial when compared with what BP have done http://tinyurl.com/24lrxws

By: susana

susana — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:49:08 +0000

I believe him. He made a mistake. It’s easy to grab a bunch of files and ftp them and accidentally grab something off your desktop. He shouldn’t have saved the photo. But if he transmitted both of them, seems like the editor who was processing incoming might have discerned the mistake as well. Perhaps Adobe might think about coming out with a photojournalists version of ps without content aware fill. Or news organizations could demand that everyone go back to PS2.

By: David Cothran

David Cothran — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:25:52 +0000

The thing I would like to know is why the photo is cropped down to perfect rule of thirds composition if it was only created to show the caddy how to remove a head. I think the explanation is plausible, but i would like to know if both copies sent to getty were cropped and if the alteration took place post crop or before. I am also concerned about why the photographer would choose to save the photo to his desktop rather than just chose “no” when asked to save. You have to admit, that photo would have looked crappy cropped that way with the second head on the shoulder.

By: Brian Lehnahrdt

Brian Lehnahrdt — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:12:31 +0000

This photographer made two fatal mistakes: 1: when he SAVED the altered photo. If he was just showing the caddy that he could do it, he didn’t have to save the image. 2: he failed by not double checking his work folder prior to transmitting to Getty. So accident or not, his lack of attention to detail cost him his job. As a basic photograhic instructor for the military, this case will be presented to my students as a lesson for them about the dangers of altering and bad file management.

By: Hans

Hans — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:13:29 +0000

I also shoot sports for a number of wire service outlets. Competition is keen deadlines are very tight and it may be a long hot day. You should be happy to be working and not complaining. Most photographers are working on writing the best captions and moving as many key images as they can from the event. Why would anybody working for a wire service client even bother playing around in photoshop and altering images outside the guidelines. JUST DONT DO IT.