"Wait Until You See What I Can Do With This Photo!!" {Leander | Cedar Park Photographer}

"Wait until you see what I can do with this photo!"

A phrase that is a photographer's worst nightmare.

Unfortunately, this is a reality for almost every photographer at some point in their career. The day you wake up, look on Facebook, and see your photo made into something you barely recognize by a well-meaning friend or family member. Photographers work very hard to capture your moments to the best of our ability. We study countless hours, practice thousands and thousands of shots, and spend several hours editing your photos to deliver a finished product that we feel best represents you, in our own style. So obviously we don't want anyone else editing our work.  We can do that just fine by ourselves. Also, when our work is edited by someone else, it doesn't represent us. It doesn't represent our business; it makes us look bad. 

This is known as copyright infringement.  It's illegal. It's stealing. It's punishable by fines of up to $150,000 per image. You also most likely signed a contract or release that stated that you are not permitted to alter the photos in any way, but for some reason, people still do it.  They remove watermarks, they turn the photo black and white, they do selective coloring, and they crop.  None of this is acceptable. The photos must stay exactly the way your photographer gives them to you.. and you know what else that most people do not realize? Whether or not you even signed a contract, you are still bound by those laws. If you grab a photo off of google images, that is stealing. It doesn't have to have a name attached to it. It doesn't have to have the © beside of it. If you take it from anywhere without permission, it's copyright infringement.  If you save your friend's wedding photo to your computer without permission from the photographer, that is stealing. Just because they are on the internet, doesn't mean they are there for the taking.  The copyright belongs to the photographer alone, unless they give limited permission to the client to make prints via a 'print release'.  Even so, the photographer still holds the full copyright from the moment he/she clicks the shutter on the camera and is the only one authorized to make any changes to the photo or give away any permissions in regards to the photo. Just because you are in the photo, does not give you any right to alter the photo unless you have written permission to do so.

US Copyright Laws

These photos below are not just an example.  These photos belong to me. This actually shows the before and after of what was done to the photo.  After seeing so many photos like this I have to say please, save your artistic editing techniques for the photos that you take with your own camera. If you have an idea that you'd like to try to replicate during your photo session, talk to your photographer. If it's something we can do, we will usually give it a try. We want to make you happy. If you see a photo you'd like to share.. just ask the original photographer! The majority of the time we want people to share our work, as long as the watermark remains intact and the image is not altered in any way. We love word of mouth referrals, so just ask! It only takes a few minutes and could save a lot of trouble.

So please remember, you can do anything you wish with photos that you take, but the ones you have taken by a professional, you cannot.  Please respect your photographer by not editing their work.  It's illegal, it's damaging to our reputation, and it is stealing!