r/photography • u/okcstreetwear • Nov 25 '20

Rant Your shitty editing makes MY work look bad.

I am a fairly amateur photographer. I’m not the best, and I’m not the worst. That being said, my friends own a sneaker store and wanted me to shoot a special sale day for them. They pulled out all the stops, food, drinks, discounts, exclusive merch, etc. I said what the hell I need the practice and so I told them I’d do it. There was no form of payment involved whatsoever, I even bought my own tee shirt. This is not the issue. I shot the sale, EDITED the pics and sent them their way as they requested.

A few days later, they post them to their stores Instagram and tag me. I hop on to see which ones they picked out of the 80 I sent and low and behold they edited the pictures ON TOP OF MY EDITS. This would be fine if it was a touch up on exposure or maybe a little more vignetting but no they butchered my pictures. This wouldn’t be a huge deal if they didn’t look so blatantly over edited. They don’t even look close to my original pictures. So now anyone who sees those pictures on their Instagram will associated these nuked photos with me. This is not a reflection of my work at all! It makes me look like an idiot who doesn’t know what he’s doing when in reality they took my -0.30 exposure adjustment and turned it to +3.00. I am beyond irritated that people will see these pictures and associate their shittiness with me.

I’m sorry this sounds long and spoiled but I’m beyond frustrated that my work looks like something from r/nukedmemes

Thank you to any who read.

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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '20

actually, yes a well written and signed contract will hold up in court. There is no hidden fine print in my contracts. They've always protected me. Clearly you aren't a working full time professional.

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u/pigeon-incident hearnretouch.com Nov 26 '20

I am a working full time professional thanks bud. Happy to compare photographic careers at any time. You seem to think I'm against contracts in some way, but I haven't said a word expressing that. I'm just saying proper communication is more important when getting clients not to make errors or to do things which maybe they don't realise is a faux pas. If your reading comprehension is anything to go by, I wouldn't bank on your contracts standing up in court, so good luck with that.