Dear models, portrait, subjects, etc; we need to have a small chat about Instagram filters
We’d like to address a recent social mishap partially caused by your posting methods. It involved sharing the work that I paid you for, or we collaborated on, or that we captured. The photo, it and of itself, was created by us. And so we’d like to bring attention to the proper credit which you gave and the extra step you took to ask permission to share the images.
Thank you.
But my inquiry is less about the permission and the sharing than it is about your manipulation of the photo – an image I worked quite hard on both creating and editing. I respect your intention to ensure that your likeness is represented in the best way possible; but manipulation of the image itself is in some ways a disregard of the work I did.
Did you not like the toning? Why didn’t you ask? Why couldn’t we have communicated? Why didn’t you ask permission to put a filter on and manipulate my photo? Did I give you permission to do this?
Why is this such a big deal you may ask? Well for starters, in your attempt to make yourself look better, you’re representing me and my work in a way that doesn’t adhere to my branding and creative vision. If I wanted to make all the shadows blue, all the highlights orange, and wanted to play the #gameoftones then I’d subscribe to the pathetic game that everyone tries to play in the same way that teenagers eat tide pods for likes.
Please refrain from doing this in the future. I try, as a photographer, to communicate with you the best I can and to establish a comfortable environment and working relationship. I’d appreciate the same ideals be reciprocated.
Signed,
A photographer
