What the?? I’ve noticed of late, many people are demanding things that aren’t really theirs.

What am I talking about? I’ve noticed things such as Retouchers claiming that they are owed 50% to 100% credit and copyright of an image they retouch! They are saying because they retouched it, the image is theirs and photographers have no rights to the image. There are some photographers goofy enough to sign off on this! Is this where the professional world is going?

Do we not know copyright laws? Are we becoming so click happy that we refuse to look and see the bigger picture? That our work is ours?

Scary!

On my camera, when I click a photo it is MY photo! Period! Unless I’m shooting on a federally protected piece of property, I shot it I own it and if I allow you to retouch it, then it is still mine. Never will I allow a retoucher or anyone else to claim work that is mine. It astonishes me that so many people are OK with signing away their rights with out fighting to protect them! Hell, we even have models going to TF shoots with their own shared copyright or usage agreement contracts! There are very few models in the world that I would sign such an agreement for and those that I would, don’t even know I exist. No way would I do this for someone that shoots with my buddy down the street or elsewhere.

What are your thoughts? Do you believe if a retoucher works on your image s/he now officially owns them?