Observer photog fired

[Ace]

To me, a photographer changing the color (because it really looked that way!) is just trying to spice up a photo to make it better than it is -- not make it more realistic.

It is akin to a reporter spicing up quotes because to make them sound better.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Good Lord, for colour fixing? I've heard of worse ...

Christ ... they fire their No. 1 shooter for THAT?

As long as it's not egregious --- like making OJ Simpson seem either more or less black, for instance --- this is a crock of ****.

Ye gods. If papers start firing everybody who fiddles with the histogram function or Filters menu in Photoshop, there are going to be thousands of openings on J-Jobs.

Something else is happening.

(Film? FILM?!? Who the **** uses film?!?)

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Anybody else feel just a little skeeved over the public airing of the contents of his personnel file?

 

[Frylock]

No, this is not just like anything reporters have to watch for.
Our industry wants photos to look good. It enhances the overall look of the paper.
Yes, if you amp up the color to make an everyday photo full of sunbeams, etc., it's questionable. Particularly if you use it in a contest.
But this is not remotely close to using fake quotes or made up scenarios in a story. Not even "spicing up" quotes. That's flat-out wrong and we all know it.

 

[DyePack]

If photogs are going to be fired for this kind of thing, I can think of all kinds of people in the visual department who should be on the chopping block. A lot of images are getting played with on a daily basis.

That being said, he had a warning, and then he did the same thing again.

 

[busuncle]

I know this has been posted before, but I wish editors could refrain from self-congratulatory, sanctimonious sermonizing in these editor's notes. Just say the guy's fired, briefly explain the circumstances and then be done with it.

 

[DyePack]

I know this has been posted before, but I wish editors could refrain from self-congratulatory, sanctimonious sermonizing in these editor's notes. Just say the guy's fired, briefly explain the circumstances and then be done with it.

That is a little melodramatic. "I regret to inform you of this horrid manipulation of the colors in the background of a photo ..."

Sometimes the ombudstards get carried away, too.

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

A couple of people brought this up on that SportsShooter.com thread, but what if the final image that appeared in the paper WAS the way the photographer saw it in the camera's viewfinder before the shot was made? That the manipulation was done to bring the photo's colors back to what the shooter saw?

 

[I'll never tell]

He probably just made too much money and they saw a chance to hire somebody else (straight out of college) cheaper.

I hope there's a special place in hell reserved for bean counters.

 

[wickedwritah]

1. What would have been so horrible about labeling this a photo illustration? Observer folks: what's the paper's policy on this?

2. Yes, some people still shoot film. They feel they get better contrasts and a more real look, as opposed to the digital cameras. Kind of like how some people only buy vinyl, since they feel digital production swipes some of the artifacts from music.

 

[beanpole]

He probably just made too much money and they saw a chance to hire somebody else (straight out of college) cheaper.

I hope there's a special place in hell reserved for bean counters.

Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what happened.  :

 

[Cameron Frye]

1. What would have been so horrible about labeling this a photo illustration? Observer folks: what's the paper's policy on this?

Because it's an image of a news event. You can't just do whatever you want to a picture, and justify it by putting "illustration" in agate under the photo. If we can do that, then why can't we just draw a picture of what the fire might have looked like?

This is really a pointless argument right now anyway, since we have no idea what the original photo looked like.

 

[Bob_Jelloneck]

He probably just made too much money and they saw a chance to hire somebody else (straight out of college) cheaper.

Son, I think you have a future in management. That's executive thinkin' there.

 

[Football_Bat]

Excerpted from his portfolio:

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

He probably just made too much money and they saw a chance to hire somebody else (straight out of college) cheaper.

I hope there's a special place in hell reserved for bean counters.

Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what happened. :

When they're set on getting rid of somebody who costs too much, they'll grab any excuse the employee gives them.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

He probably just made too much money and they saw a chance to hire somebody else (straight out of college) cheaper.

I hope there's a special place in hell reserved for bean counters.

Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what happened. :

When they're set on getting rid of somebody, whatever the reason, they'll grab any excuse the employee gives them.

The moral of the story: Don't give them a reason

 

[wickedwritah]

It was for a Life cover. I initially thought it may have been a set-up shot, hence why I suggested "photo illustration."

 

[Columbo]

That's tough. ...

On a couple of those photos, the fire in the woods, I couldn't tell what he did to it.

He must have told people he altered a couple of those images.... no one would have known otherwise, based on what I'm seeing.


The cops pic was pretty obvious though.