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Microstock Photography Forum - General => Off Topic => Topic started by: stokfoto on August 26, 2008, 17:01

Title: silhouettes
Post by: stokfoto on August 26, 2008, 17:01

here is the hypothetical question:
I just took some pictures of silhouetted people.
imagine I sold this files as RF on a site and the buyer edited the photo to make the faces visible by pushing the image with curves and levels etc. and that persons in the picture  found out their images was used on a commercial project and sued the buyer.  who would be responsible?photographer or the buyer?

to be on the safe side I am going to burn the silhouettes until it is impossible to make them recognizable but that involves awful a lot of work may be I'll just do the faces.

edited to shorten the first post.
Title: Re: silhouettes
Post by: vonkara on August 26, 2008, 17:24
Do you need to keep the details? Why don't you just paint bucket over the selected area
Title: Re: silhouettes
Post by: stokfoto on August 26, 2008, 18:03
thanx for the tip,that might work as well.
in fact it shouldn't matter even if I didn't do any adjustments since I am going to sell the files as editorial(although I know this limits chance of sale)

Title: Re: silhouettes
Post by: tdoes on August 26, 2008, 19:54
Why not use the pen tool in Photoshop and trace the images on another layer.  This will result in a editable and useable image.
Title: Re: silhouettes
Post by: mantonino on August 27, 2008, 10:07
And keep in mind there's a few sites that won't accept silhouettes.  At least not many.  "Poor lighting" LOL
Title: Re: silhouettes
Post by: anonymous on August 27, 2008, 14:20
Isolate the image then reduce brightness and contrast until they are solid black.
Title: Re: silhouettes
Post by: stokfoto on August 27, 2008, 14:46
Thank you all for taking your time and giving nice tips.

there are many ways to make the people in those photos completely unrecognizable

but back to my main question and the conclusion I draw from your answers is that  photographer should  make sure  edit the  photos  in order to make it impossible for   end users to make those silhouettes faces (re)visible and recognizable.if photographer failed to do so and  end user(buyer) re-edited the files and made those  silhouetted faces  (re)visible   and used them commercially    it would be the photographer who will(should be) held responsible not the end user if the models found out it and sued the buyer and the photographer?

I raised the question because I think there is an interesting point here because if  those images were used as they were uploaded it shouldn't cause any legal issues for lacking of model releases  etc.But since the licenses with  which we sell our images (usually)allow the end users to re-modify the images  and that  can cause unexpected responsibilities to the author.
oh well it is something very unlikely to happen but I wondered just out of curiosity.