Why These Rules Against Photoshop?

IA
Posted By
i_am_jim
Oct 31, 2007
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351
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9
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Closed
I use Photoshop to enhance virtually all images, but this outfit forbids it
http://www.larkbooks.com/submissions/ArtistEntryForm-500Wear ables.asp

Scroll down and read ‘Altering Images’

It says:

* Do not manipulate or "correct" the images: DO NOT "PHOTOSHOP." * DO NOT SILHOUETTE. Do not remove backgrounds . . .

They say elsewhere, "Do not submit images scanned from film."

What’s this all about? I do the things listed above routinely, but now a person is telling me I mustn’t do them for this publication, and I’m having to say, in that case they must find someone else to do their submission.

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S
stevent
Oct 31, 2007
Is there a point here?

They probably feel that they prefer to edit the images themselves, in which case they can be assured that all the images are edited to their own needs/standards.

You don’t want to submit artwork then don’t – I hardly think it was aimed at you personally.
EH
Ed_Hannigan
Oct 31, 2007
I would ask them. They are the ones who know.

Rules is rules.
P
Phosphor
Oct 31, 2007
One thing you left out, and it’s the very first item listed under the "Altering Images" sub-header:ALTERING IMAGES
* Adjusting images (color, levels, curves, etc) causes data loss (This isn’t an accurate statement –Phos….). Adjustments should only be made by professional photographers that specialize in digital images.I qualify—not so much as a photographer, but as someone who knows Photoshop well. Do you?

THAT’S the question you need to ask yourself. If you have any hesitation in answering "Yes", then the "DO NOT PHOTOSHOP" admonishment is directed at you. If you know what you’re doing, it would be extremely difficult to determine whether you used Photoshop on an image. If it’s that good, and natural-looking, they wouldn’t bother to investigate whether Photoshop was used. It wouldn’t be cost- or time-efficient for them to do so.

If you’re well-versed at the art of photography, you should be able to frame, focus, light and expose a shot of a wearable art garment well in the first place.
KD
Kirk_Dickinson
Oct 31, 2007
I know why they have those rules.

I publish a calendar every year and I get so many photos from people where they went out and purchased a digital camera and Photoshop and they think they are professional because they have professional tools.

Most corrections that I get from them are so bad that you can tell what was done. Like cloned grass where you can obviously see the background. When I get those, I just keep requesting the "Original" file from the camera.

If you are a professional, your corrections will not be detectable. Do the stuff you need, flatten to Tiff and send them the file.

I keep thinking that I am professional until I go back and see work that I did six months or so ago – then I realize that I have a ways to go yet.

You might want to send them the original file, then the file that you have corrected. Tell them you are a professional and if they can do a better job than you did – Go for it.

Kirk
LH
Lawrence_Hudetz
Oct 31, 2007
Even more to the point, this is a submission for a fashion catalog, and as such, the catalog editor has to call the shots. At first I thought it was a general stock agency until I looked.

If I shot the job, I would submit raw. OTOH, if my submissions are to have my "Stamp of Approval" on them, then I would do the editing and damn the torpedoes!

the "Stamp of Approval" particularly applies to Calendar submissions, in which I very rarely participate because they know more about photography than I do.

Years ago, I submitted samples of my work looking for assignments from a very well known west coast travel magazine. They declined to hire me because my images were too good(!). They wanted images that would make people get up and book a trip. Why they think an Ansel Adams photo of Yosemite would not knock people off their chairs and run off to the park is beyond me!

Then I found out what their pay rate was.

‘Nuff said!
B
Buko
Nov 1, 2007
Why These Rules Against Photoshop?

Because most people don’t know how to use Photoshop well!

I think, that about sums it up.
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
Nov 1, 2007
They don’t want Worth1000-type manipulations. They are looking for wearable art and want to be sure that what they print is in fact a good-quality, fair representation of wearable art. They don’t want someone taking a dog and warping it around one’s neck. They don’t want photos that have had cloning to make it non-representative of reality. The fact that they are willing to take PSD or TIFF files indicates that they recognize that photographers using RAW probably know enough about what they’re doing to make reasonable corrections in Photoshop and save in PSD or TIFF. They just don’t want "photoshopped" stuff.
RB
Robert_Barnett
Nov 1, 2007
Here is a wild idea. Why don’t you ask them.

Robert
RK
Rob_Keijzer
Nov 1, 2007
They’ve read the Reuters story.

Rob

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