unwelcome edits :(

[Bruce A]

That's fine Jon and mostly I agree if they were just snapshots. However, we don't know if Hollybug took snapshots or went to considerable trouble getting the right shots. If it's the latter, then I think she has every right to be miffed by her sisters actions. I think we - and I use the term loosely for myself - photographers may be a bit precious, but why not? No matter what one creates in life whether a piece of furniture, a painting or heck even a photograph, we usually have a sense of pride in the result. Allowing someone to use an image and giving it to them are one and the same as far as the creator's right's go. What if you did a painting you have pride in, gave it to a family member then next you see it hanging on their wall with more splashes of paint all over it? Would you let it ride or would you be a bit "precious" and slap them upside the head

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by Bruce A

That's fine Jon and mostly I agree if they were just snapshots. However, we don't know if Hollybug took snapshots or went to considerable trouble getting the right shots. If it's the latter, then I think she has every right to be miffed by her sisters actions. I think we - and I use the term loosely for myself - photographers may be a bit precious, but why not? No matter what one creates in life whether a piece of furniture, a painting or heck even a photograph, we usually have a sense of pride in the result. Allowing someone to use an image and giving it to them are one and the same as far as the creator's right's go. What if you did a painting you have pride in, gave it to a family member then next you see it hanging on their wall with more splashes of paint all over it? Would you let it ride or would you be a bit "precious" and slap them upside the head

LoL.. I wouldn't slap anyone, especilally not a family member that I have to spend a lifetime with..

Fair enough, if this is professional grade work, but if you do that, then you need to make it clear that that's what you're doing when you first start out.. Say to your family member "You're someone special to me so I spent some time and came up with this for you. I think it's a bit special." But do that BEFORE you give it to them, so they know you took time and trouble over it.

To give someone who knows nothing about photos, a photograph that you took hours over, and then to get upset with them when they think this is SOOC, and you're JUST a better photographer than they, that's just asking for trouble, for all the reasons that I said before.. They have no idea what trouble that you went through to get this level of quality unless you tell them, and if you don't tell them that you think it's special, they'll just treat it like any other photo that any of their friends or family give them.

I was at my best friends wedding earlier in the year. I did exactly what the OP did, and spent a few hours toilling over her photo, only to have her do exactly what the OP's sister did, put a frame round it that I didn't like, alter the colours, and pin it up on her facebook page as her profile picture. I thought about getting upset because it wassn't how I wanted it, but then several things stopped me.. First.. I never said she couldn't do exactly what she wanted with it. It's a bit late now to take that back. Second, I know her tastes well, and they're different to mine. The way she treated the photo is exactly in line with her tastes, they may not be mine, but they are hers. Third, I GAVE her the photo.. It's not mine any more. If I wanted to control the use of the photo, I shouldn't have given it to her. Forth, She's my friend, and I wanted her to be happy with the photo.. She's showing it off to her friends, so she obviously is. Fifth.. She had a pro photog at the wedding, she had thousands of photos from friends and family, and she chose to use MY photo as he profile picture, and has kept it there for 3 months.. I can't think of a nicer way for her to say "Thank you."

If you look at it from the point of view of "throwing paint" on it so nobody can enjoy it, then you're obviously going to get pissed off. But if you look at it from the point of view of someone adjusting it to suit their tastes, and realise that this is obviously allowing them to enjoy the photo, then it's nothing more than a difference in taste. nO need to get upset.

If I gave Andy Warhole a photo of mine and he turned it into all sorts of wonderful colours and showed it off like that, I wouldn't take it as an insult, I'd take it as a complement.

[dlambert]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

LoL.. Photography isn't the only area where this kind of thing happens.. My wife asked me to write a website for a charity she manages.

Funny you should mention web sites. I had the same thing happen to me; in my case, the web site was for my son's swim team. His Russian swim coach (not sure how it's relevant that he's Russian other than the fact that the apparently think you should just be glad you've got any damned web site at all, let alone one that looks nice) decided that he knew best when it came to web design, with results you might predict. I gave a little, pushed back a little and we ended up with something that was only marginally crappy.

At that point, I quit trying to make it any better because I just didn't need the aggravation. I'd like to think that he (and the team) lost out on a better web site because he was stubborn, but in reality, I'm not sure he's losing any sleep over it. For me, half the battle was just letting it go, but I'm happier now that I stopped caring.

[Aegea]

My wife had a similar experience working with a local charity who wanted to put out a calendar. She's a professional graphic designer and has worked on publications for corporations like Exxon-Mobil so she knows what she's doing. She produced a nice clean design which the committee running things (one strong-willed person,actually) proceeded to mess up with festive borders, crappy shots which had to be included, weird layouts, etc. My wife eventually made the changes, and sent it back with the comment, "here's the camera-ready copy, if you want any more changes you can find someone else to do them, and I've removed my name from the acknowledgements because I don't want to be associated with this mess". In these kind of cases there's not much else you can do, really.