Adding Filters To Photos // Ever Wonder Why?

If you've worked with a professional photographer before and signed a contract, then you've seen the clause about not adding any filters or edits to the photos. Maybe you wonder why they say that in their contract. After all, they are YOUR photos, right? Well that's what we are going to discuss.

I've never been to a museum to see great works of art, but I've seen photos of them and they are impressive. Even the ones that aren't exactly my taste, I can still appreciate the workmanship and talent. Each artist has a distinctive style to their work that they spent a lot of time developing and each picture took a long time to make. Artists put years of their life into learning and perfecting their craft.

While no one would probably think to make changes to Michaelangelo's work, imagine this scenario for a moment. You are an artist and a friend hires you to paint a landscape for them. You went to school for art or spent years teaching yourself. You're an expert. Since your friend chose to hire you, it stands to reason that they like the kinds of things you paint and the way you paint them. You get to work and soon the painting is finished and hanging on the wall in your friend's home. One day, you go over to your friend's home and see your painting, only something is different. Someone has added to your work! Apparently your friend thought that it would look better with some adjustments. You worked hard and were so proud of your work. Would that feel good?

Maybe this is a bit of an extreme example but we photographers consider our work as art. We spend so much time learning and becoming experts at what we do to give our clients the best experience and finished product that we can. Even our edits are a part of our creative process.

Another thing you may not know is that while yes, these are your photos, they also aren't yours. Technically, legally, they belong to the photographer and he/she is giving you certain rights to them. Some photographers or studios won't let you print or make copies unless you buy through them and have very tight restrictions on what you can and can't do. Others are pretty loose with their permissions. However, I don't know of any photographers who allow their clients to edit or add filters to the images.

In today's world, I don't think people always look at photographs and photography as art. Everyone has an easy way to take photos and edit them so it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. What I think photographers would want you to know is that they pride themselves on delivering their best work and if you are changing that with a filter or your own edits then they feel like you don't think they did their job. Edits really are a big part of the equation.

Let me put it like this. I have a friend who is a wedding photographer. He is so fun and takes phenomenal care of his clients. I would absolutely love to work with him if I was getting married except that his style of editing is not the style I love. I appreciate it and think it is cool, but it's not what I love the most. It would not be good to hire him and then try to re-edit all the photos to be more along the lines of what I like. I'd be better off to hire someone else in the first place - for everyone's sake :)

I hope this helps you understand why photographers put clauses in their contracts prohibiting you from adding filters or edits to your photos! Professions can have a lot of funny things about them and I want to help you understand them/us better, so this post is going to be the first "Ever Wonder Why?" post! Do you have a question you've always wondered about photography? You can ask in the comments or email me at [email protected] and I'll do my very best to answer!