Is This Ethical???

[Mike_E]

The definition of edit is 'to prepare for presentation or publication'.

So long as you are not presenting the material in public, this is not an issue.

Some might argue that downloading the material is a copyright infringement however, if that were the case simply opening the page where it resides would be an infringement so 'those people' (you know- the ones that get all blue in the face about this) shouldn't be posting their photos on the internet anyway.

 

[Crazydad]

Here is my question. Is it ethical...

Whenever a question starts out "Is it ethical", "Should I do this" or anything similar, then the answer is always no.

 

[jbylake]

Here is my question. Is it ethical...

Whenever a question starts out "Is it ethical", "Should I do this" or anything similar, then the answer is always no.

What????
I guess I can save money, by not asking financial advice, or seeking legal advice also...if I'm not sure of the law..

 

[William Petruzzo]

It is an important question, but I think it's kicking against the goads for people to fight against it. We live in a digital age. The rules from 20 years ago aren't necessarily the same. Our photographs leave our cameras as pure digital files, ripe for editing. Posting something to the internet is not the same as hanging a print on the wall of a gallery. The same rules cannot necessarily apply.

I don't think there's a universal set of ethics that governs this kind of thing. They are in a constant state of flux because the industry is in a constant state of flux.

On a slightly broader note, art at it's core is always a reinterpretation of something else. What artist ever created something without borrowing from something or someone else? This is especially true of photography. It's literally capturing something else and representing it in some way that makes it your own.

20 years ago a college student takes his camera to a grave-yard and photographs a statue for class. He brings back the film and and uses it to learn to develop, burn in and dodge so that it looks the way he wants. No one would feel he's violating any ethics by this practice. Is that really any different than taking a 'snapshot' of someone else's photograph and using it to learn the new darkroom methods? I don't think so.