Please, Please, Please, I need help!

pandabride · Jul 18, 2011

Hi,

I am in need of some serious help. I got married three years ago and because I am a student, I kept putting off choosing pictures for my album. Well when I finally got around to it and even paid my photographer to upgrade my album from a regular one to one of those that has a layout printed onto the pages, he left me with a draft and then skipped town (literally). All I have now are basically thumbnails of my wedding which are no good because I want to have a canvas made. I finally was looking over the generic draft album he made me and realized that page 1 may be sufficient enough size to get a canvas made, but unfortunately he basically put two translucent bars layered on top of each other over the bottom part of the picture and it has the words "Name and Name" on the left and "date" on the right. He was obviously too lazy to even finish completing the draft with out names and our wedding date. I was wondering if anyone could help me restore this back to original. It's a jpeg and I realize that it won't be as easy as deleting layers from photoshop, but I tried to do minimal editing on iPhoto and just could not remove the black smudges from the text off my dress. If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it. I realize this is probably a lot easier on Photoshop considering you can just select the black text and delete it and then smudge everything together, but none of the other online programs (Picasa, Picnik) could do these things for me. Thank you in advanced!

PhotoWrangler · Jul 18, 2011

tirediron · Jul 18, 2011

Do you own the copyright or license to edit these images?

pandabride · Jul 18, 2011

Well yes I paid for them, but I never got a certificate or anything if that's what you mean. They have no copyright or watermark because I own the images. I am not sure how official professional photography is, but if you ask me, this was not professional at all!

Bitter Jeweler · Jul 18, 2011

How much did you pay this photographer? Just curious.

pandabride · Jul 18, 2011

I realize that and trust me, I am extremely thankful for anyone who is willing to help me. I also paid him about $1600 and got nothing but pictures I will never be able to use. I am not sure if that is cheap or expensive in the photography world, but he had been taking pictures in my area since I was born (literally since the year I was born according to his no longer existent website!). The rest of the album he made me isn't actually bad, but I guess I just have to figure out where I it done since it already put in the layout etc. There were minor edits to some other pictures, but I suppose I can't be picky if I ever want my album gone. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear. I think the one he was supposed to make me was either leather or velvet covers - it was extremely nice hence why I had to pay an extra 250 to upgrade to it!

pandabride · Jul 18, 2011

I was thinking about going after him in court, but wasn't sure if it was worth my troubles. At this point all I want are my photos on CD and I would let all the money go. I am not really even sure where he is now. I know he started up a new business in GA, but then apparently that also went under because his website to that is no longer existent. I found him on facebook and threatened him to go to court recently, but apparently he hasn't be checking that. He has done this to many other brides and one even offered to take all the CDs and mail them out to his other brides just so she could have her CDs, but hasn't responded.

tirediron · Jul 18, 2011

pandabride said:
Well yes I paid for them, but I never got a certificate or anything if that's what you mean. They have no copyright or watermark because I own the images. I am not sure how official professional photography is, but if you ask me, this was not professional at all!

Granted, it was highly unprofessional, but that doesn't actually mean you own the images. If you're in the US, then in all probability he owns the copyright, and, as unfair as that may seem, that is the way the law works. In Canada, lacking a contract to the contrary, you would own the copyright. The problem that I would have is that if you are not the legal copyright owner (and there doesn't need to be any mark, or anything else to indicate that) and somehow Mr. Skip-town Photographer found out, he could make things very nasty in court.

I would agree that getting a judgement against him in court is the best way to go.

PhotoWrangler · Jul 18, 2011

pandabride said:
I was thinking about going after him in court, but wasn't sure if it was worth my troubles.

The judge would laugh at you. He held up his end of the bargain. He shot your wedding, then provided you with an album design. Why is it his fault you've waited three years to follow up. Sounds like you dropped your own ball this time....

tirediron · Jul 18, 2011

ChristopherCoy said:
pandabride said:

I was thinking about going after him in court, but wasn't sure if it was worth my troubles.

Click to expand...

The judge would laugh at you. He held up his end of the bargain. He shot your wedding, then provided you with an album design. Why is it his fault you've waited three years to follow up. Sounds like you dropped your own ball this time....

Oops, glossed over this bit... yeah, I hate to say it, but I agree with Christopher.

pandabride · Jul 18, 2011

I didn't wait three years to follow up... I actually kept in touch very often with phone calls and emails and have emails proving he said it was ok and to take my time on the album. So what do you need in the United States to prove you own the rights? I have all my wedding documents including the contract we signed listing the details of what his services were. I don't think he kept his end of the bargain - Yes, I paid for him to shoot my wedding and design a wedding album, but I also paid for a printed album AND the CD of all the photos in their unaltered states and rights to the photos

pandabride · Jul 18, 2011

And just to mention - no where in the contract are there details of timelines that I have to get my approved images to him by a certain timeframe. If you ask me, he was agreeing to uphold his end despite the time lapse when he handed me the draft of my album

tirediron · Jul 18, 2011

A contract saying that you own them.

I'm not a lawyer, and do not construe this as legal advice, but based on my understanding of US copyright law, I think you're threaded. There are several very knowledgable members on the board who can comment more authoratatively than can I; hopefully one of them will chime in.

Formatted · Jul 19, 2011

If you've paid $1600, I expect him to carry out the services you've paid for. Regardless of timeline.

orljustin · Jul 19, 2011

pandabride said:
I didn't wait three years to follow up... I actually kept in touch very often with phone calls and emails and have emails proving he said it was ok and to take my time on the album. So what do you need in the United States to prove you own the rights? I have all my wedding documents including the contract we signed listing the details of what his services were. I don't think he kept his end of the bargain - Yes, I paid for him to shoot my wedding and design a wedding album, but I also paid for a printed album AND the CD of all the photos in their unaltered states and rights to the photos

None of which says you "own the rights". Which you likely don't. That is a separate issue. ie., You're not going to be able to get your image printed anywhere without his permission.