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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Question about photo credits
Paul Alesse, Photographer
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Centereach | NY | USA | Posted: 6:54 PM on 03.31.11 |
->> Dumb question for most, but I'm not in the business, so please be gentle...
Why is it when I open up a paper and read photo credits, some photos list the agency and the photographer's name, while other photos just list the news agency?
For instance, I may see a photo that will say "Streeter Lecka, Getty Images" while others might just say "Getty Images" or just "AP File Photo". Wouldn't that photographer's name be attached to its use data? And furthermore, since the photographer's name is omitted does that mean that the photographer that took the photo isn't getting compensated? |
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John H. Reid III, Photographer
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Gates Mills | OH | USA | Posted: 7:37 PM on 03.31.11 |
| ->> Paul, At one time the Plain Dealer in Cleveland used to just credit AP for a photo, now the credit AP/(Name), or (Name)/AP (I don't have the paper handy, so I'm not sure which.) I wondered the same thing as you, so I asked their shooters, and as I remember, I was told that since they are an AP client they didn't have to credit the shooter, but someone decided to start doing it (maybe as a small favor?) I think whether the shooter is credited along with the agency is up to the individual publication, though I'm sure there are many here that have shot for wires that would know more. |
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Brett Clark, Photographer
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Elizabeth City | NC | USA | Posted: 7:46 PM on 03.31.11 |
| ->> In my experience it just depends on the publication. I've worked at different newspapers, some credit the photographer, some don't. I've also seen a lot of people put "mandatory credit" in their iptc fields. Can't say if AP shooters do, but I know I do when AP asks for my images. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 7:49 PM on 03.31.11 |
| ->> It's totally because of the change in technology. Back in the old days of lead type the guys in the back shop had to place each letter for the presses. It was easier to just put AP Photo. When newspapers went to cutting and pasting type the same thing was true. Most of the papers I worked at just printed hundreds of "AP Photo" credits that they just kept around to paste under the photos. Now in the modern era it's just a matter of style. It's just as easy to use the computer to credit a photo AP/PHOTOGRAPHER as it is to put just AP. Many papers still don't credit the photographer but it's mainly a matter of what individual papers decide to do. There are still a great many that don't credit wire service photographers. |
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Brad Mangin, Photographer
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Pleasanton | CA | USA | Posted: 7:53 PM on 03.31.11 |
->> Paul- many years ago virtually no paper credited photographers for wire pictures. I can still see pictures in my head that read simply "UPI Telephoto" or "AP Laserphoto" back in the day, even though photographer's names were in the caption.
Believe it or not back in the day wire pictures did not have photo credits on them. I have seen tons of old sports wire pictures from the 50's etc. for sale by memorabilia collectors that carry no credit whatsoever. This is probably where newspapers picked up the habit of not running credits since there never used to be.
In the late 1980's the only paper here in the Bay Area that credited the wire shooters was the great old Hearst San Francisco Examiner. Thankfully over time more papers give credit.
Name or no name will not have anything to do with compensation, etc. It is just a bummer for the photogs not to be credited. After all, the only people who read photo credits are other photographers and moms! |
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Butch Miller, Photographer
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Lock Haven | PA | USA | Posted: 7:56 PM on 03.31.11 |
| ->> Agreed ... it's mostly a decision set by the individual editorial department as to how and when they credit images and to what extent of detail they wish to provide ... unless there is a special agreement with the provider they must contractually adhere to ... |
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Gary Gardiner, Photographer
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Westerville | OH | USA | Posted: 9:13 PM on 03.31.11 |
->> Back in the day, when I was an AP photo editor, I pushed for full credit lines using what turned out to be the most logical reason. Attribution.
When news photos showed up in a news room, they were always prints, either from a wet fax machine or, later, on a laserprint. The caption was part of the print and needed to be typed into the typesetting equipment before being placed on the page. Not every print had the photographer's name.
Simple credit lines, such as AP Photo, were stripped onto the page just below the halftone. There was little, if any, attempt to give photographer's credit. That would have required another typesetting process. It was easier to pull the credit line strip from yesterday's pages and plop it below the pic on the page.
Digital delivery changed the process because the caption was now being delivered electronically to the typesetter. However, it still required a separate process to place the credit line in the proper position on the page.
Still, photographer credit wasn't an important part of paper's process. They never had used the photographer's name and didn't see a reason to do it now, even it was much simpler than ever before.
Proper attribution became the measure to make that change.
It was easy to convince publishers and editors to include photographer credit when they began to understand the importance of treating news photos the same way they treated news stories. If they knew the source, print it. Add the attribution. Don't strip it away.
The great thing about news photos is they all contain bylines. The standard story style is to include a reporter's byline only if the reporter was at the site of the event. That way a reporter couldn't have a byline if they reported the story sitting in the bureau talking on the phone. They had to go to the scene to get a byline.
Photographers are always on the scene. Therefore they should always get a byline. |
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Andrew Brosig, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Nacogdoches | TX | United States | Posted: 11:11 PM on 03.31.11 |
| ->> And one of the things that really erks me - and we do it here, too - is giving byline credit for stories, but not for photos from the wires. I've fought that fight at several publications. Do the words "head" and "brick wall" mean anything to any of you? |
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Sid Hastings, Photo Editor, Photographer
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St. Louis | MO | United States | Posted: 11:01 AM on 04.01.11 |
->> Ah, in my experience whether a wire photographer gets credit in print or on a website can come down to something as simple as which copy editor is working that section.
Even if the publication has a policy on the matter, and the picture editor pushes for a credit, in most newsrooms the person on the copy desk drives that decision. Some are open to the idea, while others view credits for wire photographers anywhere other than A1 as a forbidden indulgence. |
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Paul Alesse, Photographer
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Centereach | NY | USA | Posted: 8:01 AM on 04.02.11 |
| ->> Thanks for the responses guys. Too bad these publications don't know that I would shoot for free if they would just include my name. ;-) |
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