17 January 2015

Painters using photographs as derivatives

In July 2014, I found that a UK "painter" was using several of my images as derivatives for his paintings.  Prior to this and several years earlier, he had contacted me via my website asking permission to use my work for "study" or personal use. My response was that he could BUT as soon as it became a commercial project, he must contact me for a license.  In July I found derivatives of my work on his website where he was flogging off the "originals" for 2,000 quid and prints at 85 quid.  He also exhibited the derivatives at various galleries in the UK.  My email to his website bounced so I then contacted a journo at the newspaper where he had an article on his prize winning entry in a comp - guess what, it was a derivative of my work!  The journalist interviewed him and he told the reporter that he had asked permission but had "forgotten" about the condition regarding commercial use.  Yeah, right!

I eventually got a response when I left a message on his FB page (amongst his adoring fans) and long story short, he removed all of the work from his website and when I pointed out that there were other photographers who would not take kindly of him using their images  without permission, he removed his whole site.  His paintings included Clint Eastwood, Bishop Tutu, Amy Winehouse (as well as six of my Australian aboriginal images).  Did all of these celebs sit for him? Of course not.  As an experiment, I took one of his images into Photoshop and then took my image with exact size as a layer and guess what, they matched entirely.  Every hair, every wrinkle was in the exact same position.  For him to state that he paints free hand is absolute nonsense.  I am assuming that he projects photographs after having the image copied on to clear plastic or acetate and projecting it on to a form of media, being canvas or whatever and it becomes a "paint by numbers" exercise.  This, of course, is not new. Painters using photographs as derivatives has been around a long time.  You only have to take a look at Fine Art America to see the evidence of this.  

I also question why galleries allow exhibitions of "painters" knowing that they are derivatives, many of which are illegal unless the painter has the written permission of the photographer.   

Under UK law, painters must obtain the written permission of a photographer BEFORE they can use the image as a derivative for their painting.  Also there must be attribution that the original was a photograph and with the photographer's name.  This did not happen in my case.  There was no attribution at all on his website.  Nor was there anything on his Deviant Art website or any other website where he had my work.  I am checking out the UK Small Claims Court and am getting advice from a UK IP attorney as to what my next move should be.  

1 comment:

  1. That was really a tacky thing for him to do. I mean, as an artist myself, I've used photos as general references for drawings and paintings. But exact copying just seems counter to the whole point of doing artwork in the first place. Of course, lately I've taken an interest in abstract art so working from a photo is less of an issue. I hope you get things worked out to your satisfaction.

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After Topaz

Using Topaz Spicify, the image has been enhanced in both colour and "pop". This may be a tad OTT but when printed out, it looks rather good (even if I say so myself!!).

Elderly gents

Image enhancing filters

I have recently been experimenting with different filters for post processing images. Topaz has been one of them. Using the adjust filter, one can change rather dramatically an image which may (or may not) need enhancing. Purists argue that one should not enhance or change an image but in this era, we are bombarded with enhanced movies so it seems a natural progression to enhance still images. The pic directly above is the original image (shot RAW and converted using Adobe Camera RAW).

Rather boring shot of Sydney Harbour

I am going to show how a somewhat boring shot of Sydney Harbour (if there ever could be one!) can be turned into something a little more spectacular. Below is the original shot (shot in RAW format with my Canon 5D) and taken off the back of the Manly ferry.

Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour
Rather boring shot of Sydney Harbour

Conversion

Using Adobe Camera Raw ("ACR"), I converted the raw image with parameters: Blacks 7, brightness +31, Contrast +61, Clarity +77, Vibrance +7, Saturation 72 and a bit of Curves which brought me to the below image.

Harbour

Harbour

Flood filter conversion

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Reflection

Reflection
Sydney Harbour reflection using flood filter

Sea of Hats

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Sulphur crested cockatoo in flight

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Sydney Opera House abstract

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Alice

Alice
A portrait of an elderly lady
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The smoker

The smoker
An elderly man puffs on a cigarette

Mudda Mudda

Mudda Mudda
My favourite subject
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