Marc Feldman admitted it was “a stupid mistake” that got inadvertently sent to Getty Images. One of the photo he captured of golfer Matt Bettencort had a caddie digitally removed from the background [read article]. Getty, which has a strict policy against altering its news images, later put out a “mandatory kill” notice on the photo after itr was alerted to the digital manipulation, and dropped Feldman from its roster.
According to Feldman, he was in the press tent processing the images when Bettencort and his caddie stopped by to look at the photos. The caddie then suggested the photo would look better without him in it. “So I showed them how easy I could do that,” Feldman said. “I thought I just saved it to the desktop not to the send folder. I certainly did not mean to send both of them to Getty.”
Sounds like a plausible mistake that anyone can make [Photoshop CS5 is really to “blame” here for making it so easy]. But, once the picture was published, shouldn’t Feldman have contacted Getty Images himself to point out the mistake? And shouldn’t the person responsible at Getty Images figure out this was not an original image but an altered one [different filename, EXIF info altered, etc.]?
Here is what Feldman wrote about the mistake:
“I made a mistake. It wasnt intentional it was simply, tragically an error that will cost me Its not about the money or the position, It about my reputation and sense of self. I would like to thank those who have been understanding and supportive and invite the rest to continue do dream up whatever conspiracy theories you choose.”
[PDN]