Beware using official mug shots from the Cleveland Browns
Or, perhaps even, official mugs from any NFL team.
Chris Modarelli, art director for the Cleveland Browns, posted last week in his blog:
It happens every year, teams acquire players after headshots have been taken. When these new players are getting the tour, meeting coaches and signing contracts – I’m upstairs planning their decapitation. That is to say, taking their heads off of the old team’s photo and putting them on a Cleveland Browns body.
…Who’s body do I use? Matching body type, size and even skin tones are all considerations. Once I find a suitable match I fire-up Photoshop and quickly put it all together.
The art accompanying Modarelli’s post:
Yikes!
So if we use these shots without question, can we expect the Dept. of Defense to take us seriously when we protest against this?
I thought I knew where we were drawing the line on these issues. Or have we moved the line again?
Just wondering.
Go here to find the story about that DOD photo of the woman general.
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:39 am
This is interesting when one considers that Getty shoots the league photos. I wonder what they have to say about photo manipulation.
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Charles,
I understand your position and I agree with it. I spend a large amount of time protecting our brand from issues similar to the points you are making. My problem is that you’ve now associated my name in a poor light in a blog post you’ve tagged as “Visual Ethics”, even though by your own admission these rules apply to newspapers and “NOT to game programs, promotional materials or anything else published by the NFL or the Cleveland Browns.” I feel that I am now in a position to defend myself, though I have done nothing wrong.
Understanding where and how these images are intended to be used as team/league assets is something I feel very comfortable with. If a newspaper needs to download a head shot from APImages (now in use by the NFL) they will get the original, un-altered image for their use – so there is no need to “Beware of using official mug shots.” Unless, of course you steel them from us – which would be unethical.
Chris