Roxy Vandiver wrote:
Alrighty, so I'm a model who has been honing her retouch skills for many years.  I think I'm finally ready to start my PS Wizard Profile here on MM!

My dilemma:  Most of my portfolio work came from stock photos and contests/fun right here in this forum.  Therefore, in many cases I do not know the names of the photographers, etc. (I never dreamed I would actually start a Wizard Profile).  So, do you think it would be appropriate/cover my ass if on my profile page and/or in the description lines of the photos I put a little note that explains that little bold fact and also said something like:
"If you are the copyright holder of any of the photos in my portfolio and would like me to credit you or remove the image, please let me know and consider it done."

I definitely don't want to offend anyone or step on any toes. 
Advice greatly appreciated!

ACK!
You can't use images you have scarfed off the internet without permission from the photographer and/or model.

The only legitimate way to promote your PS Wizz profile is to get permission from the models and photographers FIRST to use their images and THEN do your magic on them and build your port from that. You could also post that you are offering free retouching for photographers and models and build your port that way.

SublimeImage Studios wrote:

ACK!
You can't use images you have scarfed off the internet without permission from the photographer and/or model.

The only legitimate way to promote your PS Wizz profile is to get permission from the models and photographers FIRST to use their images and THEN do your magic on them and build your port from that. You could also post that you are offering free retouching for photographers and models and build your port that way.

Well stock photos often do let you use the image for these purposes.  BUT you would have to find the site you got them from and read the terms of use.  For any photos you got from contests on here you better do your research because you HAVE to credit them.

SublimeImage Studios wrote:

ACK!
You can't use images you have scarfed off the internet without permission from the photographer and/or model.

The only legitimate way to promote your PS Wizz profile is to get permission from the models and photographers FIRST to use their images and THEN do your magic on them and build your port from that. You could also post that you are offering free retouching for photographers and models and build your port that way.

Wait a sec though...I'm not saying I randomly stole images off of the net or off peoples' profiles.
I'm saying I either downloaded stock/copyright free images or participated in contests held on this forum where the photographers gave permission to retouch the images as well as permission for participants to use the images in their ports so long as they are credited.

mikedimples wrote:
Just FYI "stock" and "copyright-free" are not synonymous.

Noted.  Thank You.

Roxy Vandiver wrote:

Wait a sec though...I'm not saying I randomly stole images off of the net or off peoples' profiles.
I'm saying I either downloaded stock/copyright free images or participated in contests held on this forum where the photographers gave permission to retouch the images as well as permission for participants to use the images in their ports so long as they are credited.

My dilemma:  Most of my portfolio work came from stock photos and contests/fun right here in this forum.  Therefore, in many cases I do not know the names of the photographers, etc. (I never dreamed I would actually start a Wizard Profile).  So, do you think it would be appropriate/cover my ass if on my profile page and/or in the description lines of the photos I put a little note that explains that little bold fact and also said something like:
"If you are the copyright holder of any of the photos in my portfolio and would like me to credit you or remove the image, please let me know and consider it done."

That is not what you said in your OP. You said you don't know who to credit and you were going to post a disclaimer. Can you not go back to those threads and pull the names of the photographers from there?

SublimeImage Studios wrote:

Roxy Vandiver wrote:
Wait a sec though...I'm not saying I randomly stole images off of the net or off peoples' profiles.
I'm saying I either downloaded stock/copyright free images or participated in contests held on this forum where the photographers gave permission to retouch the images as well as permission for participants to use the images in their ports so long as they are credited.

That is not what you said in your OP. You said you don't know who to credit and you were going to post a disclaimer. Can you not go back to those threads and pull the names of the photographers from there?

That was sort of my whole point.  I didn't know if I'd be able to find those contest threads again to get the MM #'s....But....I have good news.  I just scoured the threads for pages and pages and was able to find ALL of them.  So that takes care of that issue.

Skydancer wrote:
I think you really need to cite the source/owner of your retouched images. If you took it off a stock image site, make sure you bought/obtained the rights to retouch/alter the image and publish for promotional purposes, not just reproduce it. If it was from a contest here on MM, make sure you got explicit permission for portfolio use from the copyright owner. FYI, some of these "contests" rescinded that permission, and others turned out to not be the copyright owner. If, as you say, you don't know who's image you downloaded and altered, then how can you know/assume you have permission to alter it?... and for pete's sake don't use it in a portfolio.

Thanks for the advice.  This is why I asked my question first before posting images without credits.  I knew that you all would know the proper way to go about it.

Like I said, I don't want to offend anyone or get into trouble.

Roxy Vandiver wrote:

That was sort of my whole point.  I didn't know if I'd be able to find those contest threads again to get the MM #'s....But....I have good news.  I just scoured the threads for pages and pages and was able to find ALL of them.  So that takes care of that issue.

Awesome, that is good news!

SublimeImage Studios wrote:

Awesome, that is good news!

Thanks for the help.  I know my OP may sound crazy to some, but that's why I asked.  The only stupid question is the one you don't ask, right?

Roxy Vandiver wrote:

Thanks for the help.  I know my OP may sound crazy to some, but that's why I asked.  The only stupid question is the one you don't ask, right?

Exactly!
Best wishes on your PS Wizz port!