How to just say NO!?

I'm in an ideal position to post a reply. I have only been shooting UW for about 2 1/2 years, and I have only had a big dSLR setup for a year.

So - I am GUILTY of this - and not that long ago. A few years and thousands and thousands of $ later, you can bet I am terribly sorry!!!!

The main reason it happened? Well, it wasn't because I was trying to get something for free. It was cluelessness, pure and simple. I didn't get it. So that is what I keep in mind now. Most people don't get it. They are diving maybe once a year or only in the summer months (certainly around here), they don't bring a camera, and they just think you have this cool camera and a cool hobby. It doesn't occur to them that you have spent unbelievable amounts of money to get your rig set up a particular way. It doesn't occur to them that editing RAW images is amazingly time-consuming - most of my friends don't even know what I'm talking about when I mention RAW images! It doesn't occur to people that this "hobby" is an obsession that you are perhaps hoping to parlay into published shots, contest wins, stock image sales, personal satisfaction - whatever.

Doesn't make it right, but it may help you understand. Most people are fascinated - and they don't realize that they are asking for something you may have a big attachment to. When it happens now, in some cases (when I'm on liveaboard, for instance) I might give people mid-res images that I know are not my best of the trip - decent shots, but "throw aways", if you will. In other cases or if they ask for an image I hope to do something with, I simply tell them that I am consider submitting it for publication and/or entering it into competition. People have been really nice about it. Then again - I'm not teaching them, DMing them, etc.

As for your situation in particular, there is a difference, as you are working when with these people. I would simply point them to CDs available for sale and tell them you are working on your personal portfolio for competitions, and you cannot sell your newer shots at this time. Frankly, if people aren't understanding about it - well - that's kinda their problem, isn't it? I'd think you could potentially make some money out of making a few images available for purchase on an individual basis - but you know your time constraints better than a total stranger would!

PS - Not 5 minutes after I wrote this, I got a phone call about an acquaintance's cat. Hm.

I too have been guilty of this. A guy who writes for ScubaDiving mag a fair amount, Jesse, was on a trip I took to the Flower Gardens Marine Sanctuary as the naturalist, and of course was taking photos. He used my wife and I as models on a rig dive (we didn't really 'realize' it at the time, as I wasn't into photography yet, he just sort of motioned us into position and took the shot) and we asked for a copy. He was clearly trying hard to be polite but looked a little irritated I thought. When I caught that look, I told him just for a computer desktop or something. He gave me a card (which clearly said "photographer" along with freelance writer, etc.) and said to email him and he'd see what he could do. He ended up sending me a pretty heavily compressed, 1280x1024 JPG. Clearly far too 'jaggy' to use for anything other than exactly what I asked for. (But also quite fine for what I asked for!)

I thought that was a nicely pointed, yet polite, way to handle it...if I wanted something nicer, I knew how to pursue it thru the biz card. Since then I've caught the bug myself, so I'm quite used to having almost no pics of me and way too many of the wife. She's got a rotating desktop of images, I get the occasional dumb-arse point-it-at-myself mug shot.

S'okay...I'm not that photogenic anyway.

p.s. my way-outdated avatar photo was taken by a guy named Bob Mallin, whom we got to know while diving together on Saba many years ago, and which he sent to me on his own idea. In fact the pic was intentionally taken for that reason - he framed the wife and I on a safety stop and told us he'd send it to us after the dive. (The avatar is a rather obvious major crop, as we were both full-body in the real shot.) I'd never dream of using the whole thing without permission and attribution, but a tiny crop of my face? I didn't think he'd mind, but now I'm forced to rethink if I'm being guilty here.... Off to email him and ask!

He used my wife and I as models on a rig dive (we didn't really 'realize' it at the time, as I wasn't into photography yet, he just sort of motioned us into position and took the shot) and we asked for a copy. He was clearly trying hard to be polite but looked a little irritated I thought.

Wait a second, he used you as models and was irritated with you? I guess he paid you a good sum of money when he gave you the model release

But at least you got the JPEG.