If you don’t say anything to either the venue or the person taking credit for your images and then use the images you shot in your portfolio you run the risk of someone thinking that YOU are using images credited to this other person and that could bite you severely further down the line, if you are not gonna talk to the venue, vendors or the other person then you should never put those images in your portfolio, it could be very difficult to argue months from now if someone recognised an image in your portfolio if you use that to pitch for work from those vendors or venues that was previously credited to the other person (I’m purposely not calling her a photographer), my two cents is I’d definitely enlighten everyone to the fact that you were not tagged or credited with images you shot.

Did you get good content for your portfolio? If so, mission accomplished.

When you shared your images with vendors and the venue owner, did you set any terms of use in a contract or did you just give them your images? It’s reasonable to expect a credit as photographer when your images are shared online but if you didn’t require this in a signed contract in advance then it sounds like you should just put this down as a lesson to communicate better and more formally in future and move on.

Do you have your own photography business?

Since you agreed to help a friend for free and it sounds like had no contract it seems more like you are just getting started or do not have your own established business.

Perhaps she could have described you as a 2nd shooter instead of a helper. Since it was her gig it and she asked you to help after she already had job it is fair for her to call herself the primary photographer. She was the one the venue contracted with and it is on her if the client is unhappy with the work regardless of who was behind the camera.

Perhaps it is different in your area or my experiences are not typical. But locally wedding photographers and studios that have more than 1 person working for them none of their photos call out who was behind the camera. It is all under the business name which could also be the primary photographer/businesses name.

Personally I would let it go and take it as lessons learned and moved on. Is it worth potentially hurting your friends reputation with the venue over it or your relationship with your friend?

I would reach out to the vendor. There’s nothing that says they can’t tag the other photographer for organizing the shoot but also acknowledge that they are YOUR photos. I also think a lot of people in this thread don’t know what a “styled shoot” is. You weren’t a second shooter at a wedding, she invited you along to the shoot. Like a collaborative shoot. I’ve organized group shoots before and I wouldn’t take credit for the work of other photographers, that’s just crazy

Live and Learn, next time be very clear how things need to be published. Talk in person to the other photographer and be clear as to why you feel screwed over.

If you were the 2nd photographer (helper) then you are not the main photographer and, normally, will not get credit. It’s business

Here is the thing, when you do work for another company (photographer in this case) you often are surrendering credit for the work to them in situations like this.

Your goal was to get content for your portfolio, if you did that just be happy and move on with life. You start making a big deal out of that with the venue it can cause you larger issues (say the venue may just blacklist both of you because of “drama”)

Yes it sucks they did that to you but if it is not something that is directly costing you money it is not worth the effort.

Take the life lessons, if you work with others in the future make sure that you have clarity (in writing is often important) on everything related to the transaction. This includes things like “who gets credit” for the photos provided etc… Just remember that when working for someone else you often will be sacrificing professional credit for the pay check, especially if you are hired freelance as a second photographer at an event.

It is not uncommon, at least where I am, that if you are hired as a second photographer for something like a venue / wedding shoot; you are not going to be named with any credit. I in fact have a short form contract that covers just this that I would use if hiring someone in a case like this (basically says that all photographs taken at that event are my property, I own the copyright and publication rights to them). To be honest this is important because I was hired and need to have the legal ownership of the work in order to be able to sell it to those who hired me for the work.

The people putting on the event hired X photographer / company and if you are hired (paid or unpaid) to be a second photographer then you are representing the company that was hired and you should expect that they are taking full credit for the work produced. Often photographers operated under their own name in the trade so you can expect this to happen. But any actual professional photographer will have contracts / agreements regarding these types of things and make it clear up front.

If you don’t like that, make sure you are clear upfront and in writing that you need to be given credit or don’t take the job.

I am part of a group who collab regularly, with 2 or 3 photographers, a MUA and 1 or 2 assistants and a model. Everyone gets tagged in every image posted. The creator of the image first, then the MUA, then the model, then the collab photographers, then the assistants.

It is beyond rude to not credit you for your images and is stealing imo.

The photographer who made an image should be the one tagged. I have always heard bad experiences from friends that participated in styled shoots.

Don’t shoot for free.

I would definitely ask the venue to change the tag on the photos they shared. If nothing else, just so someone who uses the pop up flash on their camera doesn’t get credit for my work.