Stock image being used in composite and passed off as real by creator how to report

[rb54839397]

Hi there,

A story of a NZ photographer who is using stock photos as backgrounds for his pet photography just broke a few days ago. He is using photos from all sorts of stock sites (including Adobe stock) and then creates composites and passes them off as his own full creations (in violation of any stock photo sites). I just found one of his composites and the stock image used is hosted on Adobe Stock but I cant report it as I am not the one who has created it... how can I go about it? I cant even contact the original poster either....

The photo in question is https://stock.adobe.com/images/sunrise-at-moeraki-boulders-new-zealand/426676724?prev_url=detail and the person used this to create a composite with a dog and posted it in Gurushots and on his Instagram account as his own photo (even with a backstory)....

The story is here: https://petapixel.com/2021/09/22/pet-photographer-caught-passing-off-composites-as-real-photos/?fbcl... 

[Abambo]

My personal layman's comment:

If that person correctly licensed the backgrounds, he or she can use them for compositions. That's one of the aim of Adobe stock. 

That he passes them for his own is probably morally incorrect but he does not need to credit.

Violating competition rules is a different story. 

Btw: the guy should brag about his Photoshop skills.

[rb54839397]

yeah, he finally did issue an apology on his Instagram account ... that's the thing, his skills in compositing are good enough to stand up for themselves so why feel the need to fabricate a story that he was actually at those locations and how much effort it took him to take the photos... he ultimately did get disqualified on at least one competition as well. He's been found out now so I am guessing people will keep an eye on is rather good composites from now on as what they are:-)