Nikon Singapore announced on 29th January that this photo by Chay Yu Wei won the Nikon contest on facebook.
Soon after this announcement was made the photography community was quick to identify that this was an altered image and had been editted using a software. Tons of sacarsitic, enraged and amusing comments started flodding in on Nikon;s facebook page. Yu Wei’s instagram was flodded with comments too.
The award post by Nikon stated this
“Yu Wei chanced upon a set of ladders while on a photowalk with his friends in Chinatown, and thought the view above would make an interesting perspective. Little did he expect to catch an airplane in mid-air. We’ll try looking up too, Yu Wei; your shot has won you a Nikon trolley bag. Congratulations!
Photo Credit: Chay Yu Wei using the Nikon D90
Shutter Speed: 1/1600”
On 30th Jan Nikon replied:
Nikon’s PR team handled the situation well.. But what’s actually important to note that during this entire time, Nikon’s social media reach sky rocketed.
- Nikon’s Facebook page reach increased by a huge percentage within a week
2. Nikon’s facebook post announcing the award saw more that 22,400 shares, close to 5,000 comments and 33.2K likes.
3) The same post on Instagram account @Nikonsg garnered 256 likes and more than 130 comments.
4. The photoshop community started sharing their versions of the image sharing on and tagging Nikon’s page on facebook and Instagram. Which created great engagement rate on thie social media pages
Here are some of the images shared:
Finally photograpger (editor) Ye Wei apologied to fellow photographers and Nikon via instagram, his story on instagram with regards to the Nikon contest was:
“Hello everyone,
This goes out to everyone who has seen my Chinatown plane post. I’m sorry! This is going to be quite a read so that’s the first thing I would like you to read if you don’t have time to read below; I would like to apologize for the mistake I have done.
I’ve been quiet so far because I’ve been trying to contact Nikon and have been waiting for them to contact me back to discuss about this. I understand that what I would say might affect Nikon’s brand hence I decided to wait for their advice. However, since more than 24 hours have passed and I have not managed to have discussions with Nikon, I think I shouldn’t wait and it’s important for me to come out to address this issue.
Like one user commented, I was on a photo walk in Chinatown and I chanced upon that set of ladders. I snapped a picture of it, and subsequently felt that a plane at that spot would make for an interesting point of view. Hence, I inserted the plane with PicsArt and uploaded it to Instagram. That’s how I use Instagram, sometime it’s to showcase the work I’m proud of, sometimes just to have fun. This case, that small plane was just for fun and it was not meant to bluff anyone. I would have done it with photoshop if I really meant to lie about it, but no, it was a playful edit using the PicsArt app and uploaded to Instagram. When my friends commented with some questions, I also answered it jokingly, saying it’s the last flight of the day and saying it was my lucky day that I did not wait too long. At that time, of course everyone who read it took it as a joke, before this issue arrived and it is taken seriously.
However, I made a mistake by not keeping it to Instagram as a casual social media platform. I crossed the line by submitting the photo for a competition. I meant it as a joke and I’m really sorry to Nikon for disrespecting the competition. It is a mistake and I shouldn’t have done that. I also shouldn’t have jokingly answered Nikon that I caught the plane in mid-air and should have just clarified that the plane was edited in using PicsArt. This is my fault and I sincerely apologise to Nikon, to all Nikon Photographers, and to the photography community as general.”
After this post the Yu wei garnered much needed support and encouragement from friends and some netizens too.
Tags: Altered image, Nikon contest fails, Nikon photo contest, Photoshop, Yuuuuwei
Leave a Reply