![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/photographer-watermark-800x420.jpg\")
Sports photographer David Loch\u00e9 shared how a pro soccer player posted his image on Instagram (left) and erased his watermark (the original photo with watermark is seen right) | Image credit: David Loch\u00e9 <\/p>\n Sports photographer David Loch\u00e9 shared how a pro soccer player posted his image on Instagram (left) and erased his watermark (the original photo with watermark is seen right) | Image credit: David Loch\u00e9 <\/p>\n
A sports photographer was praised for speaking up after a pro soccer player removed his photo watermark and shared the image with his huge Instagram following.<\/p>\n
Photographer David Loch\u00e9<\/a> saw his post about the incident go viral on X (formerly known as Twitter),<\/a> amassing more than 1.8 million views within a few days.<\/p>\n \u201cThis cannot be like this. All the hours of work that we photographers put in for clubs, players, to see ourselves rewarded like this,\u201d Loch\u00e9 writes in the widely-shared tweet. \u201cOne of the most exposed soccer players in semi-professional soccer erasing a watermark with AI, depriving us of a real media impact.\u201d<\/p>\n Loch\u00e9<\/a>, a sports photographer who covers soccer in Spain, took the photograph during a game between Marino de Luanco and SD Sarriana back in November. The image featured Mexican professional soccer player Miguel Leyva, who plays for Marino de Luanco.<\/p>\n Esto no puede ser as\u00ed.<\/p>\n Todas las horas de trabajo que realizamos los fot\u00f3grafos para clubes, jugadores para verse recompensado as\u00ed.<\/p>\n Uno de los futbolistas con m\u00e1s exposici\u00f3n del futbol semi-profesional borrando una marca de agua con IA, privandonos de un imacto mediatico real. pic.twitter.com\/iatt6tPRaJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 David Loch\u00e9 (@daviz_iso) May 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Loch\u00e9\u2019s images usually include his watermark, and he says he often reposts photos to his Instagram Story when soccer players share his work. However, when Leyva posted the image to his 100,000 followers on Instagram without tagging him, Loch\u00e9 says several photographer friends immediately contacted him to say his watermark appeared to have been erased.<\/p>\n \u201cQuickly, some friends and colleagues warned me that the photo looked like it had been altered, removing my watermark in a pretty sketchy way,\u201d Loch\u00e9 tells PetaPixel. \u201cTo be fair, I felt somewhat, a little betrayed, as this is a footballer that I had a good relationship with up until this point, having exchanged messages, and he also had reposted some of my posts. <\/p>\n \u201cI have had players crop out my watermark before, but usually it\u2019s players who have a private profile and just want to share the photos with their close ones, so I don\u2019t usually mind it,\u201d he adds. \u201cUsually, players with more recognition or exposure contact me directly to pay for the unmarked photos or post them directly with the watermark, so this really caught me by surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking Out <\/p>\n Loch\u00e9 decided to speak out about the experience on X, and to his surprise, his tweet about the watermark removal quickly went viral. Photographers and social media users rallied behind him, saying they understood his frustration. Some called the watermark removal \u201coutrageous\u201d and agreed that a photographer\u2019s work should be \u201crecognized.\u201d <\/p>\n But while many of the responses were supportive, Loch\u00e9 says that some social media users assumed that because the soccer player appeared in the image, he had the right to use the photographer\u2019s picture however he wanted.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t expect the tweet to reach this level of virality,\u201d Loch\u00e9 explains. \u201cRegarding the responses, I got all kinds of them, a lot of people supporting me, both publicly and through private messages. Also, I got some responses questioning whether the footballer, as he is the one in the image, could do whatever he wanted with it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMostly, responses were positive all around, but it is frustrating seeing how much ignorance exists around the topic of intellectual property and photographs.\u201d<\/p>\n It appears that since Loch\u00e9\u2019s post, the soccer player has now reshared the photographer\u2019s image on Instagram with the watermark visible and tagged him in the post. Loch\u00e9 says he is glad he decided to speak up and hopes it encourages other photographers to stand up for their work when they feel it has been used unfairly.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to encourage every photographer out there to fight against this kind of situations, make them public and expose them,\u201d he says. \u201cAt the end of the day, this is a crime and something that feels like our work, money, and time is being thrown down the drain.\u201d<\/p>\n More of David Loch\u00e9\u2019s work can be seen on his website<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and Linkedin<\/a>. <\/p>\n Image credits: All photos by David Loch\u00e9.<\/p>\n