Index: trunk/psphot/src/psphotLoadPSF.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/psphot/src/psphotLoadPSF.c	(revision 13416)
+++ trunk/psphot/src/psphotLoadPSF.c	(revision 13529)
@@ -16,4 +16,9 @@
 
     if (!psphotPSFstats (readout, recipe, psf)) psAbort("cannot measure PSF shape terms");
+
+    psLogMsg ("psphot", 3, "using externally supplied PSF model for this readout");
+
+    // we return a psf which can be free (and which may be removed from the metadata)
+    psMemIncrRefCounter (psf);
     return psf;
 }