Do I need a release?

There is a big difference in taking a picture to sell and a picture for your personal collection. When you take a picture for your personal collection you are mainly taking the local country photography law into account, but when you are taking a picture with the intension of selling it then you also need to consider other local country laws like privacy laws etc. into account. Laws and their interpretation differ from country to country, and in some countries that may differ in local states or town lands.

Laws also differ depending on what the image contains (a person, sometimes pets or someone?s property) and are you selling it for commercial use i.e. advertising, or to a newspaper for a news story. If the image is been sold for commercial use then you should always get a signed Model or Property release. When you are considering the content of an image, you should first consider is it possible to identify the person in the image, because if there back is turned or there face is not clearly visible then you probably do not need a model release, but if there face is the main focus point of the image a model release is recommended.

If you photograph a person under the age of 18, you must get there parents to sign a Model Release before selling the image or you could find your self in a lot of trouble. This should be considered as a worldwide guideline.

Public figures are often seen as having less of a right to privacy, but their right to prevent use of their photographs for advertising or trade purposes is as strong as anyone else's. With a public figure you rarely need a model release for a news story but you definitely need a model release if the picture is to be used commercially.

If you fail to get model releases from people you photograph and you upload these images to www.shuttervillage.com most picture buyers will not buy them. So no model or property release can sometimes limit your market.

For some image you may need both a model release and a property release. If you take a picture of a person in a place like Buckingham Palace in London you will need a model release from the person and a property release from Buckingham Palace before you can sell the image.

In some situation the model or property owner may place restriction on the commercial use of photos, this is not common but some time high ranking models and there manager may note such restriction when signing the model release.

If the picture was simply going to be used editorially in a book, then clearances are good to have but not always essential. But if the book is being used for promote purposes then there is a need for a model release..

If you are selling Royalty Free images of people, as rule of thumb you should always get a model/property releases to ensure you are protected because you have limited control over what the buyer can use the image for after the sale transaction is completed.

When or where you do or don?t need a Release:

?        If the image has a possibility of being used commercially (advertising or promote a service or product), model and property releases are essential.

?        If the image is for an editorially (News Paper, magazine, Book) release are not always required. You should always check this with the editor they are normally more up to date with the laws relevant to the location of the customer base.

?        As a rule of thumb if you are selling image as Royalty free you should always get a releases, because the license of royalty free image is more open compared to a rights managed license.

?        Our recommendation is ?Better be Safe than Sorry?, if you can always get releases for you images, especially model releases.

?        A signed model release is a person acknowledging that you have the right to use the photos you took of them on a given date.

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Disclaimer: The information provided on this page should be regarded as a guidelines only and not as substitutions for professional legal advice. If you know of an error, or are aware of any update to these laws please let me know. For correct legal advice we recommend you contact a layer.