PHOTOGRAPHY

Have you ever been watching a video or TV show that includes pictures of the public and some of the faces seem to be blurred out?  No, the video team did not make the video poorly.  This is because the people who eventually sold the video for commercial use did not get permission from these people.  If they use their images, they could get into legal trouble.

So how do you know if the work you are doing in your photography business requires such releases?  After all, it's better to be safe than sorry, so it's better to get releases from everyone you use as a subject than to face a problem later on.  But there is a problem with getting them if you are not sure.  That's how your customer sees you.

If you mostly take portraits, weddings or other events where you want to sell the photographs to the people in them, you don't need release forms. You're fine as long as you don't plan to sell any of those photographs to make a profit for your business.

You need a release if you're a photographer working with models to take photos for advertising, magazines, newspapers or any other purpose where you're selling the images you've taken.  This area of professional photography is very profitable because you are working at a higher level of professionalism than when taking photos of people to give them pictures of a personal nature.  It's a very profitable area of professional photography, so there's a lot of competition to make sales.

When you are working with professional models, getting their releases is just part of the process and is never a problem.  They are working for you, and they know the photographs are for sale. This means their agents and lawyers do all the paperwork, so the releases are routine and understood.  But don't forget this detail.  Your customers, like the magazines or advertising agencies who hire you for your professional photography, expect you to have this covered and that they can trust you to deliver quality work that they can legally use to promote their business.

There are some problems you might have if you do your photo shoots in public places, like parks or shopping malls, or anywhere there might be traffic that appears in the photos.  If you take a photo and then see that there are other people in the background, you need to get their permission to sell the photo.

You could think ahead and try to get those releases right away.  But if you're trying to get people to sign releases that allow you to use their images to make money, it's a whole other ball game.  But you wouldn't want to blur their faces out of the shot.  You could edit them using Photoshop, but that might make the photo less natural.

It's best to film the scene from the beginning to the end.  If you want people to be interested in your model, bring in models who can do the job for you.  Any good modelling agency can provide you with "average-looking" models for this purpose.  You will have to pay them, but at least you know that the shot is good.  Also, when you sell the shot, people are going to ask if the models were paid and if you have releases on them too.

You can find a standard release form online, or your lawyer can help you create one that covers the legal aspects you need to consider and reflects how you want to handle the issue.  But don't ignore this issue.  If you protect yourself, you can do good business and make money, but most importantly, you can follow the law and build a successful career as a professional photographer.