Become a nature photographer, and you can publish your work. You can take pictures and post them without problems if you don’t photograph people or private property.
I guess this is why so many people like photographing our national parks. If you photograph someone’s property, you cannot publish this without their written consent as a property release.
If you photograph a private ranch, for instance, with a barn on it, that property owner can come after you to publish photos of their property.
Madam Secretary Hilda L. Solis, U.S. Labor Secretary behind her is Rev. Dr. Marvin Anthony Moss, Cascade United Methodist Church US Department of Labor Symposium at Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta, GA.
News Photography
Become a news photographer and get your work published. You can also get a byline. The First Amendment protects your right to take photos and post them.
The First Amendment contradicts people’s right to privacy if they are in a public space for news reporting and social, political, and economic commentary. So basically, as long as the photographer is standing in a shared room, anything they can see from that spot is legally protected from photographing for news reporting purposes.
Being on public property is how the paparazzi get photos of celebrities and not break the law. It is OK to do if they are on a mountain road overlooking a celebrity’s backyard and shoot with a long lens. Same with being in a helicopter since the airspace is legal as well.
If you want to photograph people and do so without getting model releases, you can work for one of these news outlets because you are working for the greater good of society.
The greater good is more about taking photos of things we need to know to make our communities safer or we need to know about protecting our rights from those who are trying to take those away. So photos of traffic accidents help the community put up traffic lights at intersections which reporting has shown to be dangerous.
Photographs showing companies’ polluting our streams or documented illegal dumping have held them accountable. Just think of the reporting of the Exxon Valdese and BP’s oilrig in the gulf that polluted our water.
You don’t publish your photos.
If you never publish your photos in print or on the web but take them and leave them on your computer, for example, you don’t need a release. You are not using them in a way that impacts the subjects or property.
Corps Day Weekend
How you plan to use it is the issue.
So to summarize, taking the picture isn’t the issue for needing a property release or model release; it is how you use the photo that determines the need for a waiver.
A straightforward way to think of it is if you publish a photograph for trade or commercial purposes, you always need a release to protect you from a lawsuit.
When You Need A Release
Hopefully, you see if you want your photos seen, you most likely need a release. The link here is to an earlier post I did that will help you always have a model/property release with you at all times.
Whoever publishes a photo is the one who needs the model release. Photographers get model releases as a general rule to help out their clients.
Having a model release increases the value of a photograph, because now it can be used in more ways than without one.
What release should I use?
Here are a few ways I recommend.Easy Release App For my iPad and Android phone I have an App for getting releases. If you download an App the App store then will recommend more Apps for you based on what you have already downloaded. I got a recommendation for the Easy Release. You don’t need an iPad for this App. You can put it on just about any Smart Phone or Tablet as long as they are Android or an iPhone/iPad. The App generates a PDF and a JPEG of the model release. I love this because then I can put many of these PDFs into one larger PDF and upload this to my PhotoShelter Image Database. The client has a copy now of the model releases along side the photos.
Pocket Release
I personally have been using the pocket release, which I modified from the American Society of Media Photographers. Their legal counsel came up with forms and so many photographers have been using them through the years. Click here for a link to their website which gives you all you need to know about the model and property release.
4 – Up Pocket Release Forms
I put 4 of the pocket release forms on a page and print them one 8.5″ x 11″ card stock and have them cut into smaller sheets. Which language should I use?
These are tips on how to get model releases and what I can do to obtain them.Let’s start with how you ask for a person to sign a model release. Less is more when asking someone to sign a model release. I always start with the reason I am making the photos. I am here at the university, helping them with their recruiting materials. Can I take your picture? Once they say yes, I will follow up with question two. Can you sign a model release that permits the university to use your photo? At this point, I find it best not to open the can of worms. I let them open the can of worms if necessary. 95% of the time, people will sign the model release. For those less than 5%, I talk about what their signature allows the university to do with the photos and what most likely could be some possible uses of the images. For example, “The school will put these into their database of photos and then use them for things like their website, recruiting printed materials, posters, billboards and maybe as part of a TV ad, for example.”
This is an example of the model release on your device.
At this point, only a handful of people in my career have said no to permitting the use of their photos.
What not to do
I have been with a couple of my clients who wanted to handle getting the model releases signed. Many use a similar technique to the one I outlined above. However, I have had a couple who do a better job talking people out of signing a release than talking them into signing one. “We are here today doing a photo shoot for the school. Stanley, here is the photographer working with us to make these photos. He does a great job of getting great images for us. We have a model release we would like you to sign. The model release gives the school the right to use the photo however we choose. For example, we may use it in the recruiting materials or on a billboard.”
Here is where it falls apart
“You won’t see your photo published just anywhere. You will not see it somewhere else on the web. You will only see it in other publications associated with the school. By the way, the teacher doesn’t have to sign this. We already have you sign an agreement that permits us to make these photos without your permission.”
The model can sign with their finger.
As you can see, the person thought they were helpful, but in talking, they brought up all the reasons they had yet to consider. Then, they helped nail it because the institution was mistreating the professor. Who wants to help a group like that? I wouldn’t.
Now that you know how to ask for a signature on a model release, what should you use now?
It affects expressions
You’re asking for permission to take a photo and release it, which can help or hurt expressions. Do it right, and you will make everyone feel like this is their special day, treating them like movie stars.
If you do it incorrectly, people will wish you were not there. You are bothering them, and they want you to leave.
You can see this in their expressions–even if they signed the release, they would not be as positive if you did it wrong.
What to use
I have used the pocket release, which I modified from the American Society of Media Photographers. Their legal counsel developed forms, and many photographers have used them. Click here for a link to their website, which gives you all you need to know about the model and property release. I put four pocket release forms on a page, printed them one 8.5″ x 11″ card stock, and had them cut into more miniature sheets. Which language should I use? Click here for examples.
You can then send an email with it attached as a PDF and JPEG
Easy Release App
I got an iPad this past week and have been exploring everything it can do. If you download an App from the App Store, you will be recommended more apps based on what you have already downloaded. I got a recommendation for the Easy Release.
You don’t need an iPad for this App. You can put it on any smartphone or tablet, whether Android or an iPhone/iPad. The App generates a PDF and a JPEG of the model release. I love this because I can put many of these PDFs into one larger PDF and upload it to my PhotoShelter Image Database. So, the client has a copy of the model releases alongside the photos. When I first started reading, I hoped for a simple release and a way for the person to sign the waiver. However, you can do even more. You can now have the longer verbiage form or modify it to what you and your lawyer deem necessary. You can take a photo with your smartphone or iPad and attach it to the model release. The Easy Release model release has more information than I was gathering earlier. I have a long-form, their information typed (I can now read it), a signature, and a photo of them all in one document I can email to anyone. In some situations, it might be more feasible to pass out forms to a large room of folks to sign than pass around your iPad, but I prefer the final model release of the Easy Release over all others I have ever used before. So, if you are hesitant about getting those releases because it is difficult to remember to carry those forms, they are always with you on your phone or iPad.
Robert Giroux is the founder and CEO of Easy Release and a Senior Media Management Systems Specialist at the National Geographic Society. Photographer with over twenty-four years of experience in editorial and commercial shoots whose clients have included Newsweek, Time, AFP, Reuters, and Getty Images, among many others. Over eight years on staff with Getty Images in various roles, including chief photographer and designer of the photo-editing software currently used by their editorial division. Moran Belford is the software developer and consultant at Gis. Belford is a veteran mobile, web, and desktop software developer and founder of Snikkr, Inc. Here is a PDF of the press release about the software.
