My Photoshop Classroom

Photographers keep facing more and more questions and charges for breaking the law, making it important now so more than ever to understand your rights and responsibilities as a photographer. In this article, we’ll go over such rights, as well as Model Releases.

First a quick note, your rights and the laws surrounding photography vary from country to country and even from state to state, so always make sure what laws are in force in your area.

Where and What can I photograph?

The general rule is that you can photograph mostly anything you like as long as it’s in a public place. You do not need to have permission to photograph in public, this include photographing building and parks as well as people that are in public areas.

If you’re on public property you can even photograph private property, for example standing on the street and photographing someone’s garden. If you are on private property you can photograph until someone ask you to stop (a sign prohibiting photography counts as well) and you must obey such a request.

There are exceptions to this rule, for example military installations or other subjects that can be classed as national security. However infrastructures such as bridges are not included in such a list. Another exception is, even in a public space, places like dressing rooms, restrooms or people entering their code at the ATM machine — photographing at these places counts as invading a person’s privacy.

So to summarize, here are some examples of things you can photograph, if you’re in a public space you can photograph adults, children, law enforcement officers, accidents, criminal activities, celebrities, airports and train stations.

What to do when people question you

There is a good chance that somewhere along the way in your photography experience, someone is going to confront you. Everything from regular citizens to security personal and law enforcement officers might question your activity and ask you to stop photographing. They might say it’s for security reason and refer to acts like terrorism, this is not a valid reason for them to ask you to stop what you are doing. As long as you’re in a public space you have the right to photograph.

First of all, act politely and stay as calm as possible. You do not need to explain why you are there or what you are photographing. In most cases you do not need to disclose your identity (depending on your country/state you might need to do so if it’s a law enforcement officer that is requesting).

You do not need to give them your camera/memory card nor do you need to delete the images. Unless they have a court order or are arresting you (again, depending on your location) they have no right to take your equipment.

If you are asked to delete photographs or asked to hand over your equipment ask for their identity and who they work for. Also ask what legal reason they cite for doing this to you. If this happens to you, you might want to consider taking legal action or contact your local newspaper.

How and Where can I use/publish my photographs?

Okay, so you have the right to photograph mostly anything, but are you allowed to do whatever you want with the photographs you took? The short answer is: No, there are rules and laws surrounding how you publish and distribute your photographs.

Once again, I cannot stress this enough, the laws are not the same all around the world so make sure you know what the laws says in your area before you do something you will later regret. A wrong decision can end up costing you a lot of money, not to mention your reputation as a respectable photographer.

In most areas the main difference in your rights is depending on if the photograph is used commercially or not. If your photograph is not commercial, i.e. considered art, you have much more rights to publish and use your photograph. For example, in most countries you are allowed to publish and sell photographs that are considered art without a legal release from the model/person in the photo. This means that you can go around the city photographing people in everyday situations and sell the prints or have a show at a gallery without notifying the people you photograph.

However if you intend to use the photograph in any commercial situation you will need a model release from the model. An important note is that if you sell the photograph to a commercial agency they are responsible for getting the model release from both the model and you as the photographer. If they publish your photograph without a model release you are not to blame — however all serious agencies requires a model release for every photograph they buy.

There is one gray spot though, photographers portfolios. They are used to display your work, just like commercials, but in most countries they are considered art and you do not need a model release to publish a photo on your portfolio.

News photographs, even though they can be used to sell newspapers, do not require a model release to be published and sold.

As you can see this is a rather complex issue, and I haven’t even talked about how different it is from country to country, so it’s important that you check this yourself before doing a job.