I take pictures of public events that happen in my home town which I post on my personal website for the towns folk to view. Just about everyone in town knows me (even the ones I don't know) and are happy with my site. However I would like to know if there is any law that governs posting pictures of people taken in public without their permission. Most of my pictures involve sports and children.
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using my own pictures on my website
- Thread Starter bigblue
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seniorjudge
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You need model releases.
I take pictures of public events that happen in my home town which I post on my personal website for the towns folk to view. Just about everyone in town knows me (even the ones I don't know) and are happy with my site. However I would like to know if there is any law that governs posting pictures of people taken in public without their permission. Most of my pictures involve sports and children.
Thank you for the response, none of the pictures that I take are are sold and there is no profit or money envolved. Most of the pictures are either action shots which include a group of players or groups of fans watching the event. Would I have to get a release from each and every individual in each picture? I'm just courious, how does the news media manage to publish pictures of public events such as sports and parades etc. that show large groups of people?
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What state are you posting from? Check state laws on photographs of public events and see if you find anything. I found this:
http://pcworld.about.com/news/Jun062006id125893.htm
Taking Pictures of Public Events
Q: Do I need a permit to photograph a public event or in a public place?
A: No. It's your constitutional right to photograph in public
Photographing People in Public
Q: Can I photograph people in public places without their permission?
A: Absolutely. People get really muddled about this issue, but the reality is that you have a virtually unrestricted right to use a camera in public. One big caveat: It's common courtesy to get verbal permission. Nonetheless, people don't have the right to bar you from photographing them in public, where they would not ordinarily have an expectation of privacy.
Q: Can I publish pictures of people I've photographed without permission?
A: That depends upon the purpose of the picture. If it's artistic or editorial in nature, or can be characterized as to inform or educate, then you do not need your subject's explicit permission.
If the picture or any associated text may be libelous, defamatory, or fall outside of what courts have described as "the normal sensibilities" of the target audience, then you may need permission from the subject for your own protection. You also need permission from the subject if the picture is used for commercial purposes, such as in an advertisement.
Q: Why is the subject's permission required for commercial photos?
A: You need to get permission from the subjects of your photos when you're creating images for commercial purposes because their role implies that they endorse the product. If you photograph a mother and baby in a local park, for instance, and the image ends up on a Web site selling baby food, then it implies that the people use the product--or at the very least endorse it. And that's the difference between commercial photography and publishing candid photos of strangers in a photo gallery, in a magazine article, or on the Internet. In those cases there's no kind of product endorsement implied.
Q: How do I get permission from my subject?
A: You'll do that with what is called a "model release form." Someone you've photographed, or plan to, signs this document, giving you permission to publish their image. You generally only need permission from the subject of your picture if the image will be used for commercial purposes (advertising). There's no official format for a model release. You can make your own, and there are many good examples all over the Web. In fact, here's one you could download, print, and carry around in your camera bag.
http://pcworld.about.com/news/Jun062006id125893.htm
Taking Pictures of Public Events
Q: Do I need a permit to photograph a public event or in a public place?
A: No. It's your constitutional right to photograph in public
Photographing People in Public
Q: Can I photograph people in public places without their permission?
A: Absolutely. People get really muddled about this issue, but the reality is that you have a virtually unrestricted right to use a camera in public. One big caveat: It's common courtesy to get verbal permission. Nonetheless, people don't have the right to bar you from photographing them in public, where they would not ordinarily have an expectation of privacy.
Q: Can I publish pictures of people I've photographed without permission?
A: That depends upon the purpose of the picture. If it's artistic or editorial in nature, or can be characterized as to inform or educate, then you do not need your subject's explicit permission.
If the picture or any associated text may be libelous, defamatory, or fall outside of what courts have described as "the normal sensibilities" of the target audience, then you may need permission from the subject for your own protection. You also need permission from the subject if the picture is used for commercial purposes, such as in an advertisement.
Q: Why is the subject's permission required for commercial photos?
A: You need to get permission from the subjects of your photos when you're creating images for commercial purposes because their role implies that they endorse the product. If you photograph a mother and baby in a local park, for instance, and the image ends up on a Web site selling baby food, then it implies that the people use the product--or at the very least endorse it. And that's the difference between commercial photography and publishing candid photos of strangers in a photo gallery, in a magazine article, or on the Internet. In those cases there's no kind of product endorsement implied.
Q: How do I get permission from my subject?
A: You'll do that with what is called a "model release form." Someone you've photographed, or plan to, signs this document, giving you permission to publish their image. You generally only need permission from the subject of your picture if the image will be used for commercial purposes (advertising). There's no official format for a model release. You can make your own, and there are many good examples all over the Web. In fact, here's one you could download, print, and carry around in your camera bag.
Thank you very much for the response, it was of great value. I'm posting from New Jersey.
You can view my website at www.gobigblu.com Your reply was very useful, I was thinking of recognising some of our merchants who support the various activities and events by giving them free web space in the form of a small site under a subdomain (ex. merchant.gobigblu.com) do you think that would be considered as advertisement for them?
You can view my website at www.gobigblu.com Your reply was very useful, I was thinking of recognising some of our merchants who support the various activities and events by giving them free web space in the form of a small site under a subdomain (ex. merchant.gobigblu.com) do you think that would be considered as advertisement for them?
What state are you posting from? Check state laws on photographs of public events and see if you find anything. I found this:
http://pcworld.about.com/news/Jun062006id125893.htm
Taking Pictures of Public Events
Q: Do I need a permit to photograph a public event or in a public place?
A: No. It's your constitutional right to photograph in public
Photographing People in Public
Q: Can I photograph people in public places without their permission?
A: Absolutely. People get really muddled about this issue, but the reality is that you have a virtually unrestricted right to use a camera in public. One big caveat: It's common courtesy to get verbal permission. Nonetheless, people don't have the right to bar you from photographing them in public, where they would not ordinarily have an expectation of privacy.
Q: Can I publish pictures of people I've photographed without permission?
A: That depends upon the purpose of the picture. If it's artistic or editorial in nature, or can be characterized as to inform or educate, then you do not need your subject's explicit permission.
If the picture or any associated text may be libelous, defamatory, or fall outside of what courts have described as "the normal sensibilities" of the target audience, then you may need permission from the subject for your own protection. You also need permission from the subject if the picture is used for commercial purposes, such as in an advertisement.
Q: Why is the subject's permission required for commercial photos?
A: You need to get permission from the subjects of your photos when you're creating images for commercial purposes because their role implies that they endorse the product. If you photograph a mother and baby in a local park, for instance, and the image ends up on a Web site selling baby food, then it implies that the people use the product--or at the very least endorse it. And that's the difference between commercial photography and publishing candid photos of strangers in a photo gallery, in a magazine article, or on the Internet. In those cases there's no kind of product endorsement implied.
Q: How do I get permission from my subject?
A: You'll do that with what is called a "model release form." Someone you've photographed, or plan to, signs this document, giving you permission to publish their image. You generally only need permission from the subject of your picture if the image will be used for commercial purposes (advertising). There's no official format for a model release. You can make your own, and there are many good examples all over the Web. In fact, here's one you could download, print, and carry around in your camera bag.
I'm posting from New Jersey. Thank you for the very helpful information. We have some merchants who really support the activities of the township (especially the high school and little leauge sports) if I give them free recognition on my website (of my own accord) would that be considered advertisement even though they do not ask me to nor pay me for it?
merchant liability
I have pictures that I took of their places of business. I created a page on my website for each of them which shows the pictures that I took. There is a section on my homepage that says: "Featured Merchants" which contains the links to the pages. I don't know if that qualifies as advertising, some of the pictures have customers in them. My main concern is that the merchants not be liable.
What do you mean by free recognition? Their name with a thank you? If you post your pictures within their advertisement that may be where you could get in trouble. So just a shout out to them should be okay...and don't let them use your pictures.
I have pictures that I took of their places of business. I created a page on my website for each of them which shows the pictures that I took. There is a section on my homepage that says: "Featured Merchants" which contains the links to the pages. I don't know if that qualifies as advertising, some of the pictures have customers in them. My main concern is that the merchants not be liable.
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