Permissions

[down2earth2]

Is verbal permission enough to post a picture of someone on the web, or should you have written permission?

Suppose you take a picture that has people in it, say walking down the sidewalk, can you post that on the web? Seems like newspapers print lots of pictures of random people without permission. Obviously if you take a picture of a crowd of people, you could never successfully ask every person's permission.

[ldg40]

I would say yes D2E2, you can use them. The image is YOURS, taken by YOU. But the additional verbal makes it even nicer. Well have to wait for more expert opinions on this! :)

[Scott]

It depends upon the usage. If you are profiting from the image then you need model releases for every single person in the image, regardless of crowd size. If it's editorial use, then you generally just need permission, written is always better. Regardless of whether you feel the image is yours or not, if the focus of the image is a recognizable person and you're, say, selling the image, you need their permission. Newspapers and magazines get away with crowd shots and other photos because they are editorial in nature not made-for-profit images. If you're showing the photos as part of a portfolio, then getting permission is just a general consideration towards others (the models).

[down2earth2]

Thanks for clearing this up for me. :) No direct profit involved, but wanting to use in a portfolio.

[BigPurpleOne]

Thsi website may help caler thing up from a lawyers point of veiw.. http://www.photoattorney.blogspot.com/ Hoep you find it helpful