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Model releases
Images with people in are best-sellers with most agencies. Buyers want pictures of women ... children ... men ... doing anything and everything.
However, if you are hoping to sell such images for commercial use (as opposed to editorial - see here) you will need a model release for every recognisable person in the image. For certain agencies you will even need releases for people who are not recognisable.
But what about that street scene you took, with dozens of people in it? How can you get model releases for all of them?
You can't. That's why most photographs of crowd scenes that you see in advertisements – apparently taken at rock concerts, football matches, beaches, etc. – are all carefully staged, with professional models. And all the models will have signed the release forms.
In certain circumstances you may also need a signed property release. For example, if you are taking photographs of a stately home from its gardens. In that case you are taking pictures of private property from private property. You'll need a release to stay on the right side of the law.
So, where do you get these forms from?
Most agencies will have their own forms available for download. But, whilst these are convenient, the disadvantage is that they will have the company's name at the top, and maybe even elsewhere in the legalese too. This means that you can only really use the release for that particular agency. In other words, if you want to submit the same photograph to a different agent you'll need a different form ... which the model has to sign again.
All that form signing can get a bit boring.
Fortunately Getty, one of the biggest photo agencies in the world, have made a series of model and property release forms available for free download as PDF files. These are generic forms, so have no company name on and can be used with any agency. They are available in English and 7 other languages. There are standard-sized ones and pocket forms you can carry with you, large print forms model releases to be used with minors. Thanks Getty!
Getty UK releases (in English, French and German)
Getty USA releases (in English, French and German)
Getty Australian releases (in English only)
Getty New Zealand releases (in English only, no large print or pocket releases)
Getty French releases (Two versions, one for use in France with French nationals, the other for French-speaking models outside France.)
And for other languages (Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian) click here.
There's a more detailed discussion of the need for model and property releases on the American Society of Media Photographers' website. Note: the information they give relates to US law. Things may well be different in other countries.
And be aware that this whole area is a legal minefield. A famous judgement in which a model was awarded $15 million dollars damages (referred to on the ASMP web page, above) for the apparently unauthorised use of his image on packs of Taster's Choice coffee has recently been reversed. See here for details. But be warned, they're complicated.
The moral ... get watertight signed model releases if you're going to sell photographs Royalty Free.
Any broken links? Resources you'd like to share? Resources you'd like to see? Comments? E-mail me.