Guest Author - Kaye Barnett
Model releases are contracts that protect you and your model and are essential if any photograph is commercially used. Find out more about why you need one, and how to write one.This first article is a brief introduction to the model release.
If you ever intend to use photos you’ve taken of people for any commercial reason, maybe you’d like to sell them for use in publications, advertising, a stock library etc. then you need a signed and completed model release form, from the person in the photograph.
The model has the legal rights to the use of their image so in order for you to use the photographs you’ve taken for commercial reasons the model needs to give you permission to do so. If a model is under 18 years of age, a minor, you need to have a signature from the parent or guardian giving you legal permission.
A model release form is a contractual agreement signed by the model and the photographer, with a statement of understanding how the images are to be used, date, and the names and addresses of the model and photographer, at its simplest. In additional some can also include a passport size photograph for visual reference, very useful if a photographer is working with a lot of people.
Once completed and signed, the model has legally given you permission to use the photographs more commercially, depending on how you want to use those pictures and how the model wants you to use them, all of which needs to be agreed upon and written in the statement of the release that the model signs.
When you need a Model Release:
For any photograph that is to be used commercially, where a person(s) are clearly identifiable.
You’ll always own the copyright outright to any photographs you’ve taken of a model but to determine the commercial use of those photographs this needs be agreed between the photographer and the model.
In commercial use, generally the photographer licences or sells the image to a publisher for them to use. So ultimately the publisher of the photographs is liable to how the photographs are used. Publishers need to have the model release to show that the model has given their permission to use their image which the photographer needs to acquire. Even if the photographer only intends to use the image for his or her own use, perhaps as promotion, or advertising for their work, etc. This still does require a model release.
In the next article we'll delve more into the use of model releases and how to write one...
