Commercial vs Editorial - Releases

As you know, I was in New York last weekend, and I took pictures of my sister, niece, and brother-in-law. Remember this?



Also, I have taken numerous pictures of private and public property, including ...

Hotels:



Gardens:



and places of worship:



So, this begs the question: if I want to sell these pictures, what is my obligation? First, answer this question: Is the subject recognizable? In other words, can you identify the person or the piece of property easily? If so, read on.

Let's start with the first and simplest - my niece. I'd already obtained permission from both her parents to post her pictures on Flickr and my blog. I would simply need to formalize that agreement by obtaining a release a writing. This would be needed for commercial use, which is in conjunction with selling goods, services, etc. (like a billboard or a magazine ad), but not for editorial use, which is used in conjunction with a story or piece of text (like a magazine article). I say better safe than sorry - I obtain model releases (or the promise thereof) for everything.

What about the gardens? In this case, this was public property (the US Botanical Gardens), so according to most sources, I don't (technicall) need one. However, I'm a cautious person and would likely only sell these for editorial use. I feel the same way about the church.

The hotel is a different story. Technically, it's private property. For non-editorial use, I would obtain a property release. Whether that is easy or difficult is another issue, obviously.

In the case of both types of releases, compensation is typically involved.

So why do I care? Well, aside from the fact that I want to sell my pictures without breaking the law, I have to think about:

1) Taking a mix of recognizable and unrecognizable pictures of property, so that I have at least something to sell.

2) Making sure NOT to take pictures of strangers unless they are silouhettes, unless I'm paid to do so.

3) Understanding that I'm limited to editorial use if a release is required, because I'm frankly not a fan of paperwork.

This is a very confusing topic to some, and I hope I've shed some light on it. For most of you, this doesn't matter very much. However, you never know what could happen - someone could want to buy your work. Make sure you don't limit yourself!

Till tomorrow!