Have you grabbed yourself a brand new camera system or perhaps upgraded to the most recently released Digital SLR gear this new year? Digital cameras were among the popular gift ideas for special occasions. Alot of amateurs as well as professional photographers bring their camera around and snap photos to their heart’s content, capturing the beauty of landscape and architectural structures while traveling or just strolling around.
If you happen to genuinely love to capture photographs and simply value visual imagery, you need to understand just what is right to take pictures. If someone questioned you, you need to know what to do. You need to know your rights along with the risk involved. Photography is a tool for documenting history as we know. Capturing snapshots of landscapes and events which are obviously from public spaces is actually a constitutional right. However, you will sometimes meet a police officers along the way telling you to stop taking pictures in a public event or even in a public space.
Know Your Rights As A Photographer in Animated Video
To bring awareness to photographers’ rights, here is an hilarious animated video “They Can’t Turn the Lights Off Now!” about transparency and First Amendment protections for pro and amateur photographers. Joseph Gordon-Levitt made it in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union.
List of Photographer’s Rights Worldwide
Can we photograph anything in the public view? Bill Kenworthy just posted a new article write-up at the First Amendment Center wherein he emphasizes what types of street photography are protected under the First Amendment. Check out the article “Photography and The First Amendment” to learn more about it. Meanwhile, here are a few links to photographer’s rights around the world. It helps to bookmark, print, and carry it with your camera bag.
1. A Guide to Your Rights for Public Photography in Florida
>>>http://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/PhotographersRights.pdf
2. Photographer’s Right in USA
>>>http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm
3. Photographer’s Right in UK
>>>http://www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr.php
4. Photographer’s Right in CANADA
>>>http://ambientlight.ca/laws.shtml
5. Photographer’s Right in AUSTRALIA
>>>http://4020.net/words/photorights.shtml
6. Ten Legal Commandments Of Photography
>>>http://content.photojojo.com/tips/legal-rights-of-photographers/
Amateur Photographer Magazine even created a len’s cloth where the photography rights are printed in black and white. It will give photographers, amateur and professional, easy access to guidelines issued to Metropolitan Police officers to help them deal with photographers.
Top 10 Misconceptions About Photography and the Law
There are also misinterpretations about photography and the law that most of us photographers failed to understand. Carolyn Wright of PhotoAttorney.com whose practice deal with intellectual property, rights of privacy and publicity, came up with a list of misinformation below. You can read the full article via Better Digital Photography Blog in detail.
- You don’t need permission to photograph a work of art that is in a public area.
- A news publication may use your photograph without your permission because it is fair use.
- You need a model release to use a photograph of a person on a book cover.
- If you make money from a print, it is a commercial use.
- You need a property release to use a photograph of a house for a commercial use.
- You have no copyright protection for your photos until you register them.
- Statues and other works of art on federal or state property are in the public domain.
- Photographs of works in the public domain also are in the public domain.
- If a stock agency requires a model or property release, then it must be legally required.
- If you take a photograph while working, the copyright to the photograph always belongs to the employer.
Photography Is Not A Crime Snapshots
Is it a crime to take pictures? Here are a series of images for the “Photography Is Not A Crime” campaign showing photographers fighting for their rights.
1. Photo via Urbanimage
2. Photo via Keyfob + 85mm.ch
3. Photo via _barb_
4. Photo via Tilly Dog Fauxtografix
5. Photo via Tilly Dog Fauxtografix + Crashcalloway
6. Photo via Reed à son Pellier
7. Photo via McTumshieBe guided to your rights when taking pictures in public as a photographer. If you have something to add, just leave your thoughts at the comment section below.
You Might Also Like
1. Photography Tips: Top 10 Ways To Greatly Improve Your Artwork
2. Group Photography Tips: 56 Portraits of China’s Cultural Landscape
3. Digital SLR Camera: 5 Features You May Ignore
4. 50 Vintage Cameras: A Buyer’s Guide For Photographers
5. Faces Of Power: 50 Portraits That Influence The World By Platon
Aurora Gatbonton and the rest of the WPD Blog Team wants you to get hitched with creativity, style, and technology.