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Releases and Permits

Lesson 11 from: Legal Survival Guide

Craig Heidemann

Releases and Permits

Lesson 11 from: Legal Survival Guide

Craig Heidemann

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Lesson Info

11. Releases and Permits

Lesson Info

Releases and Permits

Let's, talk about us government property, us parks and property releases. We're going to have your wedding, zoe, right at the national park. And there are certain rules for shooting on on the on the, uh, in the park system. We're going to talk about that, but let's say the statue statue of liberty. Can I shoot the statue of liberty and sell pictures of it? Jim says no, I would say no to unless, but not necessarily less. But if you take him images of a couple who's standing in front of one of your sanity. So two wrong answers. Anybody else? Okay? Yes, there's no problem it's owned by the u s government. Unless it is a copyrighted item that's copyrighted by somebody else all property that's owned by the u s government is fair game, and the general rule is now that this is a general rule. Commercial photography is allowed in most non national security locations as long as you're not using a tripod. Apparently, if you have a tripod, you are a professional jim, just put that man fratto in y...

our backpack and and you're a pro. It doesn't matter if you're making money, but if you have a tripod, that is what sets us apart from the amateur photography was mono pod mono pod you're a pro you're a pro don't play those reindeer games with me you're a pro she got your you know eight thousand dollars get zo weighs two ounces mono pod I know how you are self balancing yourself balance things like the steady cain have you seen the steady kane hilarious go yet lauren's o was the same question I was asking about a mano part that has the three features you know don't be tricky okay, so property releases when do we need a property release don't get lazy you're going to get sued this is when this is why we need them okay well wait I have a whole slide generally if there's no props no models no set, no tripod and you're shooting in normal areas you could do commercial photography in national parks you can always do personal photography in the national parks now there's tons of stories about uh secret service police washington police for shooting in d c if you're lingering around an area and you look a little shifty with your camera even if you're trying to get that next competition photo if you get stopped be polite tell him what you're doing um if you remember the pp april after pp a card and show him have your I d ready don't try and argue with them because ultimately you end up losing that um argument modeling property releases so where was this picture taken? Vegas I did it before it was overdone this's from this's eight or ten years ago, but this is it. The neon graveyard. All of this is on private property behind a fence that you can't see through. Um, you pay a two hundred fifty dollars licence fee to use it for your personal portfolio. We hired regina the model. She brought her dress out to vegas. I have a model released for regina. I've got a property release from the neon museum incorporated, and now I can show it to you as part of my personal portfolio because I paid them to shoot there. Now if I hadn't paid them to shoot there, I couldn't reproduce this image and show it to you because I paid him so that would be an example of when we would have to have a property release because I'm using for a limited commercial purpose. Pictures of their property with their permission makes sense. In addition, I'm using regina uh, for a commercial purposes well and reggina's model release would give me the ability to take her head off of her and put your head on her ok, or I could deliver gina's face on their nose. It is a true story because this model release that I use allows me to completely distort the image. And there are semi creepy photographers that would take that type of a model release and I could use her face and take a swimsuit model in a similar position and put it there or do semi nude, etcetera, etcetera. So if you're advising models on model releases you know eisen attorney I would say let me take a look at that if they have that kind of freedom we might say no no disparaging uses uh no distorting it know putting somebody else's body on my shot you have to keep my face on my body that prevents weird on anticipated uses of the picture but that's why we want to use the model release when we think about the property lease we need to say look, is the tangible item copyrighted? All right let's think about that because a copyright protects the ability to reproduce it in any form. So if I have a great picture of of, uh pride and somebody sees it and they decided to do an oil painting from it have they copied it? You bet let's say that I have copyrighted a sculpture in the photographer comes and takes a picture of my copyrighted sculpture and enters it in a competition violation yes, they'd need some kind of a license to do that, so we need to figure out whether or not the tangible item that we're shooting is copyrighted um for instance, statues is the tangible item trademarked if I'm shooting a coca cola can for some art project and there's some likelihood of confusing whether coke made that copy of the image or me I could be infringing on their trademark and I need some kind of a property release from coca cola that's why a lot of times in order to get around that when you watch reality tv they'll blur um brand names uh people other t shirts and on their hats because they don't want to bother to go try and get a property released from that vendor to use their mark or their bray and in the show because obviously they're trying to make money by reproducing that show you have to ask the question where you legally there when you press the shutter generally if you were legally there it's a property not a person just cause you're legally where you're at when you take a picture of a person doesn't mean that you can use it but for property that's generally good enough um and again if you are re watching this here's the link for government property uh in on trademarks again we're looking at the likelihood of confusion if you're distorting it and you know chances are it wouldn't be confused you're probably good to go I do have again on the disc the property release um and on the model release I include the long form on model releases everybody on the face of the earth has this concept of your personal rights your right of publicity your right of privacy there certain exceptions but if somebody's gonna make money off of my beautiful image for instance bob now is going to take that picture of me with my blue steel post and he's going to take that and he's goingto try and sell it ah on on some stock photo site which obviously would probably make you a lot of money bob so maybe we would want to talk about licensing that for that purpose uh but if bob wanted to do that bob would need to approach me and get a model release now we can negotiate what bob could do with my image because he wants to try and make money off of it but I've got a right to control my publicity in my privacy and that's why this model release comes into play so if bob uses it without my permission under state common law and there are statutes or laws in new york and other states that specifically say you have to have a model release before you do it but all of the states recognized your right of publicity and privacy if you don't have that model release aiken sued him for violating those rights and I can get money damages I would ultimately be up to a jury as to what those money damages would be couldn't get attorneysfees but that's that's how I could sue him now there are certain exceptions if he uses it for editorial purposes or for news or for parody or just for his own personal use no matter release required so if bob wanted to uh put that picture of me out on his own personal web page not much I can do about it bob was legally where he wass when he took it I was legally where I was when I took it uh you can put it on his personal web page now if he puts it on his business web page right um we might have a conversation I don't care by the way bob have at it but that's what a model release would be required now the killer model release is included in the bonus materials it's an irrevocable irrevocable bowl model release okay check this out my image may be combined with other pictures text or graphics you may even combine my name or an alias name with my image I will have no right to inspector approve the final use of the image I have no right of compensation for the use of my image um I understand that my image may be altered and modified to the point where I may even be unrecognizable you can use it for commercial purple personal advertising trade exhibition competition promotion marketing stock photo product packaging video print editorial sounds pretty comprehensive right? So this really gives you a lot of latitude. If you feel uncomfortable about any of that. If it's too broad for you, or you don't feel that that's appropriate, you can limit it. Um, you could take out that sentence about the unrecognizable, um, uh, use, but if you're selling it to someone else and giving them a license, their license can't be any broader than yours. So if you do have a great picture of something, you might want to have the biggest model release rather than the small one. Uh, and again, the bonus material does include the model release. So maur value jim, more value, love that will bring me the value on dh that's, where you can get it right there. Craig heidemann with two ends. Dot com

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Checklist for Starting Your Business.docx
Creative Pro Retirement Plan Summary.pdf
Model Release Long Form.pdf
Tax Considerations For Business.xlsx
Tax Deadline Checklist.docx

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Excellent course and subject topic. Mr. Heidermann is a great teacher! Wonderful explanation, clear and concise details, humorous delivery, he kept me engaged the entire time. I truly had fun watching and learning during this course.

a Creativelive Student
 

I'm literally fresh off the boat, as the saying goes, having moved back to the US after decades of living abroad. I have the photography down (in some measure due to the instructors and courses here at CL), but being new to the business of photography in this environment I was rudderless. This course helped answer all my initial questions and put me on the way to getting established in my region... and beyond! Craig makes legal issues almost fun with his jocular, engaging style. Thanks so much to Chase and the people at CL for knowing what courses real working photographers need.

Rafy
 

This is a great course and Craig is an excellent teacher. Step-by-Step and easy to follow.

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