Model releases, and what you are signing
The release is the piece of paper that decides where your face ends up. It is worth two minutes of reading before you put your name on it.
What a release actually is
A model release is permission, in writing, for the photographer to use images of you in particular ways. It is not a formality, and it is not the same thing as who owns the pictures. Those are two separate questions and it helps to keep them apart in your head.
Most people sign one without reading it, usually in a hurry at the start or end of a shoot. That is understandable and it is also the wrong moment. Ask for it in advance instead.
Who owns the photographs
In the UK the copyright in a photograph belongs to the photographer who took it, automatically, from the moment the shutter closes. That comes from the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. It can be assigned to somebody else by agreement, and it works differently where a photographer was employed to take the pictures, though for the shoots you are likely to be doing, assume the photographer owns them.
Owning the copyright does not mean the photographer can do whatever they like with the images. Your face is yours, and publishing an identifiable picture of you is handled separately. That is what the release is for.
What the release controls
A release should be specific. Vague ones tend to be vague in the photographer’s favour. Look for what it says about each of these.
- Where the images can appear. Portfolio and social media is a very different thing from advertising.
- How long the permission lasts. Some releases are open-ended. Some run for a set number of years.
- Which territories it covers. Usually worldwide, which is normal for anything going online.
- Whether commercial use is included. Advertising a product or service is the category that carries real value, and it should be priced accordingly.
- Whether it can be transferred or sold on. Some releases allow the photographer to license your images to a third party or a stock library. Know if yours does.
- Whether it is exclusive. Rare in portfolio work, worth checking in commercial work.
Questions worth asking before you sign
- Can I see the release before the day rather than on it?
- Can I have a copy afterwards to keep?
- Does this cover advertising, or only portfolio and social media?
- Can these images be sold on to a stock library or another company?
- Is there anything I can ask to have excluded?
- How long does the permission run for?
None of those questions are awkward and none of them mark you out as difficult. A photographer who cannot answer them clearly has not thought about their own paperwork, which tells you something on its own.
Get restrictions in writing, on the form
If you want something excluded, it has to go in the release itself before you sign, not into a conversation. A photographer saying “do not worry, I would never use that one” is meant sincerely at the time and is worth nothing at all a year later when nobody remembers the exchange the same way.
Write it on the form. Initial it. Take a photograph of the signed copy on your phone before you hand it back.
Changing your mind afterwards
This is the part people get wrong, and it is the reason the paperwork matters more than it feels like it does on the day.
An identifiable photograph of you counts as personal data under UK GDPR, so there are circumstances in which consent can be withdrawn. Whether that applies to your situation depends on what the photographer is relying on to publish, what has already been done with the images, and what the release says. It is not a guaranteed undo button.
The practical reality is simpler and less forgiving. Once an image is published and circulating, getting it back is difficult regardless of what any law says. Copies get saved, reposted and scraped within hours. Decide before the shutter goes, not after.
The safety page makes the same point from a different angle. Only do the work you are happy to stand behind.
If you are under 18
A parent or legal guardian signs the release, not you. On my shoots they also have to be present for the whole session, with no exceptions.
If any photographer suggests otherwise, that is the end of the conversation.
How this works on my shoots
Images you buy from a paid portfolio session are licensed to you for portfolio use. Agency submissions, your model profile, your own social media, your own website, personal portfolio use and casting submissions. Commercial usage for a business, a brand campaign or product promotion sits outside that and needs a separate licence and quote.
Full detail is on the Book a Shoot page. Ask me anything that is not clear there before you book rather than after.
I am a photographer, not a solicitor. This page explains how releases generally work so you know what to look for. It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for reading the actual document in front of you. If a release involves real money or a commercial campaign, take proper advice.
Not sure about something you have been sent?
Ask me. I will tell you what a clause means in plain English, even if the shoot has nothing to do with me.