If you regularly contribute to microstock photo agencies you would be forgiven for thinking that you are entirely responsible for obtaining and supplying model or property releases before you are allowed to make your images available for sale.

A model release is similar in context to a liability waiver. What that generally means is that the model or owner of the property signs to say that the photo of them or their property can be published and used in a particular way and in accordance with the restrictions or usage allowances as laid down in the release. It is for all intents and purposes a contract that usually includes some form of compensation to the model or property owner to allow the photo to be published.

Failure to acquire a release could result in civil liability against the person that publishes the photo.

It is worth noting that the photographer is usually not the publisher, rather a photographer sells a photo to somebody else who then goes on to publish the image and liability rest solely with the publisher, not the photographer. Of course there will be times when the photographer and publisher are one and the same but for the purpose of stock photography this is unlikely. This raises another interesting point in that making an image available for sale, even via a website does not constitute publication.

So in fact, you do not need to have a model release to make your images available for sale, however, many of the microstock agencies apply their own rules and won’t make your images available for sale unless you provide model or property releases at the time of submission. Of course the reason for this is that it makes images instantly salable because the person buying the image doesn’t then have to spend time and money trying to locate the appropriate model or property owner in order to get a release signed for their purpose. If microstock agencies had unreleased images, they just wouldn’t attract much attention from buyers.

For news and editorial use, releases aren’t necessary at all however, when the image is to be used for commercial purposes a release is needed by the publisher if they want to avoid litigation from subjects in the image or property owners, especially if the image is used in a way which might prtray them negatively e.g. a devout Roman catholic would object strongly if they found an advert using an image of them to promote the use of condoms. It is therefore essential to obtain the permission of the subject for commercial and advertising use and that’s where the release comes in.