Do I need a contract or model release?

“Do I need a contract or model release to post portrait sessions online?”

I guess I’ll start. I have a model release built into my contracts that anybody that I photograph generally within reason signs if they’re a client that’s come in through my website or through the phone – chances are they’ve signed that contract, and it just has a little paragraph that says “you’re free to use our pictures wherever”, so whenever they’re reading through the contract and they get to that point, I usually just explain that yeah, that’s just for web. If I do want to use it for print – even though I’m clear to use it for print – I would like to clear it with them and make sure they’re 100% okay with that type of thing.

Dave: Good idea. I know if you’re shooting kids and families and stuff like that, it’s gotta be specific for each of the subjects – more so than [adults]. I think with adults generally they’re not going to come down hard on you for promoting your business – that would be my assumption. So I think it’s just using common sense – make sure you clear it with the parents, even get the parents to sign something general – I mean, you probably don’t need a release for every kid, but you’d be wise to have their consent before doing the shoot. You don’t want any nasty surprises, that’s for sure.

Taylor: And especially if you’re shooting stock or micro-stalk, you 100% have to have a model release. You have to submit the model release usually with the file that’s being approved, otherwise they’ll just keep kicking it back to you.