TanV

Thank you Sam. I appreciate your raw honesty. I don’t think I’ll be involving a lawyer as it would do more harm to both of us than good. It isn’t worth it. The good thing that came out of this is that I’ve created a contract and model release form that I will use in the future so that our verbal agreement is even clearer! 🙂I’m happy about that, so there was growth and learning as a result of the situation. Normally, I never give away RAW photos and won’t do it again. Lesson learned!

Wow! Thank you Mike for your detailed reply. It was a big lesson learned. Normally, I don’t ever give away RAW images, but we’re friends, I trusted her, and expected to be able to use them. That was the deal…free shoot in return for marketing material. We’ve done photoshoots together before without issue. This was the first time there was a problem. My original question about “rights” was to understand both photographer and model rights. I won’t be posting the photos as I realize that it would harm the friendship and I don’t want to do that. At the time, I was disappointed as I really wanted to use these in my portfolio and can’t. We both knew that was the intention for the shoot so I feel like it was a waste of time but perhaps not if I learn and grow from the experience.

Thanks Alan. I have accepted the hard lesson and it has moved me in the right direction to create a model release form and a contract that people will need to sign before a photoshoot. That way neither of us are wasting time. I should have created these long ago. I will not be posting the photos. It’s unfortunate as she is beautiful. She just doesn’t believe it or see it right now.

By the same token, she can't post photos I've taken of her without my consent, right? Seeing as how she's got 500 RAW images from that day.

Yes, fair enough, and you're right. Either way, if she didn't like the photos then it's the same moral situation whether or not there is a signed consent form. I will respect her wishes however I won't likely do another photoshoot for her again as I'd risk the same thing happening again. It was a lot of time and effort out the window.

Thanks Sam. We did discuss that I'd be using the photos for promotional purposes right from the beginning so she definitely understood that. We just didn't do the actual written consent form.

Hello everyone. I'm a professional photographer and recently did a free portrait photoshoot for a friend who knew I wanted to use the photos in my portfolio and for self-promotion. We went out and did a beautiful shoot in the forest and took 500 photos. Later that evening, we went through them all together. She downloaded the memory card with all 500 RAW photos onto her own computer and into her Lightroom. I wrote down the ones she liked - there were only five. I edited the five she liked at home in Lightroom and Photoshop and sent them to her to review. She had me fix hundreds of little details she didn't like about herself like taking out freckles, removing her tattoo, flattening the bridge of her nose, and even taking her waist in. The winners came down to two images. One didn't show her face at all and the other was a slight side profile. In the end, I don't have much to show for all the hard work. And certainly, two images where you can hardly see your client's face or not at all, don't represent a good portrait shoot. I'm feeling extremely frustrated about it. Part of me wants to use four of the images she originally chose anyway and part of me is afraid to. What are my rights as the photographer and what are her rights as the model who now has all of these RAW files on her computer? There was no model release form signed ahead of time as she is a friend...lesson learned. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment. T