Guides
How to plan and document consent for a photo or video project
Document image consent by scoping the use first, offering separate choices, and keeping a record that ties each person to the files they approved.
What to take away
- Write the use plan before you write the release. The plan decides what the release has to ask.
- Split capture, publication, promotion, editing and reuse into separate choices. One yes does not cover all five.
- Say the terms out loud in plain words, then keep a record you can retrieve years later.
- Reconfirm on shoot day whenever the location, the people, the wardrobe or the intended use changes.
- Tie every response to a participant code, and keep contact details in a separate, more restricted file.
A consent process has two jobs. It lets a person decide, and it lets your team prove later what was decided. That record starts before the shoot and follows each approved file through publication, reuse and deletion.
This workflow covers planned projects with identifiable people. It does not replace legal review, location permission, safeguarding rules, union agreements, employment terms or a valid copyright license.
Write the use plan first
Draft a one-page scope before you approach anyone. Name the commissioning party, the creators, the subjects, the purpose, and the recording types. Name the locations, the dates, the channels, and the territory. Name the publication window, any paid promotion, the partners, and the editing plan. Name the archival plan and the contact person.
Mark what is still unknown. If the client has not decided whether footage may become an advertisement, do not hide that possibility inside "all media" language. Resolve it, or make advertising a separate choice the participant can decline.
Flag the high-risk settings early. Some topics can require specialist review or a decision not to record at all:
High-risk settings to flag
- Children
- Medical information
- Intimate settings
- Political activity
- Immigration status
- Private homes
- Workplaces
- Religious practice
Settings that call for specialist review, or for a decision not to record at all:
- Private spacesa home, a hotel room, a bathroom, a changing area, a medical or care setting.
- Nudity, sexual content or intimacy, and anything that editing could make look like it.
- Anyone under 18, anyone under a guardian's authority, or anyone whose capacity to agree is uncertain.
- Sensitive information on screen or in speechhealth, immigration status, criminal history, finances, sexual orientation.
- A power imbalance between the person asking and the person deciding: employer and employee, coach and athlete, teacher and student, landlord and tenant.
- Crowds, protests, hospitals, schools, places of worship and shelters, where bystanders cannot be asked one by one.
- Uses beyond editorialpaid advertising, political or advocacy campaigns, AI training, resale of footage.
- Anyone who has declined or withdrawnnothing they appear in, in any version.
Offer choices that mean something
Separate taking part in the activity from appearing in the content. Then split image use into options a person can actually tell apart.
Consent choices by decision
Decision
- Capture
- stills, video, audio, none
- Identification
- named, first name, pseudonym, unnamed
- Publication
- site, social, print, press, internal
- Promotion
- unpaid, boosted, paid ad, none
- Editing
- correction, retouching, composite, synthetic
- Reuse
- one campaign, portfolio, annual, new permission
Example choice
- Capture
- Identification
- Publication
- Promotion
- Editing
- Reuse
| Decision | Example choice |
|---|---|
| Capture | stills, video, audio, or none |
| Identification | named, first name only, pseudonym, or unnamed |
| Publication | project site, organic social, print, press, or internal only |
| Promotion | unpaid post, boosted post, paid ad, or no promotion |
| Editing | routine correction, retouching, composite, synthetic change |
| Reuse | one campaign, portfolio, related annual campaign, or new permission |
Sample wording keeps the six decisions apart: "I agree to be recorded in [stills] [video] [audio]. I agree to be identified as [full name] [first name only] [a pseudonym] [not named]. I agree to the recording appearing on [named channels] in [territory] until [date]. I agree to its use in paid promotion: yes / no. I agree to editing that [describe what the edit does]: yes / no. I agree to reuse in [describe the future project]: yes / no." Each bracket is a decision the participant makes, not a term the production fills in later.
Do not offer an option the production cannot honor. If every clip carries audio, do not promise video without audio unless someone can mute it and verify the mute.
Explain it in words people use
Lead with a short spoken explanation and a one-page summary. Put the full terms and privacy information in an accessible format. Name the person who decides how footage is used, not just the camera operator. Say how to ask a question, decline, or withdraw later.
Explain consent in plain words
- Lead with short spoken explanation
- Give one-page summary
- Provide full terms accessibly
- Name the person deciding use
- Say how to ask, decline, withdraw
- Use concrete terms like two paid ads
- Translate or interpret where needed
- Give time without camera waiting
Use concrete terms. "Two paid Instagram ads through June 30" beats "digital promotion." Describe material editing and foreseeable distribution. Translate or interpret where needed, and give people time to ask questions without a camera waiting inches from their face.
A spoken script can cover the ground in a minute: "We are filming [project] for [client]. The footage may appear on [channels] in [territory] through [date]. You can choose stills, video or audio, or none. You can be named, use a first name or a pseudonym, or stay unnamed. You can say no to paid promotion, and no to reuse. You can stop the recording at any time, and you can ask us later to take a clip out. Here is the one-page summary, and [name] is the person who decides how the footage is used. What questions do you have?"
The University of Oregon's institutional practice calls for releases on deliberate shoots and advises teams to discuss intended use and platforms before photographing. Its model release guidance for planned photography is a useful operational example. Its form and rules do not set legal requirements for your organization or your jurisdiction.
Capture a response you can attribute
Use a signed form, a secure electronic choice, a recorded oral statement, or whatever method the governing rules allow. Record which version of the notice the person saw and which options they selected. For oral agreement, keep the script and an authorized record of the response.
Attributable consent record flow
- Capture signed, electronic, or oral response
- Record notice version and selected options
- Assign participant code
- Link code to shoot and file IDs
- Store identity evidence separately
- Never clear whole memory card
Assign a participant code. Link that code to shoot and file identifiers, and store contact details and identity evidence somewhere more restricted. Never mark a whole memory card "cleared" when different people chose different terms.
Keep one register as the spine of the record. Each row carries a participant code, the version of the notice the person saw, the choices they made, the date and the name of the person who took the response, the scope label and expiry of every file covered, and where the signed form or the recording is stored.
When a guardian or representative signs, record their identity, their relationship and the basis of their authority. Do not assume the adult standing beside a participant can authorize every use.
Reconfirm on the day
Before recording, restate the project and point out anything that changed. Show where someone can wait outside the frame. Agree on a stop signal. Whoever takes consent must be able to halt recording without an argument about the schedule or the money already spent.
Reconfirm on the day
- New creator, client or partner joins
- Location or privacy changes
- Wardrobe, script, pose, topic sensitive
- Audio, livestream, behind-the-scenes added
- Commercial endorsement replaces editorial use
- Composite or synthetic edit proposed
Log a decline with as little personal detail as possible. You need to stop the capture or the publication, not to build a list of reasons people said no.
Control the files after capture
Ingest into a controlled folder. Tag each file with participant code, scope label, review status, expiry and restrictions. Quarantine any frame showing a person with no matched record. Keep unselected raw files away from teams that only need approved masters.
Before editing, compare the planned treatment against the response. Before publication, check these items:
Pre-publication check
- person
- file
- channel
- audience
- dates
- caption
- tags
- sponsor
- Every person visible or audible in the file has a current, matched record.
- The use you are about to make sits inside the scope that person chose: the channel, the territory and the date.
- No edit adds nudity, changes the meaning, or makes an unnamed person identifiable.
- Captions, credits and names match the identification choice each person made.
- Paid promotion, advertising and reuse each have their own yes, or the person has been removed from that version.
- No withdrawal request covers the file, and the expiry date has not passed.
- The reviewer's name and the date of the check are logged with the file.
Handle changes and withdrawal
Give requests one monitored route. Log the receipt, verify identity in proportion to the risk, identify the affected files and uses, pause anything scheduled, and tell the people who control downstream placements.
Respond in the time and form the law or contract requires, and know which law you are working under. A copyright takedown runs through section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512: the notice goes to the service provider's designated agent, the agent the provider registers with the U.S. Copyright Office, and it must identify the work, give the location of the material, give your contact details, state a good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized, state under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act, and carry your signature. A complete notice is passed to the uploader, who can file a counter-notice and ask for the material to be restored.
Non-consensual intimate images follow a different route. Most states have their own non-consensual intimate image statute, and federal law provides a civil action for the disclosure of intimate images at 15 U.S.C. § 6851. Platforms also take reports through dedicated intimate-image forms, and StopNCII.org lets a person create a hash of an image that participating platforms can match. Where a name or likeness is used in advertising without permission, the claim is usually a right-of-publicity claim under a state statute such as California Civil Code § 3344 or New York Civil Rights Law §§ 50 and 51. A licensed attorney in your jurisdiction is the right person to read the version that applies to you.
If the project wants a new use, describe what changed and ask for a fresh choice. Never overwrite the old record. Keep both versions and the date the later one took effect.
At project close, delete raw files you no longer need. Keep records for a defined reason and period. Revoke access. Write down what survives in these systems:
- archives
- backups
- third-party systems
How long is long enough? No single figure fits every project. Choose a period that at least outlasts the longest use you approved, the promotion attached to it, and any record-keeping duty in your contract, then write the date into the record so the next person does not have to guess.
Common questions
Should consent always be written?
Writing is easier to prove, but the required method depends on the right, the law, the context and the risk. Some rules demand a signature or an explicit statement. If an oral process is allowed, record it carefully and keep the script.
Who should obtain the response?
A trained person who can explain the project, answer questions, notice pressure or hesitation, and stop the shoot. The photographer should not have to carry every record alone.
What if someone changes one choice on shoot day?
Update the record before capture or use. Note the changed field, the time, who confirmed it, and the files affected. Keep the earlier version rather than editing it.
Can one release cover photos and video?
It can, if the language and the choices are clear and effective where you operate. A combined form should still separate recording, audio, editing, publication and reuse.
