legalities with regards taking photo and video of groups of people at say a pool party or beach or similar?

Question

I am wanting to know what legalities would be met if i were to take photos and video of people say while im down in cancun at the beach etc during spring break, if i film people partying and having fun would i be able to use this footage for anything other than personal home movies, would i need anyone to sign contracts to allow me to do anything with the footage etc

Any info would be great

Thanks to those already answering my question, just curious though as to the dozens of videos i have seen on dvd that have footage of hundreds of different people at these parties in cancun at the beach etc, do they really go round every single person that was in the shot when they filmed and get them to sign a release form before they used it in the dvd as i find that hard to beleive as if they needed to do that and a shot had 50 people in it at one time and one person said no to signing then the entire shot would be useless, there must be some way of legally using the footage without needing a release form or something??

Answer 1

A person at a beach is not protected from being filmed. You're free to record and display any images when taken someplace where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. Then again, in Cancun the laws are different, but I'm sure you'll be able to do it as long as it's a public beach (as opposed to a private resort).

Answer 2

As stated before, legally a person in a public place has no right to privacy. That rule is no so flexible if you are taking pictures of other peoples kids without their permission. I would also be careful when shooting in Cancun on a beach around a bunch of drunken idiots. Sometimes people get real stupid when they know someone is watching them. But legally, they really can't do anything, especially in Mexico...

Answer 3

If you are shooting people in action doing their normal thing it is considered "photojournalism" and no releases are needed even if the pictures are going to be used commercially.
Consider paparazzi chasing movie stars when they spot them at a restaurant. Those movie stars sure aren't going to sign releases for photos that they don't want taken to begin with. Yet they get published. Now if you ask a movie star to pose for you then use the picture commercially that is a different story. You would need a signed release.

Answer 4

Attend: Beach party Give: Pool party.

Answer 5

You have the right to take the pictures of anyone in a public place. It's polite to ask, and even more polite to ask them to sign a model release form. You can find one here - http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/contact/SPL_SampleModelRelease.pdf
Or you can search for "model release" on google or yahoo.

If you use your images professionally (for example, if you sell them to a magazine), a model release form is almost always mandatory and required from the company that is buying the image.

For more information on your rights as a photographer, check out http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm . This is a leaflet that photographers carry with them to prove their rights when they are told they can't take images of certain places, things, or people.