Modelling Photos : Copyright and Rights to Use (in the UK)

There are often many questions raised by models about copyright and what rights they have to use photos that they have posed for. The answer is: it depends! The reason is that firstly the law is different in different countries and advice you read on the web could have been written from anywhere based on their laws so that is the first thing you need to check. The comments here are all based on UK law; the situation in the USA is very different and much advice on the web would relate to that purely because the USA is such a large country with a huge web presence.

In the UK in general terms the photographer owns the copyright of any photos that they take. They can do pretty much anything with those photos should they so wish and no model release form is needed. This is one major difference with the USA where model release forms do have a purpose and many online articles confuse models about their requirement in the UK - model releases forms are not needed for a photographer to publish photos of a model here. Some magazines may require them but they are not legally required and a photographer can use any photos taken online as they wish.

If you are a model that has posed for a TFP/TFCD shoot then the photographer will provide you with copies of images from that shoot that you can use for your portfolio. The number will depend on the agreement that you reach with the photographer but you should not expect EVERY photo that has been taken. A good photographer will remove poor photos. An indication to me about the professionalism of a photographer is their worst photo that is shown; studio lighting stands or background edges in a shot show me that they do not care much about their work.

Any images provided to you should be used as provided unless you have a written agreement from the photographer that you can edit them including cropping. Any logo included on the photo should remain wherever you use them as in the example below.

Models Divine / Edge Models

Models Divine quote their office address as

39 Great Windmill Street, PICCADILLY, London W1D 7LX

They also then say "Please note that like any agency, we do NOT accept unsolicited appointments or walk-ins. All visits must be preapproved first" However many agencies DO allow walk ins. I wonder why Models Divine don't?

If you do a search on Google you wonder if this is why... this is what 39 Great Windmill Street looks like

Models Divine Office location

British light-middleweight Boxing- Webb v Prince Arron at Medway Park

Last night the British light-middleweight battle took place between Sam Webb and Prince Arron at the Medway Park centre in Gillingham. Models3.com provided the card girls for the match and Jade and Laura did a fantastic job for the match shown live on Sky Sports 1. Prince Arron won the British light-middleweight belt in the 12th round after the fight was stopped with Webb reeling from Arron's onslaught.

Unlike fake model agencies such as UK Models, we do find well paid work for our models. Previously we have also worked with top UK models such as Katie Green who hit the news over her Size Zero campaign and her friendship with former MP Lembit Opik.

Photos of the British light-middleweight boxing Webb v Prince Arron at Medway Park

British light-middleweight boxing Webb v Prince Arron at Medway Park - Prince Arron celebrates his victory

British light-middleweight boxing Webb v Prince Arron at Medway Park - card girl Jade

British light-middleweight boxing Webb v Prince Arron at Medway Park - card girl Laura

Paying model agencies 50 pounds up front - Is it right?

Some people have asked if paying model agencies 50 pounds up front is right?

The answer is no! A genuine model agency will not ask for any money up front as a deposit. The companies that ask for deposits for shoots are NOT modelling agencies. Examples of non agencies that ask for £50 up front are Form models, Candi models, Edge Modelling and Replay Models.

All of these are companies that will sell you photo shoots and they will not refund your money unless you complete the whole shoot and sale process.