Loading page
About this tool
Check whether your shoot typically needs a model or property release, based on use, recognisability and location.
This checker works out whether a photo shoot typically needs a signed model or property release, by combining the intended use, whether anyone in the frame is identifiable, where it was shot and where it will be published. It follows the standard rule that a model release addresses the subject's right of publicity and is triggered by commercial use — advertising, promotion, packaging, merchandise or royalty-free stock — rather than by taking the photograph. It also flags the separate cases of minors, sensitive contexts, artwork copyright and UK/EU data-protection duties.
Open Model Release Need Checker on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Separates commercial use from editorial use, which is what actually changes the answer.
Minors, artwork copyright, private property and sensitive framing each get their own flag.
Tells you which signatures to collect, so nothing is discovered after the shoot wraps.
Generally when a recognisable person appears in an image used commercially — advertising, marketing, packaging, merchandise, or a royalty-free stock submission. Taking a photograph in a public place is usually lawful without one; it is the commercial use of the likeness that needs the signature.
Usually not. Editorial, news and documentary use of a newsworthy subject is normally published without a release, and stock libraries accept such images as editorial-only. The protection disappears the moment the same image is reused to promote a product.
A parent or legal guardian, because someone under 18 cannot give legally valid consent. The release should name the child, identify the signing adult and their relationship, and describe the usage in the same detail as an adult release.
A model release covers a person's likeness; a property release covers recognisable private property — a distinctive house, an interior, a pet, a vehicle or artwork that is the subject of the frame. A shoot can need both, and artwork also carries the artist's own copyright, which is a third permission. This is informational guidance only; consult a lawyer for a commercially significant shoot.