The legal rights of photographers

Imagine being out and about, on the hunt for that perfect photograph. You get ready to take a picture and suddenly there are security guards all around. They demand that you hand over your camera at once. What do you do?

It turns out that you are under virtually no legal obligation to turn over your camera or destroy any of the pictures that you have taken, especially if you did not violate anyone's privacy. If you happened to be trespassing at the time, you might still face legal trouble for that, but any pictures that you have already taken will be safe.

So what exactly can you do and what shouldn't you do? The key feature is that no law specifically prohibits the taking of photographs--in public or on private property. Special cases include certain government facilities where photography could potentially be considered a threat to national security. However, there are some risks associated with taking photographs while trespassing. For example, if you are brought to court on trespassing charges, the photographs can be used as evidence against you.

One interesting aspect of this is that even if you are asked to stop taking pictures or to leave a public place, you can still legally publish the pictures you took--with the exceptions noted below.

The second half of photography is publishing the pictures that you have taken. So long as the people in those pictures did not have a reasonable right to privacy, it is perfectly legal to publish the pictures. There are a few easy ways to violate this right to privacy, including taking pictures with a telephoto lens that allow you to view something that would otherwise not be publicly viewable, such as a medical prescription.

In addition, a photographer may face libel charges if he or she publishes a photograph with inaccurate or misleading captions. One example of this is the use of a photograph of a celebrity or other well known person using a product as an advertisement for that product without the consent of the person.

Overall, just remember that if you remember to obey the laws regarding the right to privacy, it is rarely illegal to take a picture