I occasionally get asked if it's Ok to post my pictures on the web, mostly for social site, such as Facebook, especially for TFP shoots. It's impossible to give a single answer for all sites, but I'll try to answer the question in general and for your own website and Facebook.  The short answer for Facebook is, yes, it's fine to post pictures of yourself that I have taken on Facebook, however, if the image has my copyright on it,  please leave it.  It would also be nice if you tagged the image back to my BinghamPhotography Facebook page or to myself.  It's also fine to use the images on your own website and for the models and actors I shoot with, in your online portfolios.

Recently there are times I put my images on my own site, then link to it from various sites rather than post the pictures themselves. It's not because I feel there's a problem posting on these sites, rather it's mostly a time saver, since it's quicker than posting pictures on each.  When I do post a picture on a site such as Facebook, I'll sometimes, though not always tag people in it. If I tag you, and you'd rather I didn't, just remove the tag and let me know, and I won't tag you in the future.  If I don't tag you, you are always welcome to tag yourself :)

So what about all the other sites out there? Well it depends on the sites terms of service (or whatever each site calls it) that you agree to when you sign up. It's normal for a site to require you to provide permission for them to show the pictures to others, that's the whole point right? For example, Facebook's terms of service when it comes to pictures is reasonable. Not only that, whatever rights you gave them are taken back once you remove the picture from the site. However, many sites (especially sites running contests) require you to grant way more permission than they actually need. In fact, many require that they be given permission to redistribute the images to any third party they want, and that they can use the images for commercial purposes, including modifying them for their own use, and selling them. This is a bit too much and many of the contests on the web are there mostly to collect images and permission to use them.  If you are unsure about a site, send me a link and I'll try to take a look at their agreement. If it's a online contest of some type, I can pretty much assure you they are wanting way too many rights to the image, but send me the link anyways and I'll take a look.

I hope this answers the question for most of you. If any one has any other questions about posting pictures on the web, whether they are mine or not, just ask.

Thanks,
Richard.