No. You can’t. Seriously.
Did your client sign a contract with you?
If so, is there a “model release” in it?
Is there any language at all around whether or not you can use the images to market your business?
If your client signed a contract that allows sharing, you are in a tough spot.
Your client can ask you NOT to share the images (or to take them down from your website/social media).
If you’re a kind, rational human being, you should take the photos down, without question. (You may be a little miffed, but such is life.)
If you operate with a Scorched Earth policy, and you don’t care about burning bridges, by all means, leave them up.
Just expect a strongly worded email from your client as she calmly shares her plans to leave a scathing review on every website she can find, and scream her negative experience from the rooftops.
She’s not threatening you—she’s simply letting you know the consequence of your choice.
This should be the part where you come to your senses.
Is this really the hill you want to die on? How important is this to you?
Call a lawyer, or let it go.
(I recommend letting it go, and learning from it.)
Here’s the part where you learn from this experience.
Today’s kids are tomorrow’s adults, and adults want to be in charge of their online presence.
When we share images of our kids, we take that decision away from them. These kids are inheriting an online presence that was decided for them, long ago, by us.
Parents are increasingly more careful about allowing their child’s likeness on the internet. And we photographers need to adapt.
Respecting your clients’ privacy doesn’t mean you cannot share your work.
So how do we go about marketing our business—much of which is done online—while simultaneously respecting the privacy of our clients and their children?
Swipe the exact wording I use in my contract’s privacy section.
GRAB IT HERE
Give your clients choices for privacy.
Your clients don’t want to sabotage your business (they hired you because they like you, after all).
Giving clients a choice lets them support you without sacrificing what’s important to them.
I offer three privacy choices for my family photography clients:
- Full: Sharing allowed, no restrictions.
- Partial: Sharing only with no recognizable faces.
- Restricted: No sharing online in any manner without express permission.
Full Sharing is open season. This grants me permission to share images through my social media and online portfolio.
Partial is the middle ground: I’m allowed to share photos but only if no faces are recognizable.
What does partial sharing look like? Here are some examples:
You do need to be creative about how you’re taking photographs if you know that you won’t be sharing images later.
(That’s why you ask your clients’ preference when they book, not after the session. More on that below.)
Restricted is the most private. If my client chooses this option, I will not share their images in any manner online.
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I include the “express permission” part so that if I take the best photo of my LIFE at their session, I’ve set the expectation that I might ask for permission to share it. They can say no, but it never hurts to ask.
Ask your clients for their preferences.
This means that you should ask every client during booking about their privacy/sharing preference, and require them to respond.
It is not enough to include a model release clause that’s buried in your contract, because they’ll never see it.
It’s also not okay to opt them in to sharing by default and make them ask to be opted out.
Nobody reads contracts. They just don’t.
Do not hide your model release in the bowels of your contract.
Don’t make them email you to opt out of sharing.
Let’s be honest, those two “model clauses” are only there to make you feel better, but you’re not really asking if you bury it in the contract and make them jump through hoops to opt out.
Lay out the options and ask them which they prefer when they’re booking their session.
Nobody is going to get annoyed.
In fact, they’re more likely to feel all warm and fuzzy toward you for taking the time to actually ask them what they want, and considering their feelings.
Delighting your clients = big win.
Psst… Don’t reinvent the wheel!
Swipe the exact words I use in my proposal’s privacy section.
Should I charge my clients for keeping their photos private?
No, absolutely not.
Privacy is a basic human right. And human rights don’t come with a price tag. Do not do this.
Should I offer my clients something in return for letting me share their images?
If it makes sense, yes.
When your clients provide something of value (permission to share their images online), it only makes sense to provide them something of value in return.
Some options to consider:
- A free print (8×10 or 5×7, for example), if they’re already ordering prints from you
- A small (perhaps 5%) discount on their session fee
- Extra digital images or extended session time
- A percentage off of their print order
My favorite bonus in exchange for sharing: A photo print
It costs me a few bucks, but the cost doesn’t bother me. I’m getting something of value from them: the ability to use their images to market my business.
How to start offering your family photography clients privacy options
Start today, with every session you book from this day forward. Pop into your proposal template for families and add a section, either to your contract or in a separate section for policies.
Describe the options for privacy and add a required question for your client to answer.
SAVE and boom, mic drop, you’re done!
Want to swipe the privacy copy I use in my proposals?
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