Tips for Properly Posting Photos
When posting photos of church events, you can have people sign a release form and/or announce at the beginning of the event (from the podium and/or through signage) that photos will be taken for publicity purposes and anyone who does not want their photo used should speak to the photographer. Links to sample release forms are at the bottom of this page.
Be sensitive when posting photos. What you think of as a fun picture from last summer’s camp may, to the person in the photograph, be an embarrassing snapshot of themselves in a wet bathing suit—not necessarily at their best. When trying to avoid photos that could be embarrassing, objectionable, or hurtful, be especially sensitive about photos taken in the summertime, at camp, around water, or in extreme heat. We never know who is looking at the site or even just flipping through random photos via a Google image search.
Children and Photographs
Taking this issue of protecting users’ and members’ privacy further, we turn to the hot topic of the times: children and photographs. Do you need permission to post pictures of children, or anyone else, on your website? Well, that depends. Legally, any picture that you take in public that contains recognizable images of people, regardless of age, can be displayed on your website without obtaining permission. Ethically, and especially as people of faith, it is strongly recommended that you go the extra mile and gain at least verbal, if not written, permission from parents when using a recognizable image of their child up through age 17. Oftentimes, churches simply include a check box on standard permission forms where parents can say yes or no to allowing images or recordings of their children to be displayed on the website or used in print pieces, etc.
Taking this issue of protecting users’ and members’ privacy further, we turn to the hot topic of the times: children and photographs. Do you need permission to post pictures of children, or anyone else, on your website? Well, that depends. Legally, any picture that you take in public that contains recognizable images of people, regardless of age, can be displayed on your website without obtaining permission. Ethically, and especially as people of faith, it is strongly recommended that you go the extra mile and gain at least verbal, if not written, permission from parents when using a recognizable image of their child up through age 17. Oftentimes, churches simply include a check box on standard permission forms where parents can say yes or no to allowing images or recordings of their children to be displayed on the website or used in print pieces, etc.
Refrain from posting pictures of children without parental consent and resist posting any personally identifiable information about the child – and never without parental consent.
When you have an organized event such as Vacation Bible School or similar event that will involve children, and they would be the subject matter of the photos, add a statement to your registration form that informs parents and obtains their consent regarding photos of their children that may be posted on the church’s website or Facebook, but that no personally identifying information will be posted along with the photo. And of course, give them the option to “opt out” and then make sure to not include their child in any of your photos that you post.
If your website is designed specifically for children under the age of 13, there are specific legal requirements under the COPPA law of 1998 that you will want to know and implement. Learn more about cyber safety with children and implementing the COPPA requirements for websites specifically aimed at children under 13:
- Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998
- How to Comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
- Time Warner Cyber Safety Guide for Parents (English)
- Time Warner Cyber Safety Guide for Parents (Spanish)
If you do display recognizable images of children or youth on your website, or adults for that matter, it is a best practice not to identify them by name in the accompanying text, as a caption or as the title of the image file. In this way, you make it more difficult for cyber-predators to exploit this personal information.
If it’s not absolutely necessary to display a particular person’s photograph, like a staff member, consider using stock photos. Generally speaking, you want to convey that your church is child-friendly or has a vibrant youth ministry or is ethnically diverse. If these things are true, then any photo depicting these characteristics will do nicely because most visitors to your site wouldn’t know or care that the photo is of an actual church member.
Copyright RequirementsFinally, we’ve already established that any photograph you take in public can be displayed on your website without permission, but what about photographs, graphics, text, audio and video that are not your original works? You have to obtain permission from the copyright holder. And, if you have a license through CCLI or CVLI to cover the use of songs or videos during live worship or other live events or ministries, these usually do not apply to the internet and you should contact those companies about internet licenses. To learn more about church copyright licenses, visit ctcumc.org/copyrights.
Recently, OneLicense.net announced it can provide a blanket license for Web use of recorded music from dozens of publishing companies. This is similar to the CCLI and CVLI licensing your church may already have for live worship or other ministry purposes. However, you have to be a part of OneLicense’s general copyright license program in order to add the audio or video sharing option.
The full extent of copyright law, fair use and other issues related to the Internet is well beyond the scope of this page. It is recommended that you consult a copyright attorney with specific questions or concerns. Suffice it to say that if it’s copyrighted material, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder in order to legally display it on your website.
Sample Photo Releases
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