Privacy and commercial use laws are as varied as the flags they are written under. To make sure you are meetin the requirments in your area please check with a local authority. Photoartgallery.com is based in Australia and is therefore governed by the laws of this fine land. As there are no privacy laws in Australia, there are no specific laws preventing a photographer taking photographs of people and private property from a vantage point on public property. However, other Australian laws do incidentally restrict the use that can be made of photographs and their property.
For this reason, it is recommended best practice that all photographers use a written release when photographing individuals or private property in order to prevent any infringement of peoples' rights. Such as release needs to be unambiguous and to clearly authorise use of the photographs in the way in which the photographer contemplates.
The model and property releases you can download here give the photographer the right to use an image of the model or the private property for commercial purposes. Easy to download, print a few copies and keep them in your camera bag - you never know when you'll need one for that perfect image!
It should be noted that any images taken for non-commercial purposes do not general require a release - it is not the act of taking the image, but the purpose to which the image will be put that requires the release. If you want the full legal view - at least here in Australia - check out www.artslaw.com.au
