he’s probably some sort of terrorist or commmie, takin’ pictures like that.

I said as much over there, too, but this is worth printing out and keeping on you:

http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm

Paging Chris Wage…

I’d swear that the law on this is on JP’s side. You can’t take a picture of a PERSON without their permission, but the external facades of buildings do not have an expectation of privacy. Right?

Lawyers? Photographers? What’s REALLY the law here?

Nevermind - chris is a mindreader…

The law with respect to photography in general is never crystal clear, but it’s pretty well firmly established in a case like this that there’s absolutely no problem taking a picture of something that is visible from a public space.

So what about people? Do you have to ask their permission first? I can understand why it would be a good idea (if you want to avoid potentially getting the crap beat out of you), but is it illegal to snap someone’s picture while they’re walking down a public street or otherwise in public?

You don’t have to ask their permission, no. The rule of thumb is that you can take a picture of a person in any public place where they’d have no “reasonable expectation of privacy”.

The only time you need permission is if you intend to sell the picture — this is what model release forms are for..

Teensy clarification: The run-in was not with the restaurant owner (who is very cool, and just hired a MAJOR babe as bartendress!), but with the owner of the business next door to his restaurant (the name of which, I have not revealed, nor had I planned to do so; geez, it was a funny photo, ’s’all!).
.

“Why you take picture!?”

Definitely a South Alabama speech pattern.

Chris Wage:

I think there is still a fair amount of leeway for using photos of people, without their permission, in an editorial situation (newspapers, etc.,.). Bearing in mind how litigious this society is I tell anyone who has a photograph of mine ( I volunteer for some local stuff) to obtain a release.

There’s one of those signs in Coolsprings Galleria. Top floor, House of Nails n’ Fumes beside Sears. I saw it this weekend and thought it was a tad odd.