Photography, Video & Releases Policy
Jpetrous Creative Services LLC (“JpCS”)
Last Updated: October 28, 2026
Who has to agree before someone appears in a photograph or video, what permission is needed to shoot in a place, what happens to raw files, and what we need from you about material you supply. This policy supplements the Terms and Conditions.
This policy applies to photography and video that JpCS captures, directs, edits, or publishes as part of an engagement, and to photography, video, and audio that a client supplies to JpCS for use in a deliverable.
Anyone recognizable in material we capture for commercial use signs a release before the material is used. Recognizable means identifiable by face, voice, name, uniform, tattoo, or any other feature that would let someone who knows them pick them out — not only a clear frontal shot.
A release records what the material may be used for, where it may appear, and for how long. We use a written release rather than a verbal agreement on the day, because a verbal agreement protects nobody once memories differ.
Where someone declines, that is the end of it. We work around them, frame them out, or reshoot. We do not use material of a person who has said no, and we do not ask twice.
Anyone under 18 who appears recognizably in commercial material requires a release signed by a parent or legal guardian, obtained before the shoot wherever possible rather than chased afterwards. We do not rely on a school, team, club, or event organizer’s blanket consent in place of that.
Where a shoot involves minors — a youth program, a family business, a school event — tell us at the planning stage so consent can be organized properly rather than improvised on the day.
Employees appearing in your marketing material still need a release. Employment is not consent to appear in advertising, and a release protects you as much as it protects them, particularly after someone leaves. We will raise this if a shoot involves your staff and no releases are in place.
Shooting inside or on a privately owned property requires the owner’s permission. Where the property is not yours — a leased storefront, a shared building, a client’s home, a venue — that permission is the client’s to obtain unless we have agreed otherwise in writing.
Some locations also require a permit, insurance certificate, or scheduled window. Where we are aware of that requirement we will raise it; where a location is one you have arranged, you are responsible for confirming what it requires.
Recognizable private property, distinctive buildings, artwork on walls, and branded merchandise in frame can each carry their own permissions. We raise these when we see them.
At events and in public places, individual releases are often impractical. In those settings we work on the basis that the event organizer has given notice that photography is taking place, and we favor wide, non-featuring shots over frames that single out an identifiable individual.
If you intend to use event footage in paid advertising rather than as general coverage, tell us, because paid use raises the bar. A frame that features one identifiable person prominently should carry a release regardless of the setting, and we will flag frames that fall into that category.
Where you give us photographs, video, audio, music, logos, or artwork to use, you are confirming to us that you have the right to use it for the purpose intended — that you own it, licensed it, or have written permission — and that any releases needed from people appearing in it are in place.
We are not able to verify the chain of rights behind material we did not create, and we rely on that confirmation. Where you are unsure about the provenance of an asset, tell us before it goes into a deliverable rather than after. A photographer’s invoice is not by itself a license, and a photograph taken by a staff member is not automatically yours to use commercially.
Stock photography, footage, fonts, templates, and music used in deliverables are licensed rather than owned, as described in Section 7.4 of the Terms and Conditions. Those licenses carry limits — on distribution, broadcast, paid media, print runs, and territory — and extending a use beyond its license may require an additional fee.
Music licensing in particular does not travel between platforms. A track cleared for an organic social post is not automatically cleared for a paid ad, a television spot, or a video on your own website. We will tell you what a track is cleared for.
Usage — which channels, which territories, and for how long — is agreed before production rather than afterwards, and is recorded in the quote or Service Agreement. Where usage is not specified, the default is use by you, in your own marketing, with no fixed end date, within the limits of any third-party license in the material.
Extending usage later is usually straightforward. It may require fresh releases from people appearing in the material, or an upgraded license on stock or music, and those costs are passed through at cost.
Deliverables are the edited, finished files described in your scope. Raw footage, unedited stills, project files, and outtakes are working material and are not delivered by default; they can be provided for an additional fee where the underlying licenses allow it.
We retain raw material for a reasonable period after delivery so that revisions and re-edits are possible, and we are not able to guarantee it indefinitely. If an archive matters to you, say so and we will arrange delivery of the raw material to your own storage rather than relying on ours.
If someone who appears in material asks to be removed, tell us. We will stop using the material in anything we control, remove it from our own channels, and tell you where else we know it to appear so you can do the same.
Material already printed, broadcast, distributed by a third party, or published before the request may not be recoverable, and we will be straightforward with you about what can and cannot be pulled back.
We do not generate a synthetic likeness of a real person, alter footage to make someone appear to say or do something they did not, or produce a synthetic voice resembling a real person without that person’s written consent. Our AI Use Policy covers in full where AI is and is not used, including voice over.
We do not produce material implying that a public figure, celebrity, athlete, or organization endorses your business without a documented agreement. The same applies to third-party logos, trademarks, and product imagery: a brand appearing in your marketing needs a reason to be there that survives a letter from that brand’s attorney.
Our display of completed work in our own portfolio and marketing is governed by Section 7.2 and Section 7.3 of the Terms and Conditions. Where a release limits how material may be used, that limit applies to our portfolio exactly as it applies to yours.
We may update this policy from time to time. Changes are effective when posted, indicated by the “Last Updated” date above. The version in force when a shoot is agreed is the one that governs that shoot.
JpCS operates remotely and does not maintain a public office address. Questions about this policy, release forms, or a request to remove material can be directed to:
Jpetrous Creative Services LLC
Michigan, United States
Phone: (586) 563-6634
Email: contact@jpetrous.com
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