Is it illegal to take photos in a public place?

[Aguila Blanca]

Hawk, how is my post at odds with what you posted? Like I said you can take photos on private property untill they ask you to leave, how is that in dissagreement?

Because you CANNOT take pictures on private property without permission.

Property owners may legally prohibit photography on their premises but have no right to prohibit others from photographing their property from other locations.

The rule is that you can take pictures OF private property, from other locations, not that you can take pictures on or in private proerty without permission.

 

[lwsimon]

Hawk, yes you can. You're only legally trespassing if you've been asked to leave previously. Once the photos is taken, it is your property. You are not allowed to use the image for "promotional gain", but you can use it for editorial and artistic uses. Think of it this way: If you got a picture of a celebrity, you could sell copies of it framed as art, or you could put a copy in a newspaper along with an article about them, but you could not use it in an advertising campaign promoting a new product.

 

[gc70]

+1 to waitone's post.

I work in one of the tall buildings in Charlotte that was the focus of the middle eastern man's photographic interest. Maybe being the tallest building in town and the world headquarters for the country's largest bank makes them paranoid, but security personnel will ask people to stop taking pictures and leave the premises in a hearbeat. One of the officers told me that anyone who continued taking pictures after being asked to stop would be detained and turned over to the police for trespassing.

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

Hawk stole my thunder. Nowadays you'd scare the crap out of folks. Call ahead; they have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their patrons.

Good idea. If you're not welcome to photograph then you might as well find out beforehand instead of having the local cops show up.

This comes up a lot around Washington D.C. It's a good idea to call the Dept.s or Agency's public affairs office, or the National Park Service, to find out whether it's OK photograph in certain areas. Better that than to have one of the 26 different Federal police forces here in the D.C. area on your case.

 

[DorGunR]

You wanna see security come down on you hard and fast?? Just think about taking a picture inside a Las Vegas casino.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I have taken numerous photos inside Vegas casinos. However they will make you aware that you are not allowed to take photos of anyone not in your group or party. What happens in Vegas stays in ...


KS

 

[hvengel]

I have seen photos taken in non-gaming areas of casinos. One example, that I found on a Web site that belongs to photographer Max Lyons was taken in the lobby of a Los Vegas casino. Max is credited with being the first to produce a gigapixel photo. The casino lobby image was a stitched mosaic that was made of dozens of individual photos that required that he set up an tripod and spend perhaps 15 minutes shooting the photos. His comment on the photo was that photos in the gaming areas were strictly against the rules but that most casinos would allow photos in non-gaming areas particularly if it was a show case area like the lobby of this particular casino.

By the way if you are interested in photography you should check out Max's web site http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/

 

[c_yeager]

Because you CANNOT take pictures on private property without permission.

If the location is open to the public you can take photgraphs all you want untill they tell you not to. Anything you took up to that point belongs to you. The instant they tell you to stop, you have to (or if they post signs to that effect, then you cant take them at all, but its debatable what happens if you do).

 

[DorGunR]

Several years ago I was in Las Vegas to watch my son fight in an international Taekwondo open tournament and I wanted to take a picture of my wife playing the slots, security came down on me hard and fast......I was told NO pictures inside the Casino, this happened at The New Frontier and Circus Circus.

 

[Harry Tuttle]

the funny thing is that if you wanted photographs of a location for nefarious plots, rigging a remote shutter on a digital camera hidden in a briefcase would be childs play.

 

[TallPine]

In some states, it is illegal to photograph a person using a lense with a greater than a 30x zoom etc..

No honest man needs more than 30x magnification