Model release form

• You are a photographer or videographer building a portfolio and want to show — or later sell — images of the people you shoot.
• A small brand is shooting its own product photos with a friend, a customer or a paid model, and plans to put them on its website or in ads.
• You are doing a trade shoot (time for prints, often called TFP) and both sides should know what each may do with the results.
• A creator is featuring someone else in content that will be posted on a business account.

Leo Marchetti shoots lifestyle photos for a small running-apparel brand. One of the brand’s customers, Aisha Bello, agrees to model on a morning trail run in exchange for a $200 flat fee, and the brand will use the pictures on its website and social accounts.

The app asks for 8 details in 3 short steps: “Who's involved?”, “Shoot details”, “Compensation”. The ones worth a moment’s thought:

How will the photos/videos be used?

The heart of the release. The choices run from portfolio-only to all uses; whatever you pick is the permission the model is giving, so it should match the plan you actually have. Advertising is the use models care about most — be specific if that is where the images are going.

Common mistake: Choosing “All uses” by default. A model who later sees their face in an ad they never imagined will feel misled, and a release that went further than the conversation you had is a weak one to rely on.

Describe the shoot or project

Who the photos are for and what they show. Naming the brand and the setting makes the permission concrete: this shoot, for this purpose — not any photo you ever take of this person.

Common mistake: Writing just “photo shoot”. If the images end up somewhere surprising, the description is what both of you will look back at.

Compensation for model

Four options: nothing, a flat fee, a copy of the photos (TFP), or products. A release is still meaningful without payment, but saying what the model received closes the question of whether something else was promised.

Compensation details (optional)

Optional, and worth filling in. “Flat fee” alone does not say how much; “20 edited images” is a promise a TFP shooter can be held to.

Shoot Date

Ties the release to one session. The app will not let it be earlier than the agreement date, so if you are documenting a shoot that already happened, date the agreement on or before that day.

Before you can save, the app checks: Shoot date must be on or after the agreement date.

• The model is under 18. A minor generally cannot give this permission alone; a parent or legal guardian signs for them. This template has no separate guardian field, so do not use it as-is for a minor — at the very least, name the guardian in the notes and have the guardian be the one who signs.
• The images may be used in a sensitive context — health, politics, anything a reasonable person might find embarrassing. A general release is a poor fit; describe that specific use in the shoot description, or get separate consent for it.
• You are licensing the photos to a third party, such as a stock agency or an ad agency, which has its own release requirements. Agencies often require their own form; check theirs before the shoot.
• Rules on using a person’s name and likeness for commercial purposes — often called the right of publicity — are set by each state and differ from one to the next. A release helps, but it does not replace knowing the rules where you publish.

1. You fill in the template in the Agreely app and sign it first.
2. You send the other person one link — by text, WhatsApp, email, anything.
3. They read the same document in their browser, type or draw their signature, and both of you get the identical signed PDF.

Signatures are captured under the U.S. ESIGN Act and UETA, with a certificate page recording who signed, when, and from which device.

• Photography contract

  The booking side of a shoot — date, hours, fee and delivery — between a photographer and a client.

• Brand collaboration agreement

  When the shoot is for a creator’s sponsored post, the brand deal itself goes on this agreement.