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 I got involved in an interesting discussion with a group of big agency news photographers least week.  Due to a mixture of concern about “false news” and GDPR instructions had come from photo editors as to what was acceptable news photography and the associated captions.    In the future any news photos that had any arrangement (even as far as a request to “look at the camera”) must be marked as a “posed photograph” Comments were made that this would make it difficult to take a good news photograph.  Reportage photographs had to be exactly that, caught at the moment with no arrangement.  This even impacts art gallery shots.  It was now unacceptable to take the standard photo of a gallery curator or assistance posing with a painting.  The consensus was that this made going to gallery press days non-viable.  It also had an impact of celebrity head shots as they had to be marked as posed photographs at film premiers etc. There was also a discussion about what happens when people pose for photographs without photographer direction.  Often at protests I cover the organisers will move people and banners around to give a good shot with no intervention from the photographer.  The discussion also covered the forthcoming UK party poetical conferences with a lot of the photographs there posed by party PR - again they had to be marked as posed photographs. 

I think this is an interesting trend.  I do not tend to take posed photos as I prefer to get a raw shot of the protest, demonstration etc.  But, I shall be careful to mark captions if I do interact in any photo opportunity. 

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16 minutes ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

Exactly, this morning I did some live news, I came across a young woman who was quite happy to 'pose' for me as she was riding a penny farthing! Am I not allowed to post such pictures any longer for fear of reprisals to the live news stream because I asked her to stop for the camera with her consent. Now if I was sending this image off to the local police department to be used in an identity parade, that would be a whole different kettle of fish.

 

You don't need consent. You never did, and GDPR has nothing to do with it.

You also appear to understand the relevance of data protection to photographs of people perfectly well, which makes two of us, at least.

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15 minutes ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

Yes I know, I was thinking of the op, I was wandering whether they were having him on :mellow:

No, this was a genuine conversation (I joined part way through and was very much at the edge of the group), there is a real concern about false/fake news - particularly in the USA.  While the exact detail  was different between the agencies the general thrust was the same.   I suggest it is to protect agencies from the accusation of faking news.  Adding the words that "this is a posed image" simply gives some reassurance that there is less likely to be a misunderstanding.  

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I picked this up from another thread - from Reuters

Photo Opportunities

Under certain limited circumstances, photographers may request subjects to strike an artificial pose or look in their direction. These so-called photo opportunities include red carpets, movie and television premieres, book signings, award ceremonies, and medal or trophy ceremonies. However, the caption must not mislead the reader into believing these images are spontaneous and must clearly indicate the subject is posing.

Photographers may also direct the subjects of portraits, but must clearly indicate the subject is posing in the caption. This is frequently the case in exclusive interviews with major business, entertainment, or political newsmakers.

These images should be few and can be clichés. They must be clearly captioned to show the reader that the actions are not spontaneous and to explain the context. We should say clearly when a subject’s manner or demeanor is not natural, such as when a subject has posed for a portrait or been asked to bite a gold medal on the podium, and say clearly that it is a pose.

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8 hours ago, funkyworm said:

How obvious is obvious?

 

Mr Johnson gets photographed on his morning jog. Coincidence? Does he jog every day or does he make an extra point of it when he sees there are photographers outside his hotel? Posed/unposed?

 

Our PM drops a cup of coffee and cleans it up. He may have done so anyway, but there is a camera on him and he wasn;t born yesterday. It doesn;t do him any disfavours to be seen cleaning up his own mess. Posed/unposed?

 

Understand what you're saying, but the examples you give relate to the actions (doubtless cynical) of the subject, not the requests of the photographer.

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