Bit of a legal issue..

[burnt_offering]

I was thinking that for a project I was going to take photos of real people and edit them to get realistic sprites. Was just wondering if anyone knew about any legal issues surrounding that, besides consent of the people involved?
Thanks

[fleet]

I am not a lawyer. Other than consent of the persons photographed, there MIGHT be a legal issue if the photo is taken in a business. Some business will want compensated (paid).

[Hijiri]

You'll need a model release form if you want to do that. Not only is it to inform the parties involved of what they're consenting to do, it also protects YOU from any legal issue in case they decide to back out.
Here's one you can copy-paste into a word processor and print out

[burnt_offering]

You'll need a model release form if you want to do that. Not only is it to inform the parties involved of what they're consenting to do, it also protects YOU from any legal issue in case they decide to back out.
Here's one you can copy-paste into a word processor and print out

Thanks.
Out of interest, is this necessary for a non-commercial project?
Also I'm British so would this stand or is this just under US law?

[Hijiri]

You'll need a model release form if you want to do that. Not only is it to inform the parties involved of what they're consenting to do, it also protects YOU from any legal issue in case they decide to back out.
Here's one you can copy-paste into a word processor and print out

Thanks.
Out of interest, is this necessary for a non-commercial project?
Also I'm British so would this stand or is this just under US law?

Use it as insurance. Even if you're noncommercial, its still good to get a model release form in case the person decides to go back on any verbal promise.
If you don't know, I suggest you read up on the law regarding taking and using someone's likeness. Each jurisdiction has different laws.

[Applegate]

The Human Rights Act 1998 considers the privacy of people photographed and is the most relevant legal piece with regards to this, I think. Best to get consent and a legal waiver; while generally it's not a huge fuss having your exact likeness used through filtered photographs in a niche branch, you might just get that one person who will not stand for it and make a legal fuss about it. The waiver is "just to be safe".

If you'd prefer not to (as it may be a bit awkward), just ask them if it's OK, then show them the finished product before releasing it. If they then say, "No", you can try finding someone else.

[Greeny]

From a legal perspective, if you get a signed document stating their consent to your use of the pictures from each person you photograph, you're in the clear in just about any jurisdiction. To be safe, make sure you cut out the background though.

Unless that person is a professional model/something similar and they have an exclusivity contract with a business stating that only that business may use photographs, etc, etc you probably weren't getting a professional model anyways.

Basically, it depends on whether you're going to ask people (random or otherwise) to model for you or if you're going to hide yourself in the bushes near the entrance to your local all-girls' high school.

[cosmo]

I was thinking that for a project I was going to take photos of real people and edit them to get realistic sprites. Was just wondering if anyone knew about any legal issues surrounding that, besides consent of the people involved?

If I were you I would search suitable Creative Commons material. Try commons.wikimedia.org or go to Flickr or Google advanced image search and search for a suitable license. You will probably want Creative Commons material that allows you to edit the images…

I personally also use the community pages of my local Wikipedia here to look up legal issues and get an overview. But I don't know which pages are the best for British laws… For me it was enough so far what I could get there.