Legalities[edit]
Several legal cases in the Uniteg and selling street photography (including street portraits) is legal without any need for the consent of those whose image appears in the photos, because photography is protected as free speech and artistic expression by the First Amendment in the US and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the European Union.
The issue of street photographers taking photos of strangers in public places without their consent (which is the definition of candid photography) for fine art purposes has been controversial in some countries, notably France,[8] even though France was the home of several well-known street photographers in past and present, for example Cartier-Bresson.
While individuals may complain of privacy or civil inattention violations when they become the subject of candid photography, the work of photographers cannot be done in any other way and if candid photography were restricted then society and the future generations would lose works of art, educational images, newsworthy images, and images of people's history.[citation needed]
In France, a legal case between a street photographer and a woman appearing on a photo published in the photographer's book decreed that street photography without the consent of the subject is an important freedom in a democracy: "the right to control one’s image must yield when a photograph contributes to the exchange of ideas and opinions, deemed “indispensable” to a democratic society."
From 15 March 2014 anyone taking photographs in Hungary is technically breaking the law if someone wanders into shot, under a new civil code that outlaws taking pictures without the permission of everyone in the photograph. This expands the law on consent to include the taking of photographs, in addition to their publication.