0The contact sheet
Photographers: the rules on people, places, drones and ownership
A guide to the law around the camera, published by Dotto. It covers photographing people in public, the permits parks ask for, how a drone used for work is registered, the screening rules for photographing children, and who owns a photo someone commissions.
Each frame below opens one guide. Every rule in them comes from an official page, named in the text and listed at the foot of the page it appears on, and each is kept to the state, park or setting it was written for.
Frame 0 · Five frames follow
The thread through every framePurpose decides most of it
Read the five guides together and one question keeps returning: what is the photo for? The same camera, in the same place, can sit on either side of a rule depending on the answer.
- Parks“You don’t need approval to take photos or videos in NSW national parks for personal use. You do need approval for commercial filming or photography”.
- DronesCASA: “If you only fly for fun, no registration or accreditation is needed.” A drone used for business must be registered, whatever it weighs.
- OwnershipSection 35(5) of the Copyright Act gives the copyright in a commissioned photo to the person who commissioned it only where the photo is “for a private or domestic purpose”.
- PrivacyThe OAIC says the Privacy Act does not apply to a photo taken by someone acting in a personal capacity, because it does not cover individuals.
- ChildrenQueensland’s blue card page lists taking newborn photos and mainly taking photos of children among the photography that needs a blue card, and taking wedding photos among the photography that does not.
Everything here is general information, not legal advice about any shoot. The official places to check are named on each guide: the OAIC for privacy, CASA for drones, each park authority for its own permits, and Queensland’s and Victoria’s screening services for work with children.
The guidesFive frames on one sheet
- Frame 1
Photographing people in public
South Australia’s Law Handbook says there are no general restrictions there on photos taken in or from a public place, though specific limits still apply. Western Australia’s sport and recreation guidance adds that free entry does not make a place public: it counts shopping malls and sports arenas as private property.
- Frame 2
Who owns a commissioned photo
The Copyright Act says: “private or domestic purpose includes a portrait of family members, a wedding party or children.” When a person commissions such a photo for valuable consideration, that person owns the copyright unless an agreement says otherwise, and the photographer can restrain uses outside a purpose made known when the agreement was made.
- Frame 3
Drones for commercial photos
CASA names photographers and film makers among the businesses that may fly a drone of 2 kg or less in the sub-2 kg excluded category, with an operator accreditation. Every drone used for business must be registered, and above 500 g a $40 levy applies to each drone, as CASA’s page stood on 8 October 2026.
- Frame 4
Photos in national parks
Parks Victoria names commercial and portrait photographers among those who typically need a permit on the land it manages. In NSW national parks, the smallest commercial shoot, one crew member and one assistant with a handheld or tripod camera, has a $0 application fee for fees applying from 1 March 2026 to 30 June 2027.
- Frame 5
Children and photos
In Victoria, commercial photography services for children are child-related work needing a Working with Children Check, unless merely incidental to other business activities. In Queensland, a photographer who takes newborn photos or mainly photographs children needs a blue card.