publication of photographs of the crowd in the street

[rafalg82894817]

How is it that some crowd photos on the street pass Adobe Stock and others do not? Does the author of the photos run after everyone on the street and ask them to fill in permission to publish their image? After all, this is ludicrous. Below is an example that has been accepted:

[Jill_C · Accepted solution]

Overall, your image is quite blurry; however there are at least 2 people in that scene who would be able to recognize themselves, and that is the criteria.

[Abambo]

I think that this asset should have been refused, for two reasons:

• Quality issues—there is nothing in focus.
• Some people in this picture will require a model release. A model release may have been issued; however, I doubt that.

The asset has probably been uploaded in November 2018, the rules for submitting a release and quality were the same as today. But moderation is done by humans, and someone has approved this asset. It will stay in the database until a customer complains.

[George_F]

I have to admit, I'm also a bit puzzled and intrigued.  This creator has a large body of work of this style of photograph, and so far as I can tell they aren't restricted to editorial use.  

I wonder if because there isn't a focus on one particular person in the crowds that it passes?  Sort of like a city skyline not focusing on a particular building?

[Abambo]

One recognizable person should be enough, and I would not submit such assets because I would expect a quality-issue-refusal.

[George_F]

@Abambo, that's always been my understanding of model releases as well.  The creator of this photo has similar assets that appear to be submitted over several years.  I would assume one photo was a fluke, But it seems unlikely that many photos over several years would be mistakenly accepted.  Am I missing that these are editorial use only perhaps?

I suppose theoretically there could be releases for everyone, but that also seems unlikely.

[Abambo]

I would assume one photo was a fluke, But it seems unlikely that many photos over several years would be mistakenly accepted.  Am I missing that these are editorial use only perhaps?

By @George_F

Sure! At that time, Illustrative Editorial was not available, as of my knowledge. People photography is not accepted as editorial on Adobe Stock. It is unclear to us why or how the assets got accepted. I can only estimate, based on the asset ID, the approximate date of submission.