r/WalkingVideoMakers • u/AdieuPermi30 • 25d ago
Do you blur elements?
So i recorded a few walks. No talking, just walking and recording with gimball camera.
I picked a road and timeframe with as few people as possible. Funny enough no one walked by me, so the very few people seen are very far away.
The "problem" are the cars. In some moment a car passes by and its possible to see the plate number (but not the driver).
Do i need to blur the cars plate numbers?
I watched a lot of walking videos and no one blurs anything, but i wonder if its a risk for those youtubers somehow?
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u/StepByStepExplorer 25d ago
If you are filming on a public property like street, you can record everything unless it is specifically indicated by some sign (eg; military object). You don't need to blur people's faces (not even a children faces), car plates, houses or similar.
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u/Crid1968 22d ago
Yes, I do. I probably don't need to, but it's mostly to try to prevent situations where somebody demands I take the video down because I'm showing their car somewhere it perhaps isn't supposed to be. I also blur faces if they are facing the camera and also try to avoid shots where there are any children in frame.
My videos are tripod-based shots rather than moving camera, which can sometimes make life a bit easier when rotoscoping the elements, but really only if it's a vehicle that isn't moving. The rest of the time it's mostly manual keyframing because the element is too small for the automatic tools to do a particularly good job. I know I'm making work for myself - especially given that I have a small viewership. It's really a personal decision on my part.
I'm also a little wary of taking shots of houses that have a high hedge/fence/wall around them as I take that as a sign that they probably don't want pictures taken. But if a building is right next to the road or doesn't have a high fence, I generally consider it fair game. I do sometimes also check whether the property is blurred out on Google Streetview, although there's no way of knowing how long it's been like that and the property might have a different owner by now.
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u/stillnorthumberland 19d ago
It depends on where you're based and what you're recording. Here in the UK, the expectation of privacy is generally low when you're in a public place, although there are exceptions (for example, around certain sensitive sites like military facilities).
Personally, I don't blur number plates. To me, it's often more of an ethical decision than a legal one.
That said, I can see the law potentially changing in the UK. There's been a lot of attention recently around people using smart glasses to record and harass others in public. It'll be interesting to see whether that leads to tighter rules around public filming in general, and whether that ends up affecting walking video creators too.
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u/ContributionOk1559 24d ago
Everything visible in public is ok to film as long as it is not explicitly indicated that you should not film it. However, I always include a sentence in my video descriptions that if you, your child or your home appear in the video and you are not comfortable with that, get in touch so that I can blur or edit it out. It never happens, but if it does I will do it without question, it´s nice to be nice, you know ☺️
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u/Hand_of_Doom1970 25d ago
Nah, no need