Photo Rules
Last updated: 17 August 2026
Photos are what make ShineLists work: a place with a picture gets looked at, a place without one gets scrolled past. To make sure that turns out well for everyone — for you, for the people in the pictures and for us — there are a few rules. They are shorter than you think.
The short version
- Only upload photos you took yourself.
- If people are recognisable, you need their consent.
- Shoot from where you are allowed to be — and only where photography is permitted.
- When in doubt: don't upload. A place without a photo beats a photo with trouble attached.
That's the heart of it. Everything below just explains what this means in specific situations.
Your own photos only
“Your own photo” means: you pressed the shutter. It does not mean you found it, it was freely available online, it was on the venue's website, or you added a credit underneath. A photo is protected by copyright from the moment it is taken — automatically, without a © symbol and without registration.
So these images must not be uploaded:
- Results from Google image search or Pinterest.
- Images from the website, the menu or the Instagram account of the place.
- Photos from booking and review portals (Booking, TripAdvisor, Google Maps and the like).
- Images from stock agencies and stock portals, including free ones — their licences generally do not cover what happens to your photo here.
- Photos taken by someone else, even friends or family.
There is one exception: if the author has expressly permitted you to publish their photo here, you may upload it. That permission has to cover the uses described in Section 8 of the Terms of Use — it is best to keep a record of it.
People in photos
Anyone recognisable in a photo decides for themselves whether it gets published. Recognisable does not only mean “face to the camera” — a silhouette, a distinctive tattoo or the combination of clothing and location can identify a person too.
- Ask the people you are with before you upload. A “sure, go ahead” at the table is enough — but it has to have been said.
- For children and adolescents, the parents have to agree, not the children themselves.
- Guests at the next table, staff behind the counter, passers-by in frame: keep them out, wait, or make them unrecognisable.
- People who appear only as a tiny incidental detail in a large scene (the street outside the café, the beach from a distance) are usually unproblematic.
The easiest photo is the one without people: the plate, the room, the view, the façade. That is usually the better place photo anyway — it shows what this is about.
Where you may take photos
Photographing a building from the street and publishing the picture is allowed — this is called freedom of panorama. Its limits are narrower than most people assume:
- It only applies to shots taken from public paths, streets and squares. From a neighbour's balcony, with a drone or from private property it does not apply.
- It does not cover interiors — museums, churches, station concourses, restaurants from the inside.
- It does not cover works of art, installations and elaborate light shows, even outdoors.
- House rules take precedence: where a no-photography sign hangs or staff say no, you don't shoot. This applies to many museums, some shops and a number of restaurants.
And one thing that is easily overlooked: third-party trade marks, logos, menus or works of art may appear incidentally in the frame. They must not be the subject — a photo that essentially consists of someone else's logo or a photographed menu does not belong here.
What happens to your photo
So you know what you are getting into — here is the full journey of your photo:
- It appears with your review or your check-in, according to the visibility you have chosen.
- If your contribution is public, your photo can become the cover image of the place — first automatically (the first photo wins), later by community vote.
- As the cover image it also appears on city pages, place cards, in search results and in link previews. We credit you as the author wherever the presentation allows.
- For sharing, the Platform generates images in which your photo is embedded and combined with text and our logo. Other users can generate such images for that place too and post them outside ShineLists.
- We may also use your public photos to advertise ShineLists — in our own posts, ads and on our pages. We do not use photos with recognisable people for that.
You can object to advertising use outside the Platform at any time — an informal message to the contact address in the imprint is enough, no reasons needed. Within the Platform your photo then remains usable as normal.
If you delete your review, your check-in or your account, your photo disappears and is no longer used as a cover image. Images that someone had already shared before that, however, we cannot retrieve — those now sit on other networks. Product photos in the shared catalog are different: they stay, because they belong to the product rather than to your profile (Section 8 of the Terms of Use).
When a photo breaks the rules
We do not check every uploaded photo in advance — nobody could manage that. But we follow up on every notice. If we learn of a photo that infringes rights or breaks these rules, we remove it without undue delay.
Depending on severity and repetition, further measures follow: a warning, removal of further content, a restriction of the photo function or suspension of the account. Anyone affected is informed and receives a statement of reasons; the decision can be appealed (Section 9 of the Terms of Use, Art. 16, 17 DSA).
Your photo was used here without your permission?
Then let us know — you do not need an account with us for that. The fastest way is the notice form: give us the address (URL) of the page the photo appears on and briefly describe the issue. We confirm receipt and come back to you with our decision.
The same applies if you appear in a photo and do not want to, or if a trade mark or a work of yours is affected. We handle such notices as a priority.
What of this is binding
This page explains the rules, it does not replace them. What is binding are the General Terms and Conditions, in particular Section 8 (User-Generated Content and Grant of Rights) and Section 9 (Responsibility, notice and complaint procedures). How we handle personal data in and attached to photos is set out in the privacy policy.