Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: photographs

Photos are the property of the person that took them or of the person that hired the person to take them. Using a photo without the permission of its owner is copyright infringement.

You may run into the problem of misappropriation for a commercial purpose if you use the image of another person without permission for commercial gain.

As for images of presidents and public figures, who made them, how were they made? If it is a photo that you took or that you have rights to, your position in using it is much stronger.

One last item. An image and a photograph are different things. An image can be a photo, it can also be a drawing, a painting, etc. A photograph is a specific type of image. So you will need to be more specific in your question for a more complete answer.