Capturing people in your university’s Guided Tours – Vepple

Bring your campus to life and help prospective students confidently picture their future by naturally capturing everyday people in your Guided Tours.

Note: This article is a friendly guide for marketing and recruitment teams planning a 360° or photography shoot. It does not contain legal advice. Please consult your Data Protection Officer (DPO) or legal team, who may wish to review and approve your procedures.

What good looks like

A 360° panorama is at its best when it feels alive, and people are a big part of that. Students crossing a courtyard, a lecturer mid-conversation, a busy cafe at lunchtime - these are the moments that make a campus feel welcoming and real, and they help a prospective student picture themselves there.

When capturing 360° panoramas, teams often ask: Should we just blur every face to be safe if we can’t get consent forms for everyone?

Where blurring is genuinely needed, it's easy to do, but reaching for it by default can quietly work against the warm, authentic experience universities are usually trying to create.

We recommend relying on 'legitimate interest' for general background activity, and only blurring faces when there is a real reason to, rather than as a reflex.

Principles

In simple terms: if someone just happens to be in the background of a public space, you’re usually fine to claim ‘legitimate interest’. If you’re pointing the camera at a specific person and making them the star of the shot, that’s when the requirement for consent needs further consideration.

Using legitimate interest for the background: People appearing incidentally in a public and/or campus space going about normal business usually don't require written consent
Seek consent for featured individuals: If someone is prominently featured, clearly identifiable, a posed shot, or a named case study, make a plan to get a signed model release form
Take extra care with under-18s: If you plan on capturing open days or school visits, the default should be gaining consent, or you should avoid capturing these groups

Practical recommendations

There are some simple things to have in place to confidently shoot under legitimate interest. None of them requires chasing signatures around campus.

Pre shoot measures

Let people know ahead of a 360 shoot using a general privacy notice via campus signage and in university communications and enrolment information where possible
Make it easy to object by displaying a simple poster with contact details near the capture area, ideally the day before or on the day
Confirm the wording for your on-site signage with your DPO
Check if any spaces will be occupied by under-18s or vulnerable groups, and plan to avoid these areas

Your shoot-day checklist

Campus signage or a notice is in place for the spaces you’re photographing that day
You’re not posing or directing named individuals unless you’re ready to get a signed release
Note the shoot date and locations somewhere you can find them later for easy reference
You’ve checked your university's retention policy for marketing photography, and have set a review point if the policy requires one

Post-shoot measures

Publish rights once content is live so audiences understand their rights once 360° panoramas have been published
Act on requests promptly to blur or remove individuals who ask. You can contact us on support@vepple.com to discuss such requests if any are received
Keep a short note (Legitimate Interests Assessment) on file with your DPO as evidence of good practice if anyone ever asks

Common mistakes

Defaulting to blurring everyone: Blurred-out faces can make spaces feel oddly deserted, clinical, or worst case, suspicious!
Forgetting to consult your DPO for new or sensitive spaces: Always have a quick word with your DPO before filming new spaces (labs, halls of residence, clinical settings)
Ignoring contested objections: If an objection to being filmed is contested, repeated, or arrives alongside a formal data-protection complaint, escalate it to your DPO immediately