Ethics in Visual Research

Online resources that deal with research ethics in general include the Ethics Guidebook, compiled in the UK context.
http://www.ethicsguidebook.ac.uk/

You can find two, rather contrasting, statements about visual research methods here:

http://www.visualsociology.org.uk/BSA_VS_ethical_statement.pdf

Papademas, D., and International Visual Sociology Association (2009) 'IVSA - Code of Research Ethics and Guidelines', Visual Studies, 24: 250.

The Realities research programme at the University of Manchester, UK, has several useful papers online that they call 'toolkits' for qualitative researchers, and one discusses negotiating consent in visual research methods.

Toolkit 01: Informed consent for visual research is by Katherine Davies, Realities/Morgan Centre, University of Manchester.  This toolkit aims to share experiences of seeking informed consent to use digital photographs made of participants' family photographs in the Living Resemblances project, where we employed photo elicitation methods during wider semi-structured interviews. It covers when to seek consent, getting different levels of consent, how to manage the process and some top tips!

http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/realities/resources/toolkits/consent-visual-data/index.html

The Creative Commons website is here:
http://creativecommons.org/