Imogen on Today Tonight

Australian models are realising the hard way that their photographs and images are not always their own. Now a top model is campaigning for their rights.

A legal secretary and part-time model called Candy has become one of many young Australian models to be ripped off, her photos stolen and used by others.

She found her picture being used to represent someone called "Samantha" from an escort agency.

"My photos have been found on an escort site and also previously on a racy dating site," Candy said.

"I think it's appalling. It's misleading and deceptive behaviour and it can be damaging to my reputation."

The demand for cover girls has never been higher, leading to a huge trade in the unauthorised sale of model photographs without the model's permission.

Imogen Bailey is one of Australia's most photographed models. Now she is fighting to protect new, young models from being ripped off, particularly by unscrupulous photographers.

"It's your face, it's your body, it's your image and they're your rights. but if you don't ask, you don't get," Imogen said.

"They will get you to take your top off. they will not want you to sign a piece of paper, they will want to have the rights and they will wait until you are on Home and Away or until you have a single out, and they will sell them to magazines."

"I know I spend more time trying to control my image and trying to stop old pictures being sold than I do actually now in front of the camera."

The editor of Zoo magazine Paul Merrill has come under fire for using saucy pictures without a model's permission.

But if the model doesn't buy the shots, the copyright belongs to the photographer, who can sell them whenever he or she likes.

"If they've posed naked for a photographer, there is only so much help and protection we can give them if the photographer is touting the pictures around to different magazines," Mr Merrill said.

"These days more and more models are very savvy and they control their rights. If there is a set that has been done and the model has waived her rights over them, then yes, absolutely we'd use them."

Lara Bingle, the face of Australia's tourism campaign, is suing a photographer for selling old photos to a magazine.

Miss Universe contestant Erin McNaught was almost rubbed out when old topless shots emerged, while Home and Away star Isabel Lucas had old bikini shots used in another magazine.

It is also nearly impossible to police their use on the Internet. Type a model's name into a search engine and hundreds of photos appear.

They can be stolen or reused and no-one would know.

"I think the lesson for models and especially for anybody who wants to get into television, wants to become a singer or an actor after they done modelling, is to keep control of your career," Imogen said.

Any young models who believe their images have been used without permission are urged to contact Imogen Bailey on her website: www.imogenbailey.com