Their are two aspects of copyright here. The first is the photographer owns the copyright of their photo. The second is people and other copyrighted items in that photo do not lose their proprietary interest (their copyright) to their image.

In the public interest over rides the second protection. If you take a picture with private (or public) individuals or a huge commercial sign you may sell your photo to a news outlet. You may even put it in a book, provided, the book has some relationship to the public interest. That is how the paparazzi can sell shots of celebrities.

If the image is not in the public interest, then you need permission to sell it. So if you have a shot of Tiger Woods taking a swing on a golf course, you could sell it to a news outlet but not use it to sell or promote the golf course without permission.

Recently there have been some music groups that have used photos to promote themselves. While the photo may be of the band, they still need the photographer's permission to use it commercially.