How to Use Our Photos

Why don't I own a photo if I paid for it? The first thing to understand is that all of our photographers always retain the rights to all of their photos. If you purchase a photo, you're not buying the photo - you're simply licensing the photo for a particular use. If we gave away the rights to our photos, anyone would be able to post our photo wherever they want, without the photographer seeing any compensation for it. Say you purchase a photo for $3.50 on our website with the initial intention of showing it in your Facebook timeline: a perfectly acceptable usage. Then you decide to give it to a friend who's launching a new Ultimate apparel company. The company takes off, and the photo is used on their website and merchandise, helping to "sell" the brand. The photo hasn't been licensed for that usage, and our photographer has still only seen $3.50 for it.

How do I know what I'm allowed to do with a photo I license? If you purchase a photo directly through our website, you're purchasing a personal use license. That's what that file is that downloads with the photo - a license that describes how you're allowed to use the photo. A personal use license is pretty self-explanatory: you (an individual) can use that photo in a personal way. That means you're free to post it on your personal social media pages or print it out at home to put on the wall or paste into your scrapbook. We even extend personal use to most club teams for their social media and websites! (This doesn't include professional teams.) By limiting these licenses to personal use, we can offer a lot of value at a small price for players and fans to enjoy!

What other kinds of licenses are there? The two other license types we most commonly deal with are called commercial and editorial. Both kinds will cost more than we would charge for personal-use, and the price is dependent upon a number of factors. If you're interested in using our photos in any way that is not covered by the personal-use license (or you're not sure if it's covered), you need to contact us at [email protected] so that we can work up a quote. Commercial photo licenses are used to sell or promote a product, brand, organization or idea. This can even extend to nonprofit organizations. Editorial photo licenses are most commonly used by the media - they cover photos used to accompany articles or for educational purposes. 

Why can't I buy a commercial or editorial license from your website? Because these licenses are open-ended, they need to be discussed and negotiated on a case-by-case basis. We wouldn't charge the New York Times the same price that we would charge a small, local newspaper or blog with far fewer readers. Every quote we give is based on a number of factors, so we prefer to work directly with a customer on these licenses. We use professional photography quoting software to inform our decisions, and we apply generous community discounts. We're always happy to go over the reasoning behind a quote.