Amature Sport Shooters: help?

[Jim V.]

However I would certainly never dream of, or encourage, taking
pictures of other people's kids and posting them on the interent
without their permission. Even if they did give permission I
wouldnt post with their names. I'd use their number and team name.
Or let parents browse and find the photo by recognition.

Eric

I saw this brought up somewhere else, and didn't see an answer, but
are there any release issues here? Are you having people sign
waivers, or do all of these shots just fall under the "out in
public" "reasonable expectation of privacy" realm. Not trying to
put a damper on anyone's business here, just curious is all.

From my limited knowlege, I would say you don't need a release
since you are not using the photos for advertising. You are
selling photos of the kids to themselves or their parents. Since
the shoot takes place in public, you don't need anyones permission
to take them.

I could be wrong, but that just what I have understood how it works.

Glenn

--
http://www.glennjamesphotography.com/

--
Eric Lamont
http://www.pbase.com/elamont

Remember yesterday... Live today... Dream about tomorrow...

--
Jim V.
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]

 

[rdbruski]

http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=&C=4

 

[Jim V.]

Again, not trying to be a pain in the butt here, but I had thought
about doing something similar and would rather make sure everything
is on the up-and-up before proceeding.

I saw this brought up somewhere else, and didn't see an answer, but
are there any release issues here? Are you having people sign
waivers, or do all of these shots just fall under the "out in
public" "reasonable expectation of privacy" realm. Not trying to
put a damper on anyone's business here, just curious is all.

From my limited knowlege, I would say you don't need a release
since you are not using the photos for advertising. You are
selling photos of the kids to themselves or their parents. Since
the shoot takes place in public, you don't need anyones permission
to take them.

I could be wrong, but that just what I have understood how it works.

Glenn

--
http://www.glennjamesphotography.com/

I shoot only non-profit private competitive club teams. You don't need a release from them unless you are doing team photos for the Club. They play in public faclities and as long as you don't represent yourself as an official representative of the league their is no problems.

If you want to be the designated tournament photographer you only need to request it in advance but that doesn't preclude anyone shooting the tournament. These designated photographers are only provided as a benefit for the participants and their families if they want photos. No differnet than giving coupons for discounts at local eateries and clothing stores.

As far as ordering from the website all orders have to go through my e-mail address and I confirm who is ordering.
Jim V.
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]

 

[lonnit]

It'd be alot easier/more profitable to do it from your own website. I'm going to make up a biz card with my url and keep some handy. I usually pass up shots of other people's kids b/c they're strangers, and what am i going to do with shots of strangers? I thought it would be a PITA to have to stop and ask them for their address, etc. That's a great idea - I can hand them a link and they can check it out and buy right from me! Cool!

Thanks,
--
Lonnit
Proud new 10D owner. If only I could find time to read the manual!



YES I STOLE HER IDEA!!!

 

[Sherry Young]

I saw this brought up somewhere else, and didn't see an answer, but
are there any release issues here? Are you having people sign
waivers, or do all of these shots just fall under the "out in
public" "reasonable expectation of privacy" realm. Not trying to
put a damper on anyone's business here, just curious is all.

I was worried about this at first, and lost a whole year's sales because of it. As it turns out, neither the parents nor the schools have a problem with my posting pictures of the kids on the web. I use the site I do because (in addition to being really cheap and always up) the premium service means no ads, so I don't have to worry about anything offensive, and the long url means they have to be looking for it and don't have to worry about strangers seeing their kids. I also never post any identifying information other than the name of the school. I thought it might be a big deal, but customers don't seem to. The alternatives of on site printing or getting releases for each recognizable kid are just too much trouble. If I ever had a parent complain, I would of course get their kid off the site immediately.

 

[Sherry Young]

In regards to onsite printing, how would you accomplish this for
print sizes larger than 4x6? I dont imagine you mean hauling my
Canon s9000 around with me.

Thanks again,

Eric:

I think a lot of folks do just that. Over at Galbraith's site, many feel that using the web loses you too many sales. I haven't tried it myself. I think the physical set up wouldn't be difficult. If nothing else I could set up in the back of my Jeep. But you would have to have at least one assistant if you wanted to keep shooting and this is definately a one person operation for the foreseeable future.

Sherry

 

[Jim V.]

I saw this brought up somewhere else, and didn't see an answer, but
are there any release issues here? Are you having people sign
waivers, or do all of these shots just fall under the "out in
public" "reasonable expectation of privacy" realm. Not trying to
put a damper on anyone's business here, just curious is all.

I was worried about this at first, and lost a whole year's sales because of it. As it turns out, neither the parents nor the schools have a problem with my posting pictures of the kids on the web. I use the site I do because (in addition to being really cheap and always up) the premium service means no ads, so I don't have to worry about anything offensive, and the long url means they have to be looking for it and don't have to worry about strangers seeing their kids. I also never post any identifying information other than the name of the school. I thought it might be a big deal, but customers don't seem to. The alternatives of on site printing or getting releases for each recognizable kid are just too much trouble. If I ever had a parent complain, I would of course get their kid off the site immediately.

--
Jim V.

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/[email protected]/lst?.dir=/Victory+Sports&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/

 

[tanneuby]

What I don't like about shutterfly and ofoto and others, is that you would have to post process all your shots before posting because they are sold as is from the web site. I would prefer to just post the pics to my own web site(if I had one) then only post process the ones that people are going to order. I know I could do batch processing, but all different shots benefit from different things. It just seems like a huge waste of time to PP a bunch of pics that are not going anywhere.

 

[Ron Haw]

--

We have a similar business set up doing a few local race tracks. There are several of us that work together and we average about 1g per week, not bad for a hobby/business. We've had luck with the following: We have a website called http://www.picturemeracing.com that is hosted by an outfit called MorePhotos. We pay flat fees to them for hosting, but they take no part in processing nor do they get a cut of the sale. We designate all sizes and prices. Because our customer base is limited, we allow folks to place orders and designate that they will pay cash on pick up. We are just at the end of the season and are stuck with about 20 photos that haven't been picked up out of over 2500 photos sold. Not a bad result for us and it definately helped our sales. Customers also have the option of paying online with a cc. When an order is placed we receive notice of the order via an email and arrange for processing locally. We post about 1000-2000 pictures per weekend and the web company provides software that cuts the pictures down to a size for posting and then uploads the photos. We don't do any editing or culling of the photos to save time and that is a problem from time to time, but folks have come to understand the process and generally only pick the best pictures anyway. We've even sold several that I was embarrased to have sold, but that for some reason or other people had to have. We do edit, the photos before they are printed and delivered and offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Here again, to my surprise, we've only had a few folks return product. Overall this has been a very enjoyable experience for us.

We do constant no-brainer marketing at the tracks that is very simply passing out a business card that has the website name and a phone number. We also print out thumbnail sheets that are available the following week for folks to pick out and purchase photos from. We use a product by Cerious Software called ThumbsPlus to manage our photos locally and to create the thumbnail books.

Sales from the books and the website are about 50/50 but we process ALL the orders through the website because it gives us a consistant way to manage our orders.

We are shooting with a D60'S and an Eos10D. Lenses are Tameron 28-105 2.8 and a Sigma HSM 70-200 HSM and 550ex flash units. We've had all of the exposure and focusing problems that you read about on the forums here, but most of those problems begin to go away with experience. We still have a long way to go, but we're getting better (at least slightly). We even take an occasional photo that makes go "hot damn"

So there ya go!

Ron H