How to get photos to use?

[jacobgallipeau]

Hey guys. I am wanting to send photos of people for them to sign. But I can't just go and print pictures off the internet, that's illegal, right? How do you get images of players for them to sign?

[RED BARON TX]

I don't do photos for graphing, but a bunch of people at the local AAA games do. They told me they find a hi res photo on the internet and get them printed at CVS or Costco. I asked about licensing rights, etc and they seemed to think that if there isn't a logo on it or they aren't trying to sell them then they were good. I'm not familiar with the actual legalities or truth to their statements, though. I'm guessing that if it's for personal use, none would be the wiser?

[arfmax]

Some stores will print any photo, others will not. If they are in the public domain (Google Images) without copyrights and watermarks (for instance, Getty photos puts a Getty Images watermark on their photos, so those are obviously copyrighted and can't be printed), then certain stores will print them. My local drug store prints them for me, but I have to fill out a form each time, saying that it is for personal use only and I won't be selling them.

[OC22]

I print images from Google Image search all the time, and I've never run into issues with the local Walgreens printing them. If you're only printing a few a time, you shouldn't have any issues. If you're printing hundreds at a time, I'm sure it'll throw some red flags, but I wouldn't worry if you're just sending a few off to get signed.

[jacobgallipeau]

Thanks everyone! Good to know. I signed up for a Shutterfly account and printed 50 images (they give you 50 free for signing up). We'll see how they turn out.

[Musclebeech]

Hey guys. I am wanting to send photos of people for them to sign. But I can't just go and print pictures off the internet, that's illegal, right? How do you get images of players for them to sign?

I use the almighty Google, adjust the size and resolution to an appropriate level, then take them to a copy shop with a self-service kiosk to print.