ELNikkor

I have done this too for the first time this year. Have many shots of soccer action from my son's games. Was thinking about posting them on Flickr or something. Then began to have doubts, mainly because there are probably several players I did not get photos of. The parents of those kids will wonder, "Where's the photos of MY child?"

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

The school has their policies. Ask them. Parents, on the other hand can opt to not have their kids pictures taken. There are privacy rules, and they vary from state to state. Generally speaking there is nothing illegal about taking pictures or video of kids at sporting events. And there is generally nothing wrong with posting images and videos on social media. But if a parent opts out, you can't. It is less a matter of legality than it is a matter of common courtesy and respect.

Your best avenue is to contact the school and see their written policy. Then the unwritten policy of "begging forgiveness is better than asking permission" may work. I shot a ton of soccer, baseball, skiing competitionsm table tennis and Hunter Jumper Equine competitions and only once in over 10 yrs did a parent request than her child's picture not be taken at a ski area. I think she may have been in witness protection. The ski area's policy was that with the purchase of the ticket, the ticket holder/purchaser provided a license to allow the ski area to record stills and video and use the material to promote the ski area online and in print.

https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/personal-injury/types-of-personal-injury-claims/child-photography-or-videotaping-consent-laws-are-changing.html

GGerard

Not sure about this. I agree it would be commercial if used to advertise a product, but just the image itself? Might be the same as any street photo, but you might have to address whether the venue is public.

ggab Loc: ?

Hi Timmie,
I shoot youth soccer and share the images using Shutterfly.
It allows me to create a secure website for each team I shoot. I then send an invitation to the parents of each player on the team to the site. The kids I take pictures of are in Middle School through High School.
I also allow the parents who want to, to upload pictures they take as well. I have never had a parent want me to take the image of their child down.

I do not charge any of the parents for access to the pictures, I only charge them if they want prints.

Shutterfly makes all of this very easy.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Supposedly if you post to your Google drive account, only those with the correct link can view the pictures. With the link, they can download them. Sometimes it doesn't work. I've talked to people in my groups who say they either cannot access the posted images or they can't download them. In that case, they have to put the assigned link into some search engine other than Google (weird, huh?!). There is a limit to how much you can post in each "album," so if you take a LOT of pictures, you'll need to be aware of that. And it requires you to send the link to everyone, so you'll need their e-mails. I wouldn't post the link on Facebook, for example, because that can be shared beyond the intended receivers too easily.

stu352 Loc: MA/RI Border

For years we shot photos of my kids' marching band competitions, concert band, and jazz performances and some practices, and published the best of them on the band's web page. I'd put more of mine on my PBase page. This was all with the knowledge of the band director, the music booster team, etc. Since I was shooting from the field level (others in our informal photo crew were up higher), I made a few calls and got official photo credentials for a couple of the national competitions.

Never a problem, and several of the parents were lawyers!

ggab Loc: ?

MCHUGH Loc: Jacksonville, Texas

Many years ago when I was in business I took photos of the local football team during the weekly game. I then set up a rear projection screen and projected the action shots for the kids to watch at night in my large front window after I had closed. I was in the downtown of my little town and usually there were forty or fifty kids watching each night. Great free advertising. Never had any problem or complaint from kids, parents, or school.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

That would have made for a great photo!

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

I always talk with the coaches before the game. Additionally, I have the coach collect his players for a team shot after the game. I give each of the kids - and the coach - a note telling them where and how to access the photos. The only comments I’ve ever had have been “Thank You.”

probie

Action photos, I do not want to sell them . But would like to share them.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

Chuckle chuckle. Simpkle idea. Look before you post. If you do, you can change Simpkle to Simple.

probie

glad you had your chuckle for the day

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

You should definitely check with the school administration first. They may have an agreement with a photographer, that you'd be infringing upon. There are also a lot of limitations on photography whenever kids are involved and especially on school property.

Not sure what you mean by "sharing" your images... Do you mean "sell" them? Or do you mean "give" them away free?

Freebies are a very bad idea for a number of reasons. One, you'll be using up your gear and doing a lot of work for no return at all. And you'll need fast, expensive gear to photograph a lot of sports. Giving away your work for free also devalues photography to your "clients". Once you give it away, why would anyone ever pay for it? The better quality your work that's being freely given away, the worse it is for photography in general!

I was recently part of a discussion on another site recently where a designer was asking a photographer to provide a free print to display in a $12 million home they were remodeling. A lot of people griped about the designer and obviously wealthy home owner (who was probably unaware of the request).... But I tried to point out that photographers had to take some of the blame, too. There are so many who are just giving away now, who "get a thrill" that someone likes their work, it's set a new low standard. We've "trained" consumers to expect free photography. Look at the ads on your local Craigslist sometime (last time I looked at my local CL, there were 700 "wedding" photographer ads, most of whom were shooting for free or so little that they would be out of business in a year or as soon as their Rebel broke).

Don't be part of the problem. Ask a fair price for your images. (It's another thing if you're just shooting your own kids and maybe a couple of their friends.)

I do allow my watermarked proofs to be freely taken and posted on Facebook or Instagram or wherever. They're max 700 pixels on the longest side, too small for printing and have a watermark that's essentially an ad to drive more visitors to my galleries. That's a form of free promotion. Rather than fighting people taking photos for FB, etc., I just made it work for me.

If you sell, there are a number of websites especially for hosting that sort of thing. I use Zenfolio. They host the images, take the orders, deal with the billing and do the printing & shipping. I just take the photos and upload proofs to the site, then when orders come in I'll finish the images as needed. Working through a site like Zenfolio, I'm able to offer a wide range of products, ranging in price from a few dollars to several hundred dollars.

I shoot a lot of sporting events where there are kids. I'm the "official" photographer. I'm there at the invitation and full knowledge of the organizer. They give me access and a little bit of promotion (such as links from their websites)... I support them with some photos for their websites and such.

NOTHING I shoot at those events gets posted online unless I have signed permission from the parent or guardian, in the case of minors... or from the subject in the case of an adult. It's essentially a model release, giving me permission to display online. Because I shoot a lot of equestrian events, I also get a property release (for the horse). It's all combined in a single form, though. The forms they complete also help me organize the images much better. On the other hand, if they don't sign, they'll never see the photos.

Another reason for getting signed releases is because there's not a lot of money to be made anymore, selling photos this way. Fifteen years ago I could make $3000 off a typical event. Today I'm lucky if I see 1/3 or 1/4 of that. So I am also archiving images and planning to offer some of the better ones as stock photos. Releases are essential, for stock photos to have any value.

probie

Thank you a lot of wisdom and sound advise in your post, gives me a lot to think about