Image Licensing and Usage Policy

This policy explains, in plain language, how you may use the photographs and films that Elite Captures, doing business as Elite Captures (“we”, “us” or “our”), creates. It covers clients, vendors, publications and businesses.

If this page and a signed agreement with us differ, the agreement controls.

We keep the copyright

Unless a signed agreement says otherwise, Elite Captures owns the copyright in every photograph and film we create, under the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C.). Paying for your booking and receiving your gallery gives you a license to use the work, and buying prints gives you the prints themselves. Neither transfers the copyright. The license covers what most clients want to do, as explained below, while protecting our work and the people in it.

Your personal license

Clients who book us for personal occasions, such as weddings, portraits, family sessions and personal events, receive a personal license once their booking is paid in full. The license is non-exclusive, does not expire and cannot be transferred. It covers the final photographs and films we deliver to you, and your family members may use them on the same terms.

With your personal license, you may:

• print photographs at any lab, printer or print service, at any size, for yourself and as gifts;
• make personal items such as albums, wall art, holiday cards, invitations, thank-you cards and save-the-dates;
• share photographs and films with family and friends by email, messaging or shared albums;
• post them on your personal social media accounts (a credit or tag is appreciated but not required);
• post films on personal video accounts that are not monetized;
• show them on a personal website or blog; and
• crop photographs or trim film clips to fit a social media format.

Print release

You can show this statement to any photo lab or print service:

Print release. We, Elite Captures, doing business as Elite Captures, own the copyright in the photographs we deliver to our clients. Our clients may print their delivered photographs for personal, non-commercial use, at any size and in any quantity, at any photo lab, printer or print service, without asking us for further permission. Questions: [business email] or [business phone].

This release covers final delivered files. It does not cover watermarked previews, screenshots, or photographs taken by others.

What the personal license does not cover

Your personal license does not allow you to:

• sell the photographs or films, or license or give them to anyone else for commercial use;
• use them in advertising or marketing, or for any business purpose, including on a business website or business social media account;
• enter them in contests or competitions;
• upload them to stock photo or stock footage sites;
• apply heavy filters, or re-edit or recolor them, and share the result as our work (if you change an image beyond simple cropping, please do not credit or tag us on the changed version);
• remove or cover a watermark or credit we have placed on a photograph or film; or
• upload them to train artificial intelligence or machine learning systems, or use generative AI to alter them, such as changing faces, bodies, expressions or backgrounds, or making new images or video from them.

If you would like to use your photographs or films in one of these ways, ask us about a separate license.

Raw files and unedited footage

We do not deliver RAW files, unedited photographs or unedited footage. Selecting and editing the work, including color, exposure and retouching, is part of what you book us for, and unedited files do not represent it. If you would like an image edited differently, such as in black and white or with extra retouching, ask us. Your agreement explains which edits are included and which are quoted in advance.

Vendors

Planners, venues, florists, designers, caterers, hair and makeup artists and other vendors who worked on an event may request our images for their own portfolio, website and social media. Write to us at business email with the event name and date. When we approve a request, the images are free of charge, on these terms:

• credit on every use, in the format shown under “Credit” below, with a tag on social media where the platform allows;
• use on your own portfolio, website and organic social media only, not in paid advertising, sponsored posts, print advertising, publication submissions or contests;
• no editing or filters, other than cropping that keeps the credit visible where one appears; and
• no sharing or selling of the images to other businesses.

We respect our clients’ privacy choices, so we may limit or decline a request, for example when a client has opted out of marketing use or when images show children. If you would like to use our images in paid advertising, ask us about a commercial license.

Clients: vendors need their own permission from us, so please refer vendor requests to us rather than sending files to vendors yourself.

Publications and blogs

We welcome feature requests from magazines, blogs and other publications. Email us with the name of the publication, the planned feature and the publication date. Every published photograph or film must carry our credit, and we will confirm any client consent needed before we share the work. If you are a client and would like your wedding or event featured, tell us, and we can handle the submission.

Business and commercial licenses

Businesses and organizations that book us, and anyone who wants to use our work commercially, receive a license defined in their proposal and agreement. Each commercial license is set by four parts:

A few rules apply to every commercial license:

• Payment first. The license starts when the license fee is paid in full, unless your agreement allows earlier use, such as same-day selects at an event.
• Your use only. The license is for your organization. You may share the work with your employees, and with agencies and contractors who use it only to produce your own materials. Sponsors, partners, retailers and other third parties need their own license from us.
• Renewals and extensions. To keep using the work after the term ends, or to add media, territory or exclusivity, ask us before the term ends and we will quote a renewal or extension in writing. Unless your agreement says otherwise, posts already published on your own organic social media during the term may stay up, and printed materials distributed during the term may stay in use, but new placements, ad buys and reprints after the term need a renewal.
• Releases. Commercial use of recognizable people, private property, artwork or trademarks may require signed releases. Your agreement says who obtains them, and we can collect model and property releases as part of a production.

Credit

When you credit our work, please use:

• Photographs: “Photo: Elite Captures”
• Films: “Film: Elite Captures”

On social media, tag our account where the platform allows. Credit is appreciated for personal use and required for vendors and publications. For commercial use, your agreement states whether credit is required.

Music in our films

We use only music we have licensed for use in films. Those licenses cover the uses described in your agreement, such as sharing your film with others and posting it on your personal accounts. Using the music on its own, or using a film in advertising or another business use your agreement does not cover, may require a different music license, so ask us first.

Some streaming and social media platforms may mute, block or remove films that contain copyrighted songs, including songs heard in the background at your event, such as a first dance song or a DJ’s set. We do not control those platforms.

How to ask

Email business email and tell us:

• which photographs or films you would like to use (a link or screenshot helps);
• how and where you would use them; and
• how long you would like to use them.

We will reply with permission terms or a quote. Permission is valid only when we give it in writing.

If this page and your agreement differ

This page is a summary. The agreement you sign with us contains the full terms for your booking or license. If this page and a signed agreement differ, the agreement controls.

See also our Copyright and DMCA Policy and Booking and Cancellation Policy.