FAQ
How do I purchase a print?
How do I purchase a high resolution file?
How do I license an image?
Which print finish should I choose?
But I want a different size?
Hey, I know what I want, but how do I pay?
I chose checkout and it wants to know if I want to be a “Guest” or a “Member of the Family”?
How long does shipping take?
What’s with the “Partial” in the gallery titles? And those “Not Yet Available” images?
Discounts?
Why doesn’t an image offer prints or high res files?
Custom collage options
Hire me to shoot your game
Creating your own shareable gallery of images
Gift Certificates
Just click on “Add to cart” and choose “Prints”. Then choose the size and finish you prefer.
How do I purchase a high resolution file?
Just click on “Add to cart” and choose “Downloads”. Then choose “Personal Use”.
All this print info is nice, but I’m with a newspaper and need an image of Player X right away!
Choose your image and add to cart, but choose “Download” instead. This will take you through licensing the image for editorial use and allow you to download the file.
It’s really a personal preference (mine is lustre), but generally speaking:
Matte: Considered best choice under glass, doesn’t show damage and is considered the “art” choice. Cons: Less vibrant, can appear grainy.
Glossy: Gives the most pop to an image. Cons: shows fingerprints, can create reflections under glass, can lose some details in dark shadows (or fabric details on a black sweater).
Lustre: My preference because it splits the difference between the other two.
Metallic: I don’t have this as an automatic option, but can make it available (they do cost more). I do love it for this image (had a 20×30 printed on both metallic and glossy and saw/liked the difference), but from what I understand, images with a lot of white might not look very good.
I’ve chosen the crop (4×5, 5×7, 4×6 or square) proportion that I think works best with the original shot. If you really want an image printed with a different dimension, email me the file name, the dimension you want and whether anything along the current border is important to you and I’ll go back to the original file and see what I can do. No promises!
Hey, I know what I want, but how do I pay?
I’ve switched to PayPal for processing payments. This doesn’t mean you need a PayPal account – it gives you the option to direct use your credit card instead. Credit cards accepted from US customers are: Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. If you are based in another country, your options may be different; for instance Canada and Sweden offer the first three, but not Discover.
I chose checkout and it wants to know if I want to be a “Guest” or a “Member of the Family”? Just what kind of family do you have?!?!
I am not responsible for those options – PhotoShelter controls the wording on that page! Basically I house my archives on PhotoShelter and they offer free accounts to buyers. Signing up makes it easier to buy again and again and again AND gives you that lightbox option I mentioned earlier, but still haven’t explained.
The printer takes up to 2 business days and the shipping choices are as follows (I know – the names they use do not make sense, but I can’t edit that part of Photoshelter – I’ve asked PhotoShelter to give this info when you choose shipping, but so far they haven’t.)
1. Economy
Domestic: UPS Mail Innovations, USPS First Class Mail or FedEx SmartPost – 7 to 10 Business Days
International: USPS First Class Mail International, Access Worldwide, or USPS Priority Mail International – 7 to 14 Business Days
2. Express
Domestic: USPS Priority Mail, Fedex Home Delivery, FedEx ExpresSaver – 2 to 5 Business Days
International: Access Worldwide – 7 to 14 Business Days
3. 2-3 Day Option
Domestic: FedEx 2 Business day delivery – 2 Business Days
International: FedEx International Economy – 3 Business Days (depends on country)
4. Next Business Day
Domestic: FedEx Standard Overnight (delivered in the afternoon of the next business day) – 1 Business Day
What’s with the “Partial” in the gallery titles? And those “Not Yet Available” images?
When I first started I would initially edit for my immediate needs and then have to re-edit, caption, etc. before uploading to my archives. That extra step, along with a slower computer and human brain, added a speedbump so that I’ve shot a lot of games that have not yet made it into my archives. The “Not Yet Available” image acts as a placemarker – reminding me of what needs to get done and letting you know what could be available in case you need an image from one of those games (please – if you are making a special request, first check whether the player actually played in the game and let me know his/her number).
Starting with the 2009-10 season, every edited image was first uploaded to the archives. Some of the partial galleries may seem odd or slanted towards particular players, that’s generally due to me needing to create a gallery of a particular player and pulling just those images from a game to edit. Most of the partial galleries are not static. I keep adding 15 pictures here, 50 there based on my needs and priorities. The “PARTIAL” gets removed when I completely finish editing a game.
I want to buy lots of prints. Now that I’ve joined your “family” what kind of deal are you offering?
I offer two discount options.
1. Buy a dozen prints of any size, get the equivalent of a free 8×10. You buy 12 prints and check your inbox because I’ll be emailing you a coupon code to use on your next order for the cost of an 8×10, currently $19.00. You buy 24, get a coupon code for $38.00 off – buy 36, get $57.00 off, etc. These coupon codes are set up for ONE use, but aren’t tied to an account so if you’ve bought all the images you’ll ever want, feel free to pass the coupon code on to your parents or anyone else. While the coupon codes are only good for one use; they do not expire so you can hang onto them until I get more images of your favorite player edited and online. NOTE: that email isn’t automatic, but I’m generally pretty quick. If you don’t get the email within 48 hours, shoot me an email or call me if you need it ASAP.
FYI – the coupon codes can’t be for more than the purchase – if say you bought 36 prints, but only want to cash in on 2 free 8x10s right now, just email me and let me know. I’ll reduce the coupon code you have to $38 and send you an additional coupon code for $19 to use at a later date.
2. Purchase 100 images of any size and receive 15% off your order. For this offer, please create your shopping cart and then email or call me to receive the discount code before checking out. I suggest you double check the math between this offer and the first – depending on the size/cost of the prints you are ordering, you may be better off with offer #1 (if you are ordering only the smallest sizes).
3. New option – mimicking the first – if you purchase twelve digital files, you are entitled to one free.
Wait a second, you got me all excited! I’m planning on ordering a gazillion and one prints and going with discount 2, but that last image I want doesn’t give me a Print option. What gives?
There are two basic reasons for this:
1. I’m not allowed to sell prints because the image is from a professional game (the leagues/player associations require licensing that I’m not obtaining), or one of the student athletes in that image is from a school that doesn’t permit me to sell prints, or it is from the 2010 World Junior Championship and I must now go to my happy place and repeat “USA won Gold! USA won Gold!” until I have blocked certain aspects of that tournament out of my head. Don’t ask! If I’m rocking in a corner, I can’t edit more images.
2. The image is from the Frozen Four or a NCAA Regional game. In that case, email me – melissa@hockeyphotography.com. The NCAA has an extra step I have to follow before making some of those images available as prints. Their rules have improved in case you’ve run into this in the past.
I really like the images, but I want something special featuring my favorite player.
I don’t know the proper name for these, but I am happy to create one for your favorite providing I’ve shot him or her enough times to have image options. (This is where those “Not Yet Available” placemarkers come in handy since they’ll let you know that there may be more images just waiting to be edited.)
Templates A and B samples:
Template C sample:
$185 to cover image creation using template A (20×30 with 41 images and an 8×12 proportioned image in center) or template B (24×30 with 37 images and an 8×10 proportioned image in center) or $150 for template C (24×30 with 9 images), a single print and shipping to a single address within the US or Canada. Additional prints of the image ordered at time of image approval – $60 each. Additional prints ordered at a later date – $75. Coupon codes may not be used to reduce the price of image creation or initial prints, but may be applied to the purchase of subsequent copies.
$100 deposit due at time of ordering image creation; remainder due when image is approved.
Required Information: Please include the following information in your initial email inquiring about image creation:
Who? Who do you want featured in the image?
What? Do you want images from his or her full college hockey career or from a single season?
Favorite? Is there a particular image you want used as the primary focus or others you want to make sure get used somewhere?
Style? Do you like the style in the sample above or do you have a different design idea (may add to cost)?
Deadline? Do you need this by a particular date?
Payment: Once you’ve made the request and I’ve confirmed that I have enough images of the player to work with and can meet your deadline if applicable, please send your $100 deposit via PayPal.com to melissa@hockeyphotography.com. I will not begin work on the image until I’ve received the deposit. Once you’ve approved the final image, the remainder must be received via PayPal prior to the prints being made.
My favorite player/team isn’t in college – how can I get you to one of his/her games?
Send me an email (you can call, but I am going to need an email with these answers before proceeding) with the details including the date, time and location of the game as well as who is in charge if you aren’t — in other words, who can grant me permission to shoot the game. Most importantly, let me know what you want from having me shoot the game. I will then supply you a quote for the coverage.
Hellooooooo!! You mentioned lightboxes in your very first answer and still haven’t explained them!!
And I’m not going to! Well, not exactly. This page will explain it all to you. I don’t use them often and PhotoShelter does make changes, so I think it is better for me to point you to their instructions which will get updated as changes are made instead of writing my own that probably wouldn’t. But if you visit that page, you can see that you can use a lightbox to gather your favorite pictures together for easy viewing by you, for sharing them with others and even letting everyone rate them for favorites if you are trying to decide which ones you want to purchase as prints for yourself or as a gift.
What a great idea!! I can give your prints as gifts! Why couldn’t you have pointed that out to me last week – I need a present ASAP and don’t have time to choose an image or wait for it to be shipped.
No worries! Get that special person a gift certificate for a print from HockeyPhotography.com. Best present EVER!! Simply send payment directly to me via PayPal.com (my email is melissa@hockeyphotography.com) and let me know if you want the code or if you prefer that I email your recipient directly with the code. I haven’t set up a PayPal button as that would require me to choose the gift certificate amount options instead of leaving that open to the person making the gift and as long as it isn’t for one penny — which would probably be seen as an insult by the recipient who might then get mad at me too — I don’t care what the amount is. Well, I’d do some serious partying if it was for one million USD, but you get the idea.
I want my own website – how did you set up yours?
My host for the basic website is Lunar Pages and I am using WordPress. My photos are archived on and available for sale as prints or for editorial use via Photoshelter. FYI, both links are affiliate links – they earn me $s or credits – so if you are interested in one or the other, I’d appreciate you using those links.
Questions or comments?
(email preferred)
646-825-1108
