The editorial/commercial line is the one buyers most often get wrong, and it is the one that matters most legally. The good news is that the test is simple once you frame it properly: are you using the image to inform, or to sell?

Editorial use

The image illustrates a story, article, review, textbook, documentary or commentary about the subject it depicts. A photo of a high street in an article about high streets. A photo of a hospital corridor in a feature about the NHS. Editorial use does not need model or property releases, but it does need to be honest: no misleading captions, no implying a person did something they did not.

Commercial use

The image promotes or sells something — a product, a service, a cause, a brand — or is used in a way that implies endorsement. Advertising, marketing emails, landing pages, brochures, packaging, sponsored social posts. Commercial use of recognisable people or private property needs releases.

Bisecting Street at DawnMedieval Street and Clock TowerBusinessman and woman meeting in a large…A person standing alone in an atrium…

The grey areas

• Company website ‘about’ page. Commercial. It promotes the company.
• Charity campaign. Commercial, even though the cause is good.
• Blog post on a company website. Editorial if it is genuinely informational; commercial if it is a thinly disguised advert.
• Internal presentation. Generally treated as commercial but low-risk; use released images where people are recognisable.
• Book cover. Commercial (it sells the book) — even though the book’s contents are editorial.

How Photofolio labels it

Images with releases are cleared for both. Images of recognisable people or private property without releases are marked editorial-only on the image page. Landscapes, wildlife, objects and abstracts carry no such restriction. When in doubt, email us the image ID and the use and we will tell you.

This guide describes Photofolio’s own licence and general UK practice as at September 2026. It is practical guidance, not legal advice; if a use is business-critical, check the licence text and, where needed, take legal advice.