If you are about to publish an article that includes images, you’ll want to take a moment to read this article to make sure you’re following the applicable copyright law.Â
The owner of an image or photo has a copyright as to its use, and you need approval to use it. You generally cannot distribute or sell images without the creator’s consent.
The image creator has legal protections. Look into fair use, and copyright laws before using an image.
Many images are available under creative commons licenses. This generally allows you to use them in blogs so long as you credit and provide a link to the owner’s site (By Attribution). Each creative commons license has slightly different terms of use, so it’s important to familiarise yourself with any specific terms. For example, some creative commons licenses allow you to modify an image, others prohibit commercial use.
You can learn more about Creative Commons licenses here
Some free stock images can be used for your blog posts, but they may need changes such as text or borders. These changes should be clearly stated. If you add enhancements you may use them, but again, you must credit the owner of the image.
When you are looking for free stock images, make sure you understand what the use rights are before you use it. If you want to use it for personal or commercial use, you need to know if it can be used for that purpose. It’s important to follow the owner’s copyright provisions to avoid a potential legal issue or embarrassment.
You can purchase royalty free images for just about any type of images you want on the Internet. Royalty free means there’s no trailing royalty to pay to the owner for ongoing use of the image.
As a rule of thumb, if you are unsure whether or not to use an image, you will want to check the copyright and, potentially, contact the copyright holder. If you respect their terms or policies you will avoid potential issues. If you use an image for reasons other than the intended use, you should get in touch with the owner.
And if you are unsure of the copyright situation, you should contact the creator and ask them if you can use the image.
If you want to use someone else’s photo in your blog, particularly if you want to use an image for commercial purposes, you need to contact the creator. Many photographers rely on the sale of their images for their income, so are particularly averse to free use of their works, except where they’ve made the point of allowing this.
It’s good practice to credit the person who took the photo. You should also credit their website and link back to it.
The SimpleMarketing.AI Content Engine generated this post (with moderate human editing).Â
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