I came across a really thought-provoking blog article the other day, by Frolic! – and I wanted to discuss the issue with you all today, to give my reasons for the source credit changes you’ll be seeing here on Epheriell Designs.
In the post, Chelsea give some awesome guidance as to how to credit images. She makes it clear that it’s her own personal perspective, but I think she hits the nail right on the head.
This is a topic that I’ve been thinking on for a while now, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to proceed. It seems to becoming more and more talked about in the blogosphere – especially amongst design bloggers. The prevalence of image-sharing sites that don’t credit the source is quite frightening, and – I’ll admit – in my earlier days as a blogger, I used sites like imgfave and weheartit to find pictures, though I stopped quite a long while ago now.
If you look at some of my earlier blog posts, you will see me being horribly guilty of not crediting images properly. I think it’s something that wasn’t thought of as much a few years ago, but it’s really hit home to me recently how important it is to do it properly.
These days, I tend to use flickr and Pinterest to find images to use on my blogs – not only because they are huge repositories of wonderful images, but mainly because it’s usually very simple to find and credit the source of the images.
For a long while now I have aimed to link each image I use back to its original source. Using the flickr tools makes this easy – I usually just insert the html from flickr and it not only links back, but gives attribution details when you hover over the image. But is this enough? I don’t feel that it is, for me, anymore. So, from now on you’ll see a little attribution at the end of each post (or, if it fits into the flow of the post, perhaps in the text itself).
I’m also going to be more pedantic about crediting where I find my ideas and inspration So, if I blog about a designer, for example, I will aim to share where I first came across the person, too.
One thing I don’t often do, which is also discussed in the Frolic! post, is ask for permission to share images before I blog them. I feel that so long as I am crystal clear about the source of the image, it’s not necessary… but perhaps I’m wrong? Personally, I am more than happy when someone blogs an image of mine, with a link back, because I see it as free publicity. But perhaps there are people out there who think differently – if so, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
I’d also love to hear how you credit images and sources, and what your thoughts on the issue are.
P.S. if you are looking for the source of an image, a really useful tool is tineye.com – I’ve been using this for around 6 months now to trace images. It’s not always possible to find the source, but it definitely helps most of the time!
{image by Mandy Bryant/The Light Fantastic on Etsy}
{Frolic! post found via @Blackcurrentpix via @Daydreamlily}
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HURRAH!!! Not crediting people with images is a pet peeve of mine, so it’s really nice to see someone going out of their way to do it in a detailed manner.
I don’t mind people using my images without first asking permission (though honestly, I would prefer if they did), but I think if you use them, you should at least let the owner know that you have. Free publicity is great, but knowing where my work is showing up is also important and stumbling across it via google isn’t ideal.
It’s something I’ve been giving though to of late as well, Jess.
I’m guilty of not crediting images in my early blogging days also, but now that I’m getting more in to photography myself, I’m starting to see the importance of properly crediting the artist responsible for the image.
I’ve been endeavouring to make changes on my own blog, and will continue to do so.
Thank you for the link to the Frolic post – I’ll be printing it out and reviewing it, giving it more thought and implementing some of the ways of sourcing.
Cheers,
Tasha
So important this! I’d be angry if someone showed my pix without credit or linking to my page. When i feature someone eleses work, i always name and credit them, and encourage my readers to visit their sites or blogs. This is only fair!
ah, good post, and yes, I think we should credit artists. I work in a department for a direct mail magazine for my “day” job (actually at night…but, either way…) This is what I do there! advertisers send in random images, we try to find sources and give credit…and we MUST have a release from a photographer to use their images. That said, since it’s required (for fear of litigation) in print advertising I assume the time will come that it will be required by law on the internet as well. I commend you for doing all you can to credit now.
It doesn’t bother me at all. I love it if someone wants to blog about me as long as they give me credit and link back!
I wish all this information had been as widely available when I started blogging. I made the same mistakes on attribution, and I’m not proud of it.
From my understanding (this is all US law), it is ok to post an image used for promotion (e.g.a product shot taken for retail. An image on Etsy would be included in this category) or when the photographer has released copyright (many Creative Commons licenses allows image use with attribution, for instance. But you would have to select non-commercial, since you sell advertising on your site).
The fair use doctrine allows you to use include a limited amount of an artist’s work for the purposes of a review or commentary. But I think there are all sorts of levels of nuance with this.
However, taking an “all rights reserved†image from any source, including Flickr, to illustrate a post is illegal.
The way I view the issue is: it doesn’t matter how I want my images used, it’s up to the photographer, who is the owner of the image. I have made most of my photos on Flickr available on a Creative Commons attribution license. That is my choice. But I do not have the right to make that choice for another person, legally or ethically.
As you can see, I have strong feelings on this. 😉 Thanks for opening up a dialog.
Crediting seems just like the normal thing for us to do when you use someone’s photo. It’s like referencing in a Uni project and the like its just what you do *shrugs* I think asking them depends on the situation – if a thing is on flikr, deviant art etc and doesn’t specifically say that we can’t use them I think it is fair game. If its on a personal website though (like in my latest post I featured some of their clothing range) I specifically asked for permission as I had to take them off the site if that makes sense?
Alex – I think that’s right – especially based on Brigitte’s excellent comment.
Hi guys, I’ve studied Copyright Law as part of my Masters and had a lot to do with it through work, so hopefully I can be of some help. Technically it is NOT ok to use someone else’s image without their permission, even if you credit it.
But having said that, if you do credit it, and you are saying nice things about them or using the image in a pleasing way it is unlikely they will cause a fuss.
You can’t waive your moral rights (to be credited as the author of a work – image, photo, illustration, artwork, writing etc) even if you want to, but you can transfer your copyright to a client who has paid for a particular work to be produced, so they can use it however they like. This has to be done via a contract.
The best way to find images on Flickr is to do an advanced search and only search images with Creative Commons. A lot of stock libraries have this option too. You’ll need to read the fine print though because a lot of these sorts of license agreements stipulate that you can’t use it commercially (including a blog that makes you money, or anywhere you are selling goods / services).
So I guess what I’m saying is, shoot the owner an email and check it is ok, or build up a bit of a library of free images you can use for later, or invest in a good camera yourself. 🙂
Hope that helps!
Jess
Thank you so much for highlighting Frolic!’s awesome post and for bringing up this issue in the first place.
I’d like to think I do a good job in crediting any image I use on my blog, but this has raised a few glaring omissions! I tend not to notify people when I use their images or feature their work – I guess at the start I felt a bit silly letting someone know they’d been featured when I only had a handful of subscribers… But having read this thoughtful discussion I think I am going to notify from here on in.
And yes! Nothing drives me madder than non-crediting. It happens so often – I’ll see an amazing image on Tumblr and think ‘I’d love to find out more about that artist/gardener/crafter/photographer’ and wind up at a dead end after a wild goose chase. Most annoying.
Oh, and I love the idea of referencing who turned you on to whatever fabulous thing you are showcasing as well – I definitely try to do that, it’s a nice measure of respect for your fellow bloggers/tweeters/facebookers. When you know someone has discovered something wonderful through you, and you don’t get referenced, it can be a bit disheartening. On the flip side, sometimes things are just ‘in the air’ or of the moment and you’d have to list a ton of names to cover all the people who led you to something, so I guess you do have to use your own judgement at times.
Thanks again Jess!