Other people using your photos

[Greg_R]

Hi all,

I received a blog comment from someone asking to use some of my photos for articles that she writes. She has stated that she will give me credit and link to my site. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

I was quite surprised as I just shoot for my own pleasure and created a simple website only as a means of sharing my pictures with friends and family.

Does anyone have advice on how to proceed? I have already responded asking for more information and to see some examples of her work.

[Marko]

I have allowed people to use my photos on the web under certain conditions.
1 - I get credit
2 - it is PRECISELY specified exactly where it can be shown.
3 - User agrees to remove photo within 24-48 hours if I ask them to do so for any reason whatsoever.

and i get this in writing.
Hope that may help.

[Greg_R]

I have allowed people to use my photos on the web under certain conditions.
1 - I get credit
2 - it is PRECISELY specified exactly where it can be shown.
3 - User agrees to remove photo within 24-48 hours if I ask them to do so for any reason whatsoever.

and i get this in writing.
Hope that may help.

Thanks Marko, that helps a lot. They have already stated that they will give me credit however I hadn't thought of the agreement to remove the photo.

[Iguanasan]

Each to his own, I guess. All my images that I post on Flickr are creative commons for non-commercial use. As long I get credit and they do not modify them they are welcome to use them as they see fit. I've seen a few of my images used for blog posts here and there but that's about it. One of the ways I look at it is the more places my images show up the more "love" I get. :)

[Greg_R]

Each to his own, I guess. All my images that I post on Flickr are creative commons for non-commercial use. As long I get credit and they do not modify them they are welcome to use them as they see fit. I've seen a few of my images used for blog posts here and there but that's about it. One of the ways I look at it is the more places my images show up the more "love" I get. :)

That's one of my biggest concerns...I just want to make sure that no one is profiting from my images.

Also, I have a couple of images of my nieces that I don't want used elsewhere.

[Iguanasan]

That's one of my biggest concerns...I just want to make sure that no one is profiting from my images.

Also, I have a couple of images of my nieces that I don't want used elsewhere.

Then don't post them on the Internet. I'm afraid that the dishonest people who will steal your images don't give a crap about any agreements in "writing" they're gonna steal them and use them. The honest people will respect a request/denial proposition. If you don't want them stolen, don't put them on the Internet. You cannot protect them once they've been published.

[Marko]

Yup i think you are missing Iggy's point on this Greg.
without restrictions you get way more link love. of course we want to protect our images (myself included). but the more you protect the LESS visibility you get.
There ARE a number of well known photographers that post their images as creative commons. Seems to me it's a fab strategy - Trey ratcliff comes to mind. Stuck In Customs HDR Photography (http://www.stuckincustoms.com/)

[Greg_R]

Obviously I understand that people are able to take whatever images they want once they are published. I didn't intend this to be a discussion about the ethics of the internet. I wanted information about how to go about licensing photos.

I don't use Flickr and don't have any language (as yet) about creative commons licensing on my site as this isn't something that I ever thought would happen when I started. I was looking for information about how to go about licensing my photos...is there common language used?

[Iguanasan]

If you are interested in a Creative Commons license then you can visit this site: Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/) Creative Commons licensing has a bunch of different levels of licensing. The simplest solution is to continue to put a (C) watermark on your images as you are and then you can decide what you want people to do with the images based on requests, etc. That's not going to stop anyone from stealing them but the honest people in the world will understand that they must get your permission to use them.

[Greg_R]

Thanks Iggy.

[kat]

LOL..never had anyone ask and I haven't seen any of my photos ever being used. I would be fine with non-commercial use with a credit though! Nothing worse than someone claiming they took your photo.