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Other than personal images, I usually upload images for my blog from the appropriate pictures I find on search engines. Is this an offence?
UPDATE :Thanks to Indibloggers and my son animator Rayyan, I don't take images from google anymore. I create my own images and also I am trying hard to replace all the images in previous blog posts too.
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Even I have been doing that all this time until lately, when by seeing some photography blogs where they have mentioned that their pictures are not to be used without permission. Many of the images that come up in google search belong to the hard efforts or someone or the other. Hence using them without giving them due credit would be an ofence. (Don't know legally though) So from the last post onwards i started using images from free photo sites where they have put under the category of Creative Commons which can be reporduced giving due credit to the original owner.
You can also use the photos on Flicker that says it can be reproduced giving due credit to the owner.
http://blogsessive.com/blogging-tips/free-images-for-blogs/
Check out that article that gives a few sites where Images are available for use on blogs. Removing all the old images I used on my blog may not be so easy. So atleast I am trying to do this from now on.
That was a good thing that you have done: Promising to give credit to the original owner.
That is pretty good suggestions. This is the best we can do I suppose.
Agree with Cindrella. Images from Google search are usually copyrighted and should not be used. On Flickr there are thousands of images free for use, the only condition is you give due credit to the owner.
http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
Wikipedia is another good source.
Thank you Cindrella and Rajendra for the information. What about clip art or movie stills? I have them on my post and don't know whether I need to change them or take future precautions?
What clip arts are you referring to?
Movie stills: The producers of the movies do not bother even if the full length movie is provided for download illegally. So you need not really bother about them. If you wish to, you may contact them. Most probably, you will have to wait for years for their response.
If you copy the movie still from another website, give them the credit if you would like to otherwise just leave it in that way. It hardly makes sense attributing the work to the one who has copied from another source.
Giving credit is best for all previous pics. Because you never know when Someone will start calling foul.
Thanks Shashank and Pramod.
Whew! That is going to be tough. I don't even remember from where I collected few pics. BTW somebody explain about the movie stills, actors or politicians pictures. Can they be used for bloggging?
This is a bit confusing for me. I may have to do thorough clean up of my blog for images. I never use content from anywhere as my blog is all personal.
OK I found out that google has free images options in advanced search.... that is good news.
OH great thanks Faridaji, never knew this one
>BTW somebody explain about the movie stills, actors or politicians pictures.
I usually get them from Wikipedia. Most of the images there can be used under CC.
ya but i have the same ques about latest news, even newspapers have copyrights.....too
To say the truth, it is an offence and a violation of copyright. You are using images that you do not have the permission to use. You are ustilising other people's creative work for your needs. It is always recommended that you obtain the permission from the original copyright holder to reuse the images. Alternately, use Flickr where there are a lot of images that you can use for free simply by attributing the work to the original author.
thanks ranjith
Ouch! That hurt.
I did not know this until now. Though I have been blogging for two years, I have yet to learn a lot of things about right way of blogging. Now some detials about obtaining permission.
I have given a thought to it and I am trying to replace as many images as possible on my posts. But what about Movie stills and pictures of famous people?
Why is everyone ignoring that?
Madam it's very difficult to find the owner of certain images. Don't break your head on this, nobody is going to file a lawsuit against you without warning. If a person claim the image with proof, apologize, credit it or remove it as he/she like.
A simple tip to get images for your articles:
Make a list of the categories you often write. Take your digital camera and put the mode into "VGA". Select one category for a day.. You can take hundreds of related images, it can be a flower, object, combination of objects, gadgets, paintings, magazines, people ..etc..etc. Within a month you will be self sufficient.
now thats a +1 Sujith!! Its really tough to replace all the old images on the blog. I too thought about it and then found its not so easy!! Now sticking on to what you have said here. If someone claims their images I shall give them due credit. From on the new posts are going to use only free images or my own!
And about moive stills and pictures of famous people, I am clueless!!
Wow, Sujithji, thanks a lot wonderful Idea. I started that randomly and free from tension of images now.
Well I too generally google for images and put them for my posts. Towards the end of the respectice posts, I provide the source of the pics though!
Thanks Sujith and Aashish for the good advice there. Indiblogger forum is a good place for blogging support. You Rock!
99% of the times I use my own images clicked by me but whenever I use Google images I duly give a link to the blog/website from where I have taken it...
Yup first you must ask the owner or inform them where you are using the images,using creative common images is a good idea because if someone files a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act compalin then google more what would be the result moreover as a true blogger you shouldnt do that as we arent running any warez/torrent site
Now I need to google in free time if the owner doesnt allow to use the images and still someone uses it on the site giving the credits,does it come under DMCA or not
It is best to credit the source or owner of the image or video, in the long run it will be useful, or one may be asked to delete the photo from posting in worst case scenario. I believe water marked and copyrighted photos are more likely to attract attention. I too use maximum 90% of the time my own photos.
As bloggers we must not use another's photo without permission. I am a photographer myself and I wouldn't want my pictures to be used without getting due credit.
What some bloggers do even extends to media and beyond. There are so many instances of TOI or other newspapers using other's photos without any payment or credit.
In India such plagiarism is still not viewed seriously enough, but attitudes need to change.
If you do not find a creative commons license on the photo, then send a mail or message to the photographer and ask for his/her permission to use the photo.
If there is a license then read through the license rules and follow it. Some do not allow you to crop or modify images and all licenses would require crediting the photographer. The best way to do this would be to put a caption below the image and say "Photo by: xyz" and link back to the original photographer's page.
I do not use pictures from net often... and also I do not use good photographs. I use pictures just to show something like a club foot or something very simple. I have around 170 blogs and I don't know how to check all of them and recorrect them. Sigh!
I have come a long way since I posted this topic.. Thanks to all the information given by Indibloggers, I realized that it was not right to use images created by others. I have since started working on my own pictures. My animator son has been great teacher. I create my own images now and I am so pleased with it. It is tough finding exactly what you want, so creating it becomes very easy..
I use images from Google if I need them (mostly for Travel and Photography lessons) and provide a link to the side giving them complete photo credit. However I do not ask persmission. If someone is so possesive about his her photographs then they better keep away from Internet. I believe in Open Source.
Similiarly I never mind if my photographs are used. If someone deems my photographs worthy of use, I should be happy only.
Yes it is,
Many bloggers wrongly assume that putting a disclaimer that" images are taken from google and no copyright infringment inteneded" suffices but it does not.
On the contrary i beleive it actually compounds your offence because you willfully copied the images inspite of being aware of the Copyright issues.Its like I am stealing this work but i don't intend to steal.
Google has advanced image search where you can search for images tagged with "Free to use for non commercial purpose", you can use that, also always read the copyright info attached
Shooting pictures using your own camera is one of the best ways of improving your passion for photography, and if you are a photoblogger than I think it is essntial to use your own photos..and believe me photography is as easy as breathing air provided you have the love for it ..I instilled this sacred love in my grand daughter Marziya Shakir she has been shooting pictures on the Nikon D 80 from the age of 2 and recently began shooting on the Canon EOS 7D with vertical grip .. to take her love photography a step further I saved begged borrowed and got her a Canon 6OD .
This same sacred love is now being imbibed by her sister Nerjis Asif Shakir aspiring street photographer 9 month ..
Take care great topic of discussion ,highly informative feedback..best of luck to all of you ..
Firoze Shakir
Beggar Poet of Mumbai