Photos – free, or royalty free?
How to find images to illustrate your website, blog or articles
It’s incredibly easy to find thousands of great images online. But how do you know if you’re allowed to use them or not? Photographers rely on people buying their images in order to make a living, and if you use one without permission, you could be in hot water!
Here’s a guide to what the various phrases associated with images mean.
What does All Rights Reserved mean?
Under current copyright laws, any creative work is automatically protected from the moment it is first published. This means the creator of the work must be recognized as the legal owner when it comes to fair use of that work by others.
“All rights reserved” means that the copyright owner must provide written consent before the work can be used legally.
What does Royalty Free mean?
Royalty free is a type of non-exclusive licensing. It generally means that you pay a one-time fee in exchange for the right to use a photograph according to agreed upon terms, with no ongoing license fees due for further use. You can use the image wherever you like, as often as you like but you may not be the only person using that image.
What’s the alternative?
You can buy a licensed image which means that the image is licensed for a specific use. You need to pay a “royalty fee” each time you use the image. Usually you will need to specify how and where you are going to use the image.
How do I make sure other people aren’t using the same image?
If you want to be the only person using an image you will need to buy an exclusive or “rights protected” licence. Typically you will agree a one-off fee, and specify how and where you are going to use the image within a certain time frame.
Where can I get images from?
There are lots of excellent photo libraries including:
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/
http://www.alamy.com/
http://www.istockphoto.com/
How do I find free to use images?
Look for work in the “public domain”. This means it is free for use by anyone for any purpose without restriction under copyright.
In summary
Check the terms. Some images are available for use subject to you linking back to the photographer’s website. Some are available for a fee. If you see an image you’d like to use, check the terms and conditions and if in doubt, contact the photographer. Most will happily negotiate a fee for you to use the image.
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Thoughts from local photographer, Simon Fielding (unedited)
“Unfortunately, there is little or no respect for copyright anymore, no respect for the originator of the works. Whether or not it is music, photography or even written word.
People just seem to think it is OK to help themselves, with no regard for the losses incurred by the rightful owner.
With images I often add a watermark as many other photographers do.. Not always the best solution though…
The problem is that those amateurs that give their work free, because they don’t care who uses it and this undermines the value or perceived value of the works.
I know for a fact that even the major broadcasters will try it on if they think they can get away with it..
I have been a musician for fifteen years and a photographer for eight years, I still get people expecting me to turn up to an event for nothing, as if it is my hobby etc, why don’t these ignorant people just stop and think..
I even answered an advertisement, sometime ago asking for a ’professional’.. in the dictionary the definition is that a Professional is someone who makes a significant part of or wholly their income from an activity. The advert was placed by an embassy in London… I was less than polite….
If you don’t work for nothing, why should anyone else.. Or you could look at this way.. Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.”
Simon Fielder
www.sounds-and-images.co.uk
Photo credits: Funny face making by Petr Kratochvil and Photographer by Anna Cervova