# Using photos from the internet



## Celestine (Jun 22, 2012)

I'm finally in the process of building my online store. I haven't posted here in a while and once again I was going to be selling T-shirts advertising the total solar eclipse that will occur on August 21, 2017 which will go across the US. The T-shirt images can be seen here:

Celestine16's Library | Photobucket

I was wondering about using photos off the internet to decorate the store pages. Many of course are copyrighted but some are not. I was trying to go for solar eclipse photos and photos of people looking at an eclipse with protective eyewear on. Free clip art eclipse photos are not very good it's the copyrighted ones that are much better. What does everyone here do about using photos off the internet? I'm going thru Godaddy.com to build my website and they seemed rather casual about the issue, saying it would only become one if the copyright holder happened to see that you were using their photo. They said they've only been contacted a few times by copyright holders asking they take down photographs. With the great photos appearing on some online stores I have a hard time believing they are using just royalty free photos. How much are people here willing to pay for photos off the internet?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Every photo is copyright as soon as it is created......

As far a photos you can use, take a look at Wikipedia......Sometimes folks upload photos and put them in the public domain and "sometimes" you can use them for commercial purpose.....


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## Studio ell (Jun 16, 2013)

Of course godaddy are casual about it, not their concern really. It's your job to make sure you stay within the law. I know NASA images are public domain and I would expect they have some eclipse photos. I also use sxc.hu


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## Celestine (Jun 22, 2012)

I had already looked at sxc.hu and it turns out they don't have a lot of solar eclipse images and I wasn't really thrilled with any of those they had. I tried searching on copyright free and royalty free photo image sites of which it turns out there are quite a lot. I have found some images on those sites that would be acceptable to use on my site just to get it up and running and I can always research further as I go along maybe even contact some copyright holders to see if I could use their photos.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

There are plenty of open source art resources, such as OpenClipart. They aren't photos, but rather vector art, which is actually harder to come by. There are similar sites for photos. Check to be sure the uploader has released the item into the public domain, or uses an open source licensing, like Creative Commons. The sxc.hu site is also acceptable, though many of their files carry some restrictions. Be sure to read the terms. Also, avoid any photo with people in them, as they don't require a model release.

That said, a few month's subscription to iClipart while you're building your site will solve all your problems, and make your work much easier. It's not that expensive, and the quality of the images is MUCH better. You can choose between vector or photographic.

Note the site above is iClipart.com (eye clipart), not clipart.com. The latter is filled with crap.


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## Celestine (Jun 22, 2012)

I went to iclipart.com and searched on solar eclipse images but it didn't come up with much. I didn't sign up at this point, do I need to sign up and then more images will be available?

Here is an example of a photo with a person in it I'd like to use:

Total Solar Eclipse Observation. Stock Photography - Image: 9531372

It has a woman looking thru a telescope at an eclipse in a fairly dark environment so she's only visible in silhouette. I've seen several other photos showing people in shadow or silhouette so you can't really see what they look like. Similarly I've seen daytime photos of people looking at eclipses wearing protective eyewear so you can't completely see what they look like. In these situations do I need to be concerned about representing people on my website? If you go to the above link and and read the paragraph starting with:

'Our images can be used and modified for web designs (websites, widgets, headers, icons, banners),'

then click on the 'more info' link at the end it never says anything about needing a model release and does say the image can be used on websites which is all I am going to do, the photo will not be used on anything I will be selling. So as far as I can tell I should be OK to use it unless I'm misreading something, what do we think?


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

If there's an *identifiable* person in the picture you should have a model release. It protects you from the model suing you for publishing his or her image. Clipart services are not required to sell you images that only have releases, and it's up to you to be sure they do. Nearly all of the paid-for services promise they have releases for all their photos with identifiable people, but the freebie ones may not. It costs money to collect and store this kind of data.

Most clipart services show you everything you can get as a member. There's more to select from when using a pro-level service like iStockPhoto or ShutterStock, but then you should expect to pay a lot more for the images.

The image you linked to does not, in my opinion, contain an identifiable person.

If you're looking for an actual eclipse, you can check NASA. Many, but not all, of the photographs are released into the public domain, as they were originally paid for with taxpaper dollars. But check carefully. Others were taken by private parties or universities funded outside NASA. A small credit line may be necessary somewhere on your page.


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## codyjoe (May 6, 2013)

You can use virtually any image on the web, provided your have the correct copyrights to do so. Most places will not let you do this and that's where royalty free pictures like the one you linked to come into play. Once you purchase the rights to the photo/file, you pretty much have free reign to use it as you wish.

Some people like to take the risk of using any image(s) they find on the web in their designs and usually they get away with it. Unless your design becomes wildly popular, you'll generally get away with using something that you don't have the full rights to. Now I don't recommend taking this approach at all though as you want your own designs to be 100% legal for you to use and IF they go big, you get the full benefits from it.


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## kimura-mma (Jul 26, 2008)

codyjoe said:


> Once you purchase the rights to the photo/file, you pretty much have free reign to use it as you wish.


This is not entirely true.

When you purchase a license to use an image, your rights are defined within the specific agreement. Some licenses allow full use for any purpose. But some licenses are limited to personal use; or use for a specific period of time; or for a specified area of distribution; etc.

Another thing to consider when purchasing a license to a copyrighted image is that the owner only has the authority to license out the copyright. So any content within the image that is copyrighted, trademarked or falls under right of publicity, could require third party license or permission.


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## Celestine (Jun 22, 2012)

I'm only going to use photos on web pages as decoration, I am not going to use them on anything I am going to be selling. So if I'm not going to use any photos in any designs to be sold would there be a problem with my using any photo royalty free or not for background decoration? 

Godaddy has told me that if I use the royalty free sites those sites have already gotten model releases and such so I should be good to go to use them however I please, does that sound right?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

No terms are generic......It is important to read the terms on the specific site where obtained an image.....


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## codyjoe (May 6, 2013)

Celestine said:


> I'm only going to use photos on web pages as decoration, I am not going to use them on anything I am going to be selling. So if I'm not going to use any photos in any designs to be sold would there be a problem with my using any photo royalty free or not for background decoration?
> 
> Godaddy has told me that if I use the royalty free sites those sites have already gotten model releases and such so I should be good to go to use them however I please, does that sound right?


Just as everyone else is stating, make sure the photos are royalty free and you know what the terms are. After that you should be safe to use them freely on your site. If you ever sell anything though, that's an entirely different story.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

Just read the terms from the site (or the particular image if it's different), and make sure you're following the license. "Royalty free" only means you don't pay a per-copy royalty. It doesn't infer anything else. There are all sorts of restrictions placed on royalty free images, the most common are:

* You can't often use for printing hard goods without a more expensive license
* You can't use them for pornographic purposes, especially if they contain images of real people
* You can't include digital copies of them in templates, CDs, and other uses
* You can't reproduce in bitmap form on your Web site over a given sizes
* You must edit in some tangible way, such as adding text, changing color, etc.

and the most surprising to many people...

* You can't use them for print-on-demand, like Zazzle or Cafe Press, no way, no how, no matter what. (There are *rare* exceptions to this; I think the artist Andy Nortnik is one, but almost all of the others it's strictly forbidden.)


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