Use Blog Photos with Creative Commons

In my last post, I explained why pictures enhance your blog and make it more captivating for readers.  Don’t you want to be captivating?

There are many online stock exchanges that allow fair use, such as PicApp and stock.xchng; when I rounded bloggers last fall during the Olympic Games, the picture in this post is courtesy of PicApp. That sort of real-time photo would be unlikely on Flickr.

But if you’re looking for a contextually-relevant photo, why not reach out to photo sharing-and-tagging social networking sites like Flickr and Wikimedia Commons, run some keyword searches, and grab something under the Creative Commons banner?

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The above eye is courtesy of Ashley Rose on Flickr. While it’s unnecessary to link photos to the source, if you’re using shareable images, like the ones in my photostream, then it is crucial to provide textual and linkable attribution.

I am frustrated when other bloggers fail to use proper attribution and links for Flickr photos. For instance, in Amber Naslund’s latest post, that photo is linked to the person’s Flickr homepage, not the page the picture came from. Suppose I’d like to also use the photo? What if I want to add a comment on the “wall” for the photo? Where can I find the photo page? Amber doesn’t give it to me, thereby failing to properly attribute the photographer.

If after reading the above and Skellie’s guidelines, you have questions about how to know if something is fair use or not, why don’t you go back to my photostream, and on the right sidebar of those picture pages, under “Additional Information,” look at the line saying:

If you click that link, it points you to specific Creative Commons licensing I opt for all of my photos: you can use anything you want for non-commercial use and attribution. (Commercial usage may be waived by asking me in advance.)

And my blog? Does it have CC licensing?

You’re damn right it does! On my policies page, I link to the Creative Commons page that explains the means you can reuse my words–for non-commercial use and with attribution. See a trend?

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