Friday 30 November 2012

Inserting Photos in Blog Posts Legally


In this blog post, I will give you some blogging tips about inserting photos and images legally in a blog post. We insert photos and images in a blog post for illustration and for dressing it up. A picture is worth thousand words. Pictures and images also breaks the monotony of reading texts and words continuously. But the illustrations should be inserted judiciously, so as not to clutter everything in one place and annoy the readers.

We use photos, images, video's, you-tubes which we own and possess, but when we use the same things that belongs to someone else, we should be aware of certain rules and facts. 

It's easy to find the perfect photos and images suitable for your blog posts from Google Images, and to save and upload it in the blog article. But wait. There are intellectual property laws which you should know and consider. Photos and images cannot be used without the permission of the copyright holder. You would be facing a copyright infringement lawsuit if you do so. Tineye is a site where copyright holders can track who is using their created property.

In this session of blogging tips, I will discuss some legal points about using photos or images, which are properties of somebody else. The rules are :-
  1. No photos or images are free - Photos and images found in Google are free for viewing. You can cut and paste it anywhere. But just because it was available in Google, it doesn't mean it's free to use.
  2. All photos and images have copyrights - Copyright of texts, music, photographs, etc. comes into existence as soon as it is created. It is not necessary to register for copyright, or to use a copyright notice for a work to be protected by a copyright.
  3. Copyright owner's permission - The photos and images you see in the internet are 'Shared' with the copyright owner's permission.
  4. Giving credit to the copyright owner - You cannot avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit by simply giving credit to the copyright holder and using his/ her work.
  5. Getting a license is always better than fighting lawsuits - It will be cheap to get a license than to give penalties and lawyer fees.
  6. CREATIVE COMMONS - "Creative Commons is a non profit that offers an alternative to full copyright" - creativecommons.org
So, what will a blog writer do to insert photos or images in the blog post?
1. Try to use photos and images you own, wherever possible.
2. Try to create an illustration yourself for your blog posts. (As I did in this post).
3. If you find a photo or image in the net you want to republish, get the express permission from the copyright owner, before using it.

Hope you have found this post on blogging tips informative. 

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