Using Images

[babyface]

Hi,

Happy to say that after about two months of intricate research I think i'm now pulling myself out of the early stages of my online project/idea/model or whatever, and i'm now digging into the more meatier topics. I even have a new site up and running (a blog based on things I know about) just so i can learn the process before I start looking to buy and invest in some more.

One thing I wanted to get clarification on is the legal use of images. The various relevant images that we all see on websites, were they ALL designed by the site owners? an if not did they all actually go through the procedure of getting copyright priviliges from whoever did design it?

Search engines offer lots and lots of useful images and if they are not watermarked can we not use them? has anyone here ever been cautioned regarding this, and what are the ramifications? Before i banish this into a grey area category, and especially since i dont like grey, i was wondering if anyone could fill me in.

Thanks

[hooperman]

Search engines offer lots and lots of useful images and if they are not watermarked can we not use them?

Not necessarily. Work can be copyrighted whether or not it displays a watermark or copyright statement. There are free stock photography sites lik http://sxc.hu/, and sites that charge like istockphoto (search for "stock photos") that you can use though. You can also create your own images if you've got an image editor like photoshop or fireworks.

I'm not too up on copyright law, but there's some stuf here that might be useful.

[ClaytonL]

Also, there are a lot of Creative Commons pictures on Flickr. There is also a briefer on common Creative Commons licenses on the right side of that page.

[Clinton]

I always wondered about that ClaytonL. When someone posts an image with CC, how do you know it's theirs to give away?

hoop, did you come across that copyright law page by accident or did you know who owned it?

[Freeman1974]

If you are a great graphic designer with time on your hands then yes create your own images, but for a couple of £ you can buy some excellent images/photos on istockphoto that you can then use anywhere. Theres tons on there - you will surely find what you need for your site.

Tip - If you are using the images just for websites just get the cheaper versions. If you are thinking about also using that same image for a print job ie you might run a offline marketing campaign, then buy a decent high resolution version (300dpi) and simply make a copy of it and resize that copy to 72dpi so its suitable for your website. That will save you buying two versions of the same image.

[babyface]

Common Creative Commons licenses still seem a bit restrictive. I have adobe photoshop CS5 and Fireworks CS5 so i think i'll get stuck in to those and start learning how to use them. That copyright page will come in handy though, thanks.

[hooperman]

I have adobe photoshop CS5 and Fireworks CS5 so i think i'll get stuck in to those and start learning how to use them.

Just from my experience: Phostoshop is much more powerful than Fireworks, but FW will probably give you everything you need, and more, for web design. The learning curve is steeper for PS so if you want to get up and running more quickly, I'd recommend FW over PS. I wouldn't recommend spending time learning both (unless you really want to), as you can get away with using just one.