Wednesday, 19 February 2014

Sourcing Images

This week we discussed the practice of collecting/gathering images to use in our personal work.

When using images in our own work, we have to be careful about where we source these images from; to avoid being in breach of copyright laws. To avoid this happening, there are many places where you can source photographs/images in a way that will protect you from going against the various copyright laws that exist.

One idea, is to use images that you have photographed yourself, as of course this means that you are free to do as you please with your own images! As well as this, there are stock websites you can use such as "istockphoto.com" and “shuttershock”, from which you can purchase the rights to use particular photos. Prices for photographs can vary depending on several factors. These are things such as: how much the photographer wants for their image and the intended use of the image. 

Another great site to use is www.flickr.com as you can browse through thousands of photography, and have the option of checking the image permissions to be sure you are allowed to use it for your required purpose.  On this site, you also have the options to advance your search so you are only presented with images with particular rights etc. Another great feature of Flickr is that you can choose to only search within Creative Commons licensed content. This means you can search through people’s photographs and see the conditions on which you can use their image. The use of Creative Commons allows individuals to change the copyright permissions of their work from “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved”, and with the use of Flickr you can easily see the rights selected by the individual on sharing and using their work.

You can find out more information about Creative Commons and what it is they do, by visiting:
www. http://creativecommons.org

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