All original works have a copyright the minute an individual creates the work, and this ownership does not require an official registration to be recognized. Copyright applies to all mediums, including print and digital, and protects the interests of the originator by preventing others from using their work without permission. Material posted on the Internet is equally covered by copyright, and therefore can’t be used without the creator’s permission.

Under U.S. copyright law, a copyright owner can reproduce, distribute, sell, rent, lend, perform, display, communicate and/or adapt the work, and can authorize others to do the same. However, aside from specific circumstances, performing any of these acts without the copyright holder’s permission is an illegal infringement on their rights. This publication explains the basics.

The doctrine of “fair use” permits restricted use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission under these established, specific circumstances: If the reproduction is used for comment, criticism, news reporting, scholarship, teaching, or research. Use of screenshots to guide the reader through an educational tutorial posted on your blog should fall under this exception. If your intention is to profit from a screenshot or any other reproduction of a copyrighted image, you are breaking the law.

Although many of us have casually used a Google search to locate and grab images to use in our posts, when we do this we are using copyrighted material illegally, whether we’re aware of the laws or not. Time to drop the habit. Don’t shy away from using images completely, however. Art, screenshots, and photographs help keep readers interested by providing visual breaks in the copy. Here are a few great image sources that won’t get you in legal hot water.

Take your own photographs

Digital cameras are compact, fairly inexpensive, and simple to use. Even camera phone photo resolution has improved to the point that these digital images have become a reliable resource. Using either of these tools, you can snap pictures of your travels, friends, family, interesting road signs, notes you’ve written, goals, scenery, and pets. How about your book on a bookstore shelf? The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

If you don’t have the pre-installed Accessories program “Paint” on your computer, you can also use the free online editing software Pixlr to perform basics like cropping photos.

Create your own art

I use InDesign to create simple images (although I’m not an expert with the software), but any graphics program will work. The file can be exported to .pdf, then opened in Photoshop (yeah, no, I’m definitely not a Photoshop aficionado, but I can crop an image and save it as a .jpg.) You could potentially also use Word’s Publisher or a Word doc to create an image or design, then export the file to .pdf. Then you’ll need to find a way to save the .pdf as a .jpg or .png file, whatever your blog will allow you to upload.

Use screen shots

Screen shots can be especially helpful in how-to posts.

Free Digital Photos.net

Free Digital Photos.net is an an online photo resource that MAY be free IF you include an attribution. Per the site, “Download free and premium stock photos and illustrations for websites, advertising materials, newspapers, magazines, ebooks, book covers and pages, music artwork, software applications and much more. All our free images are of high quality, produced by our community of professional stock photographers and digital illustrators. Royalty free photos for corporate and personal use.”

If you use one of their images, you must publish an acknowledgement on the same page or screen where the image is used. If you are unable to publish an acknowledgement, you must purchase the image to use it legally.

Important Note: I am not an expert on the use of photos from this website – do your own research.



Use Creative Commons images available for “commercial use”

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. Creative Commons images have been made available by the originator for others to use. You can search for images using their webpage, or find them using Flickr’s search page.

Purchase inexpensive images online from photo and clip art sites

You can purchase low-cost, royalty-free stock images online from well known websites such as Dreamstime, Bigstock, Depositphotos, and iStockphoto. It’s fun and simple!

Note from Molly: Check out my novels on Amazon, join my Reader’s Club for freebies and book news, and follow me on Twitter. This original content is copyright protected. Thank you so much. Mwah!