here is how to not steal images
Blogging Tutorial brought to you by Unsolicited Advice
Photos and images take a blog post or article from good to great. It helps break up the text and give the eyes and brain some extra stimulation. Images are SO EASY to steal on the internet. In the beginning, I stole plenty of images and used them on my blog. Like this one from my post It’s getting hot in here, so take off all your photos:
I took this off of someone’s FB gallery. I don’t know these people. Would you believe me if I said I did?
My general attitude is that people should protect their content better if they don’t want it stolen. Don’t make it so easy! But that said, I would never in a million years steal someones words/text and share it as my own. Why do images get a different treatment? IDK
I now make it a practice to NOT steal images for my blog posts because it is almost as easy and feels much, much better. I made the change when the Gander showed me how to find images that are free to share and use. It is SO EASY. And I am going to share this with you.
# 1: Open a search tool, I like to use Bing. Most people use Google.
# 2: Type the subject of the image you want in the search bar and hit enter
# 3: GOOGLE: Click on the “Image” button; click “Search Tools”; click “Usage Rights”; select one of the “Labeled for Reuse” options
or # 3: BING: Click “Image” button; click “License”; click “All Creative Commons” or one of the “Free to…” options
or # 3: OTHER: I don’t know what they label it, but I’m sure it’s pretty similar to the above two and you are smart for using a search engine that is not Bing or Google so I’m sure you are smart enough to figure it out from here.
(optional) # 4: Use an image editor like Adobe Photoshop or the free Gimp GNU Image Manipulation Program to resize and crop chosen image.
DONE! Just like that, you too are a Pro at using creative commons images in your blog content.
If this blog tutorial helped you – great, please let me know! If you are confused or have additional questions, just ask.
10 comments on “here is how to not steal images”
Honk at me:
Blog posts and images by The Honking Goose are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://thehonkinggoose.wordpress.com/.
The Honking Goose 
Nowadays, with our phones, it is so easy to take our own pictures and post them to our blogs, so why someone wants to steal others images just doesn’t make sense to me. Either way, it is also so easy to ask and give credit, that for people who steal others images, well those are the friends you don’t want, since they are probably stealing from your home.
Thanks for the information you have posted.
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Yep, we are all content creators and that is empowering.
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Only problem is, many of these “free” photos are protected under copyright, but appear on these “free” galleries because someone stole them and sold them. Had it happen to me. A friend was following the facebook page of an antiques store in her region. One day the store’s cover page featured a photo of me, from a photoshoot I did for my first-person history presentation business. There I was, fully decked out in my 1896 reproduction clothing, in the same photo I use on all my print advertising and on my blog. The photo is absolutely under copyright because the photographer is another good friend of mine and she most certainly did not sell or otherwise make available this photo series for others to use. Yet, the antiques store owner INSISTED that she had every right to use the photo however she wanted. Fact is, in the United States, the photographer owns all their own work unless or until they sell or otherwise assign the rights to someone else. I had to write several times, explaining that she was in violation of copyright and that she was also implying that she and I had a business relationship since she was using my promotional photo for my business. When that went ignored, I finally sent a cease and desist letter to the store owner, but she still uses the photo in her gallery–just not as the cover photo on her account–so she is STILL violating my friend’s copyright.
Moral of the story: unless someone has given you written permission to use their images, you may be violating copyright, which is illegal. Creation of an image is just as important as creative works in other mediums, such as writing, but it is very frequently dismissed as trivial. That’s a shame.
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Well, that’s pretty screwed up. That is clearly a person with lousy morals and bad interpersonal skills all around, not just where it comes to creating promotional materials.
I have a page on my blog called “Image Source” where I state “If I have made an error and used a copyrighted image, I want to know. If you own an image I am using, please contact me. My email is writethehonkinggoose @ gmail. com. I will gladly do one of two things: delete the image from my blog, OR, credit you as the source. Your choice.”
And the terrible situation you faced is exactly the reason why I caution people to go to every length to protect their content on the internet. It is just too easy. The laws in place will not stop theft. And I’m not blaming you, of course, just saying that is a perfect example of why people need to be more cautious.
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When I don’t have a picture of my own to use, I go to PhotoPin.com – you download the photo you want and there’s html code for you to copy and paste into your blog post giving the photo credit.
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I have used a site similar to that as well, that is a good resource, TY for the reminder.
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Good advice. I use the free photos as well or credit the person/co if I do use their photo.
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If you give a photo credit have you obtained the person’s permission as well?
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It’s under the free place. Do I need to get permission as well?
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Oh no I don’t think so I misunderstood
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