photo credit follow up

Imagecreditposter6_FINAL500

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my concerns with photo crediting on the Internet. This poster should answer most of the questions that were posed in the comments and be an easy reference if you are ever confused as to how to credit something. Thanks to Pia Jane Bijkerk and Erin Loechner for creating it. The beautiful fonts are by Yvette Van Boven. More thanks to Nichole Robertson, Amanda GilliganLisa Warninger, Grace Bonney,  and all the great people on Twitter for helping to spread the word about this issue!

Image credit: Pia Jane Bijkerk, Yvette Van Boven and Erin Loechner

21 comments

  1. Well Done guys!

    It’s great. Here’s hoping it gets noticed by those who are generally oblivious about crediting, the novices who may not think about the issue as they make their way through the blogosphere, and the bloggers who know but for reasons beyond comprehension, do not credit.

    Love it.

    Sandy K

  2. Hi Chelsea.
    Thanks for the chart above, as an occasional blogger it’s good to see, and it clears up many questions.
    More notably, though, I read a number of blogs daily and I have to say that since your post I’ve been much more awake to blogs that don’t post proper credits, and have started to reconsider if these blogs are really where I want to get inspiration. In some cases, the answer will be “yes”, but at the same time, maybe it would be worth a polite email to let the blogger know that it’s a factor I consider in reading their blog.
    Cheers.

  3. This is wonderful. I’m a real stickler for attribution. I have a Pinterest account but only save images from their original source (don’t repin). I also have Evernote, which I love, and have saved some photos for inspiration there that I can’t find attribution for. I’m looking forward to trying out Tineye to see if I can link up those few photos in Evernote that don’t have a source.

  4. I love this poster! I think it’s totally amazing and such an easy reference tool!

    However, I have to say that I slightly disagree with the prompt that you ought to credit the stylists, publications and or art director — a distinction which you made in your post. It’s great if you want to do all those things! Especially if you know them and are trying to help promote someone’s styling, for example. Go for it, but I just don’t think it’s required. The list of people who go into every image could start to get longer than the image itself, you know?

  5. Hey Chelsea~

    Thank you for the comment today – I am so happy to (now) know where that lovely photo came from!! It is one of my all-time favorites.

    I sincerely apologize for the previous lack of crediting – I saved about 34534234 images to my phone/husbands phone/2 computers a while back and lack sources to most… I am so grateful you wrote in to give the source.

    I have been a daily reader of your blog for a long time. It’s incredible – I love your style!

    xo

    diana @ dianashaedecor.com

  6. I posted about it yesterday. I think they did a really amazing job with the design of this poster, and I hope every blogger use this, because is the only way to do the things right. I hate to loose the links when I see some beautifull images on tumblr or Pinterest…. Everyone have the rights to find the autor of the images, creations and creative works….. and every artist has the rights of be named behind their creations

  7. I am a school librarian and would love a print of this to hang up in our computer lab and library. Do you have any plans to make prints? If not, would you give permission to make my own for educational use?

  8. Yes, I agree with Amanda, It would be great to have large posters available of this really great flow chart, in labs, writing centers, libraries…

  9. While I agree with the sentiment expressed here, I think this chart is going a bit overboard. For websites and bloggers that aren’t running for-profit businesses, there should be some space to use images for which the creator/source cannot be determined. If you’re not making money off it and you’re not taking the credit for yourself, then a simple note stating something along the lines of “I didn’t create this image and I don’t know who did, if this is your work, please contact me and I’ll add credit or take it down as per your wishes” should suffice. This dogmatic view of copyright is locking up our culture behind impenetrable legal walls and stifling creativity.

  10. Hi Michelle! I really appreciate your comment and very much see where you are coming from. That said, I’ve been blogging with original sources for 4 years and never found it to stifle my creativity. It wasn’t until people started blogging without original sources that it became a little harder to find them. If everyone had followed the rules in the first place, we wouldn’t have this problem. If a blogger wants to leave out original sources, they should have a private blog. The poster follows the law by recommending that you ask permission. Most photographers are just fine with you posting their work if you offer a credit and a link to them. Its pretty simple. If I work hard to create an image, I love having it travel around the blogs with credit. It doesn’t matter which blogs it’s on. No matter what, it needs to have a credit attached or it’s theft. Plain and simple. Thanks for your thoughts!

  11. I absolutely agree that it’s best to ask and to credit, however, that’s easier to do with some material than it is with others. This chart reaches a dead end when it comes to having an image where you can’t determine the origin, no matter what the case, while as I think there can be some more flexibility there. It may easy to find information and get permission with contemporary artists, but there is a vast amount of content out there that is old or unclaimed or impossible to source. For instance, I happen to be interested in the covers of pulp novels. A lot of times, the artists for those covers is impossible to determine, the publishing house has gone out of business, and the copyright holder is unknown. To say that none of that material should ever be put online is to basically sentence it to death.

    There is also the matter of material that would be unaffordable for most casual bloggers if they were to try to get the rights to the image through legal means. For instance, since this is a fashion blog, my friend was just telling me about What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear. That site gives credit to contributors and to designers, but I’m pretty positive that the bloggers aren’t paying Fox for the rights to Emma Pillsbury or the screenshots from Glee, and they probably didn’t ask permission either. However, I don’t think that blog exists in bad faith.

    And then there is the matter of fair use…

  12. I designate all my writing and artwork under creative commons laws so that anyone can share and use it in non-profit contexts. Information and beauty should be free for everyone to use and benefit from! Personal wealth over the betterment of society or one’s own non-financial fulfillment (in however small a way) is something I can’t condone. I think those who demand exclusivity over the things they create cheapen their creative process and the end result as well.

  13. Yes, I would love to repost this for my students in print and online. What permissions do you give for this? Because it is AWESOME and I want to share it with the world.

  14. Hi! I’m another school librarian who loves this & would like to share it! I also would like to darken it (adj contrast)…I’m having a hard time reading the top half. (ie: i’m old!) LOL Seriously, are ya’ll making this Creative Commons?
    Thank you so much!
    Cheers!
    ~Gwyneth Jones
    The Daring Librarian

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