You were just perusing the Cooking Light website and spotted the perfect banana bread photo to accompany your blog post. Will you need to seek credit for use of the image?

Yes!

Whenever you’d like to use someone else’s work on your own website, blog, social media properties, etc., it’s a best practice to seek permission to do so first. There are few exceptions to this rule, unless you’re sourcing images from free stock photography websites. And even then I tend to lean on the side of providing credit to the photographer, just as a means of thanking him or her for his/her work and to ensure that it doesn’t look like I am passing it off as my own.

I also suggest leaning on the side of securing permission to use an image prior to your planned use. In a pinch, you might use an image and give credit, but not seek prior approval. This can sometimes be acceptable, and an author might appreciate your share, but you do run the risk of the creator asking you to take it down for one reason or another. Therefore, it’s best to always ask for permission first, via email, and save the response giving you permission to use – just in case any dispute arises after the fact.

More on the topic of sourcing photos in my post, Say Cheese!

What questions do you have about seeking permission for use of an image?

Photo credit: Tobias Maschtaler