As the busiest travel season draws to a close, you might be wondering what to do with all those photos you took this summer. You did take photos didn’t you?
The Fear of Sharing Photos Online
One of the issues folks are often afraid of when sharing their photos on Picasaweb or Flickr is:
“Won’t someone steal my pictures if I post them on the Web?”
The short answer is, “Yes, Hopefully.
Creative Commons to the Rescue
When you post images to your photo library on Flickr or PicasaWeb the default setting is to copyright your images. This means others cannot legally use your photos anywhere without your permission. Some people make the mistake of watermarking their photos with their Web site in the hopes of keeping others from using the photos for their own purposes.
However, the real goal should be to get your pictures seen by as many eyes as possible….. why else would you bother to put them on the Web, but to get them seen.
Creative Commons licensing is a Web standard for marking your images and giving permission to others to distribute and show your photos in more places than just your blog, website or photo library.
There are six different types of CC licenses.
The default setting Creative Commons is attribution, meaning that you give permission for your photos to be shared by others as long as they give proper credit to you by linking to the original source of the image. That way, you get credit for the photo and hopefully even a click through to your site from someone who views your photo elsewhere.
Licensers can also choose restrictions to use. The most commonly used restrictions are:
- denying the use of your photos for commercial purposes.
- restricting the users right to alter the original photo.
The Benefits of CC over Watermarking
- Watermarking compromises the beauty of your photos.
- Watermarking prevents your photos from being seen by others, while Creative Commons encourages the distribution of your photos.
Creative Commons on Picasaweb
When you upload or edit your photos look for the copyright icon at the lower right of the screen. There you can edit the CC settings of each image.
The easiest way to manage your CC settings is by changing your account default settings and applying the license you wish to use by clicking on the Settings link.
Flickr Creative Commons Settings
Each photo can have Creative Commons attributes in Flickr as well.
Setting the Default Setting for your Flickr account is found in the hyperlink in the second paragraph on the settings page for any individual image.
Getting Great Photos if you forgot to do it yourself
Sometimes your guests take great photos! Ask some of your ideal guests to share their photos with you, perhaps even have a photo contest. Just make sure to request that your guests properly license their photos for Creative Commons use, and be sure to use the license properly by giving credit and linking to the original source of any photos you use.
If you are still stuck, see this post on finding Creative Commons photos for use on your Website or blog.
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