Photo Licensing
How You Can Use My Photos
Except where specifically indicated I own the copyright to all the images on this web site. What's more, I have actually registered all these images with the U.S. copyright office. Still, I like to share my work freely with other artists for most non-commercial purposes.
If the image has a Creative Commons logo beneath it:
If you see a Creative Commons logo beneath an image it's largely free for you to use for non-commercial purposes as outlined below.
If there's no Creative Commons logo:
Images without the Creative Commons logo are "All Rights Reserved". This means you have to arrange licensing with me regardless of your intended use. See my contact page.
If in Doubt...
The big difference in licensing photos is between commercial and non-commercial use. If you ever have the slightest doubt about which category your intended use falls under, whether it's one of my photographs or someone (anyone) else's, the thing to do is... ask. Just send an email and you'll get an answer that will tell you. If your use is commercial keep this in mind: I'm not a world-famous photographer from National Geographic; you can afford my rates.
For Creative Commons images, most non-commercial use is free
I licence most (but not all) of my images under the
Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No-Derivatives license.
This allows free use those images as long as:
1 – The use isn't for commercial purposes
2 – The image isn't modified or used as part of another work
3 – The usage includes a credit (my name and web site) wherever the image appears
If an image page has the Creative Commons logo at the bottom you can use that image free as long as you stick to the above guidelines. Here's the logo to look for:
Click the logo for full details on the terms of the license.
What counts as commercial use?
Lawyers get paid big hourly rates to argue over this but in general, if you're using the photo to make money it's commercial use. If you want to use one of my images in your blog post where the topic is illustrated by the subject of the photo, your use is non-commercial. If you want to use an image as the background for an ad in that same blog post, that's commercial use. If you're not sure whether your use falls under commercial or non-commercial, scroll back to the top of this page and read the section under "If in Doubt" again.
Licensing for commercial use
Terms for commercial use vary with media, image size/resolution and extent of distribution. Email me with details and I'll respond with a quote. As mentioned above, if you're making any money at all on your endeavor you can afford my rates!