Copyright Information

Fair Use provisions can leave you wondering if the image you found can be used or not without infringement. Here is a brief outline of five scenarios for using images in your work. 

Note that in ALL cases, properly attributing the original creator is necessary.

Option 1: Use whatever you want and claim fair use.

• A Google image search that brings back millions of results. 
• This is a problem because...
  • no regard for the original creator's rights
  • no way to know if your use is fair use
  • opens you up to charges of infringement especially if the work can be found online.

Option 2: Pay to use professional stick images

• stock photos like Getty Images, Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Dreamstime, and 123RF offer great high-quality photos for a cost
• they can be expensive
• consider what the use is

Option 3: Use Stock photos provided by a free image source

• websiWebsitesain Public Domain images like: pixabay, pxhere, unsplash, vistacreate, pexels, and Canva
• imageImagesd be taken from elsewhere. If you use a photo from Pixabay, run the file through a reverse search on Google Images to try to identify the source and determine if it is ok to use.

Option 4: Use Public Domain or Creative Common-licenses works

• Creative Commons has legally established and broadly permissive livenses that encourage free creative exchange
• Try: openverse, Flickr's creative commons, Wikimedia commons
• Most work prior to 1923 are in the public domain
• Try other places like: the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, ArtSTOR, rawpixel, the Smithsonian and others.

Option 5: Create own image using AI 

• Try tools like Dall-E 2, Canva, Artbreeder, or Deep Dream Generator
• only humans can hold intellectual property rights