STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY – Do I have the right to use it on Steemit?

Caution – I am not a lawyer – just a stock photographer with over 20 years in my business, so I guess I know a thing or two about my chosen career. I don't know a thing about cryptocurrency yet, but I do know a thing or two about stock photography.

So, can you use a stock image from the main sites like Getty Images, Alamy, Shutterstock, Fotolia, Dreamstime, Depositphotos or Istock for example on Steemit? I mention those agencies in particular, because they represent my work and I am familiar with what the licensing contracts allow.

In all of these agencies, if you wish to use the image in even a personal blog, you must purchase a license to do so – and even then, such use is allowed only if there is no monetary reward from the blog. Where does that leave Steemit bloggers, who are not writing personal blogs, but receive monetary rewards for their efforts? Hopefully, you can make two and two add up to four! Steemit bloggers are profiting, and Steemit is profiting too.

Stock photographers are professionals who earn a living from licensing their work. Simply giving attribution, does not pay their bills, and does not encourage others to license the work. Just think of your profession, whatever that may be. What would you say to someone who wanted your services or your products for free? Maybe you are a real estate agent or a doctor or maybe you sell flowers or computers.

Wouldn't you be just thrilled to give away your work all the time for free just to get “attribution and exposure?” And wouldn't you just be thrilled if others found a way to make money off your services or products without your earning a cent? You would be delighted of course! And just think about how you would provide for your families! I'm being facetious, of course, but you get the point!

So, what about making a link back to where the image is licensed, then? That's a great idea, but you still can't download the image and use it! You can provide a link, but that does not give you Steemit eyecandy, does it? We photographers all love the links to where our work can be licensed, or purchased if it is art!

Of course, if you have around $10,000 dollars to spare, you could do what we call a buyout and purchase all rights to the image. You would then, and only then, own the copyright and the right to do what you want with the image. The photographer or artist would have sold the copyright to you!

Recently I saw someone arguing that he had purchased an image for $11.99 and it was his to do what he wanted with! That is such bad information, and an example of someone not bothering to read the licensing contract. (You do not get a copyright buyout for $11.99.) Even with a pretty expensive image license, there are still very strict guidelines about how an image can be used. He had not purchased the image or the rights. He had licensed it.

It's like paying rent. If you live in an apartment and pay rent; you do not own it. If you stay in a hotel while on vacation, you don't buy the room; you pay for the use of it under certain conditions!

Also, if you use an image with people, you can be sued by the people in the image. They may not have signed a model release, or they may have signed one with restrictions on how the image can be used.

Even a stock image with no people in it may have a restriction on its usage. Some company may have licensed the image under the understanding that no one else could use the image for a certain period of time! How are you to know that, if you simply take an image off the web?

I know there are lots of great people here on Steemit, and most simply don't understand what a stock image is, or why it has to paid for just like a hotel room or a rented car. There are other means of acquiring images for your posts, but I will cover that in another blog!

I hear arguments that by wanting to enforce copyright, I'm taking away rights from those who wish to steal my work and use it without paying me for the use. Really? Do I have rights? What about my fellow photographers? Do they have rights? What about bloggers? May I steal your fantastic article without paying you anything, please? Get the picture? It's wrong! And I will not do it! :-) I respect your right to provide original content and be rewarded for it!

I leave you with this thought from William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania: "Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it."

Image © Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! I appreciate it.

To find my photography and designs on Steemit, please search on #dianemacphoto.