How to Use Images In Your Blog Without Copyright Problems

Images are crucial for most blog posts. They can make content more engaging, and they’re certainly useful for sharing on social media.

But you may have heard of bloggers getting into legal troubles and having to settle out for thousands of dollars, because they posted an image they didn’t have the right to use. I’m going to go over what I have learned about this.

Note: I’m not a lawyer. This isn’t legal advice. Consult an attorney if you want legal advice. I’m just sharing what I’ve researched and what I’ve run into personally.

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How Copyright Laws Work

Some bloggers think an image isn’t copyrighted unless it’s registered with a government copyright office, and they think they can use any image they find online. That’s a no.

You need to assume every image you see online is copyrighted, or at least that you don’t have the rights to use it. Because there’s a thing called the Berne Convention that most of the world’s nations agreed to:

The Berne Convention introduced the concept that protection exists the moment a work is “fixed”, that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, and its author is automatically entitled to all copyrights in the work and to any derivative works, unless and until the author explicitly disclaims them or until the copyright expires. A creator need not register or “apply for” a copyright in countries adhering to the convention.

Basically, there’s a near-zero chance you’ll find an image online that isn’t protected under this convention, so assume they are all protected.

So how can you legally use them?

Finding Legally Usable Images

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to find and use images legally on your blog. Here are some options to consider:

Public Domain Images…?

Public domain images are those that are not protected by copyright and can be used freely without any restrictions. You can find a wide variety of public domain images on websites like Pixabay, Pexels, and Unsplash.

But There’s a Problem. Of course there is. And the problem is that for full protection, you need photos that have model releases. That’s a document signed by people (“models”) in the photos to give up their rights to where the photo is seen. Also, property can be trademarked or copyrighted. Both models and property owners could take legal action against you for using a photo of them.

This is why so many bloggers recommend not using free photo sites. It’s not that they’re affiliates for paid sites – well, not just that, anyway – but that they’re rightly pointing out you can’t be sure you have all the rights to a Pexels image.

Creative Commons-Licensed Images

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that provides a set of licenses that allow copyright holders to grant certain usage rights to the public. Images with a Creative Commons license can be used for free, as long as you follow the specific terms of the license. Popular sources for Creative Commons-licensed images include Flickr and Wikipedia Commons.

But again: there’s the issue with models and property and not knowing if they signed releases.

Purchased Stock Images

If you’re looking for more professional-looking or specific images, you can purchase stock images from websites like Deposit Photo (yep, that’s my affiliate link), Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, or iStock. These images are licensed for commercial use, so you can use them on your blog without any copyright concerns.

These guys do have model and property releases, and most of them provide an amount of money they’ll pay toward defending their right to license the photo to you. Even if it turned out they didn’t have the rights, that wouldn’t be your fault, and so the copyright holder wouldn’t have a good case against you.

Your Own Photographs

Of course, the best way to ensure you’re using images legally is to take your own photographs. This not only gives you full control over the visuals but also allows you to create unique and personalized content for your blog.

Whenever you can do this, I recommend it. I’m a lousy photographer, but smartphone cameras have made it much easier to make decent looking photos.

AI Images

Er… yeah. So far, AI image creation is legal and safe. You can create images of someone gardening that no photographer or model or property owner can come after you for using. Well…

…as long as the AI image software you use doesn’t copy existing images too closely, as it’s been known to do. And as long as you aren’t telling it to make images of well-known people who could then come at you.

Everything with AI and copyright law is uncertain right now. Currently, there aren’t specific laws or rules covering it. I’ve seen some proposals by activist groups to:

• Make AI images non-copyrightable, meaning other people can steal your AI images and you can’t stop them or demand licensing fees.
• Create funds to pay creators, and everyone using AI would have to pay into those funds.

What I’ve not seen are proposals to make AI illegal. I don’t think anyone thinks that’s possible at this point. But there are people suing because they believe companies like OpenAI are regurgitating chunks of their books. And there have been suits over AI images that were ridiculously close to an existing photo.

How to Play It Safe

Again, I’m not a lawyer, but IMHO the way to go is:

• Take your own photos whenever possible, even if they’re not gorgeous
• When you can’t, use paid stock photos from sites that get model and property releases and offer some protection
• When you can’t find what you want from either of those methods, you can use AI if you’re comfortable with that, but be careful to avoid images that resemble existing images or people.

Remember: AI is basically a plagiarism machine. It wasn’t originally intended to be used the way ChatGPT and search engines are encouraging us to use it, and it’s possible there will be surprising laws and court precedents that might make your past use of it problematic. It doesn’t seem likely to me, but anything could happen.

Image Attribution

Even when you’re using images that are legally available, it’s important to properly attribute them. Most paid stock photos don’t require attribution, but if you do decide to take the risk and use free ones, be sure to attribute them according to the specific attribution requirements in the license.