Quote:
Originally Posted by SigilBear
That's a good tip. I'll check out Fiverr.
I have come across a few photographers who have let me use their photos at unbelievably cheap rates. "Stock photos" are another story; they can easily cost $500 apiece.
|
Well, if you buy them from Getty or iStockPhotos (same thing), sure, but there are many other sites, like DepositPhotos, Fotolia, etc., where they are closer to $1, not $500.00. It takes research, but there's a lot of stock imagery out there that is affordable.
You also have the right
to rely upon the reasonable representations of others. If you use an image that's posted on Pixabay, for example, you're relying on the representation of the person who posted it that they own the copyright. You don't have a viable reason to believe otherwise, unless you have foreknowledge. (For example, you see an image on another political website, credited to Getty, and then you see it on Pixabay, credited to John Smith. Then you have a reason to believe that the representation might be fallacious.)
Most photographers will be satisfied if you obey a C&D, but of course, they don't have to be. This is the reason that clearances are an actual department in any publishing house, to obtain copyright clearances. If you're not buying and licensing images, but instead relying on "the Net," yes, you're courting lawsuits, pun intended. However, as I said,
you legally have a right to rely on the representation of someone who posts an image to Pixabay or other free image sites like UnSplash.
The downside to that is, of course, that reliance is a defense--not a shield against being sued in the first place, which costs money. The only possible defense shield, for copyright infringement, that is, is the proper licensing of each image you use, even if it's simply DepositPhotos and you only paid a dollar.
Hitch