Flickr / Creative Commons attribution
(flickr tag: interesting)
I’ve been using photos from Flickr with Creative Commons licenses here from the beginning, but now I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been giving enough “attribution”. At first I was just linking to the original photo page and listing the Flickr tag that I used to find it underneath. In my latest posts, I’ve started adding a “title” tag to the image that says “Photo by XXX” in the tooltip. Hopefully that’s enough to say I don’t claim these photos as my own (except when they are my own 
), but I keep feeling like I should do even more. The problem is I don’t want these photos to take up too much space — that’s why I use the smallest size available from Flickr.
I wish there was a definitive answer to how Flickr photos should be properly attributed, but I can’t seem to find one. All the forum threads on the topic always mention asking the original photographer how they want to be attributed, but I need to have access to these photos on the fly, without having to wait for a response. A lot of people also suggest leaving a comment on the photographer’s page letting them know I am using the photo. This seems more reasonable, so I think I’ll give it a shot.
The last thing I want to do is make someone feel like I’m stealing their work. I just like adding Flickr photos to my posts because they add a degree of “interestingness”.
Comments
3 comments
There are a lot of blogs out there now that use RSS feeds to import the latest flickr photos tagged with [whatever], and the only attribution they give is the tag + link to the original page as you were doing before.
Frankly, I think this is good enough, as you are only displaying square, cropped thumbnails which are linked to the original page. Also, the fact that you cite “flickr tag: interesting” implies that you’re not claiming credit for them.
However, I think it’s very cool of you to give so much thought to proper attribution. As the photographer of one of the pictures above, I really did appreciate the comment on the picture. It’s encouraging to see others appreciate your work and choose to display it on their blogs.
With that said, blogging is an arduous process, and leaving a comment on every single flickr photo you use can be very time-consuming. I think “tooltipping” the flickr user is definitely more than enough attribution.
Thanks for that note.
I think what I was doing before is enough attribution, as you say, but I was also concerned about common courtesy. I mean, I don’t want to piss people off by using their work, even if I do it legally. When I first started reading all the forum posts on Flickr about attribution, it made me realize that some people are very picky about how their photos are displayed.
I think I’ll keep posting comments on the photos I use from now on just so people can maintain some control over how their work is used (if someone complains, I’ll take the photo off my site). I don’t expect any problems, but this can’t hurt anyway.
That’s true. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
And yes, it did get apocalyptically dark during the storm–in a span of like 10 minutes too!