Question about Copyrighted Photos

I plan to make website header but i am deeply worried about copyrights if i copy images from web and use it in photoshop.

Is there a legal way to doing this? I heard that most graphics designers purchase rights for images to be free from copyrights. How they do it?

 

You can buy the rights to use stock photos on sites like istockphoto or fotosearch.
Or you can find free images to use on sites like Stock.XCHNG

 

you have a few different ways to go about this:

1.) Get the images free from places like www.sxc.hu or www.design-desire.com/freephotos.html - these both offer some totally free photos that allow you to use them in headers & website, but do have copyright stipulations. Most stock photos come with a copyright agreement depicting what you can legally use them for.

2.) You can purchase rights of use from paid stock sites like www.istockphoto.com or www.shutterstock.com - these both sell quality photos that come with a copyright use agreement, each agreement may be different so make sure that they match your needs prior to purchase.

3.) You can contact designers / Photographers directly from sites like www.deviantart.com or www.behance.net - these are both designer / photographer communities. You may find lots of photographers that will allow you to use their work with verbal stipulations or also have a typed out user agreement. Make sure to have them type up & send you a release form so you can prove they allowed it in the future (Better safe than sorry).

Those are the 3 options off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more avenues you can go, these are just the most popular in order to avoid any legal ramifications.

Hope that Helps

 

I plan to make website header but i am deeply worried about copyrights if i copy images from web and use it in photoshop

 

i checked out istockphoto and they say that the photos are not allowed to use in web templates.

would a extended license allow this? how much extra would that cost assuming that i am purchasing 1 credit for $1

 

Here's a break down of istockphoto's extended Licenses: www.istockphoto.com/license_purchaser.php

If that dosen't cover what you need, then your best bet might be my above mentioned #3 in the previous post, & that's to contract with the photographer them self Via photographer communities.

 

I think sxc.hu is great, but i've always wondered, what do they gain and the graphic deisngers gain from giving away free photos for commerical use? There must be something tied to it?

 

Yes, the commercial use license is limited on free stock with SXC... you can purchase extended licenses just like on istock with them though that allow more range of usage.

 

The key word in that TOS is "RESALE".
Are you planning on creating website templates for resale?
Judging by your initial question, it looks like you are not making templates for resale...just making a header for your website.
Those are 2 completely different things.

 

both, one template free and other for sale. If i am licensing the the template free under GPL can i freely use those photosfrom sxc or istockphoto without any problems.

 

This is what i have found in sxc.hu

i have no problem in paying but contacting every photographer asking for rights is such a painful task.