Thread by @velobetty

So you're a company who wants to use a really cool photo you saw on the Internet on your Insta or Twitter?

Super-awesome! 🤘

But hold on! Wait! Before you do, there's some things you need to do!

Firstly you need to find out who owns the copyright for the photo and get explicit permission for your use.

This doesn't mean posting the photo and crediting the account that you found that photo on. You need to seek permission first; from the actual copyright holder.

If you can't find the copyright holder then you can't use the image. Bummer! Sometimes images are in the "public domain" but these are different.

A Google reverse image search can help you here to track down who owns the image. images.google.com

It's always good to get this in writing, even just an email, saying: "Could we have permission to use your photo on our Instagram feed with credit back to you?"

Also you're are a company who wouldn't want somebody to take your stuff for free and it's the same for photographers!

Also, why not offer to pay the photographer for using the photo? Even a credit at your store or, even better, some money. Why not offer straight away? It's classy.

OK, you're struggling and don't have much money to spend but imagine if people didn't pay you for your stuff?

After all, you're not just paying for what's on the image, you're paying for the experience, the skill, the effort, the equipment, and the time of the photographer which isn't free!

Additional: Some creative works are licenced for reuse under Creative Commons licencing, for example. You can *only* use images licenced under this type of licence if it allows commercial re-use and *only* change/modify the image if the licence allows that too.