Copyright matters
I have just experienced the first time that something from my blog, that I worked a long time on, has been taken without permission or credit. In the end, it got solved, but I am certain that more cases will follow as everything that is put online, makes it easy for people to take. I am sure some people may think it is silly that I got so angry for someone taking my pictures. The pictures I used were promotional pictures belonging to the cosmetics company and I arranged them to look nice on my blog. I have long wondered if I should watermark them, but since the pictures were not personally taken by me and the copyright belongs to the cosmetics company, I didn't really feel justified to do so for a long time. However, I may do that from now on.
It was not a pleasant feeling, seeing the pictures that I took a long time to edit, being used by someone else as if it was their own, while I slept a few hours less to edit them and put them online as soon as possible. It is the same feeling as when someone takes the pictures of your cosmetics review, just summarize and re-phrase what you wrote, and then put it on their own blog (In this case, you clearly see that it is wrong). The reason why you don't take the pictures from the original source in the first place, as it saves you time and effort, is the hard work that you are taking from others.
It also looks weird to some people seeing me quote the cosmetics company as the source of my pictures every time I write about them. But some people might not know and may think that the swatches in the promotional pictures are actually swatches made by me. Also, just because they have put the pictures online and you are actually giving the company free publicity, this doesn't mean that you can freely use the pictures. Most companies do not mind and let you do this, but I have seen blogs getting a legal notice from companies to take their pictures off their blog. At least, it feels as the right thing to do, to actually quote the brand as the source. Also, this is a good habit to develop: to just add the source to any picture that was not taken by you personally.
There is also this weird misconception that anything you find online, through Google and Pinterest for example, can freely be used. I can understand that sometimes it is hard to find the original source of a certain picture, when there is no watermark. It is also hard to find out who started a certain nail art design too. But I am certain that the one, who went to much trouble to take the picture or design the nail art, would feel very happy, if you did your best to trace the source and credit them.
It was not a pleasant feeling, seeing the pictures that I took a long time to edit, being used by someone else as if it was their own, while I slept a few hours less to edit them and put them online as soon as possible. It is the same feeling as when someone takes the pictures of your cosmetics review, just summarize and re-phrase what you wrote, and then put it on their own blog (In this case, you clearly see that it is wrong). The reason why you don't take the pictures from the original source in the first place, as it saves you time and effort, is the hard work that you are taking from others.
It also looks weird to some people seeing me quote the cosmetics company as the source of my pictures every time I write about them. But some people might not know and may think that the swatches in the promotional pictures are actually swatches made by me. Also, just because they have put the pictures online and you are actually giving the company free publicity, this doesn't mean that you can freely use the pictures. Most companies do not mind and let you do this, but I have seen blogs getting a legal notice from companies to take their pictures off their blog. At least, it feels as the right thing to do, to actually quote the brand as the source. Also, this is a good habit to develop: to just add the source to any picture that was not taken by you personally.
There is also this weird misconception that anything you find online, through Google and Pinterest for example, can freely be used. I can understand that sometimes it is hard to find the original source of a certain picture, when there is no watermark. It is also hard to find out who started a certain nail art design too. But I am certain that the one, who went to much trouble to take the picture or design the nail art, would feel very happy, if you did your best to trace the source and credit them.
