KindleNow…I wanna talk about pinning. There’s been some talk on twitter, facebook, etc about using images on blogs, etc. I see a lot of people using images on their blogs, or just randomly posting them and many of them have caused me concern. I’ve even seen people taking stock photos-they still have the watermark on them-and using those as their ‘hot’ photos.
The talk has gotten heated lately because author Roni Loren actually had some problems over an image she had up on her blog. The photographer discovered it and wasn’t happy. I understand this. How often do authors get furious over piracy? It happens to me…oh, weekly? We can’t expect others to respect our personal property without respecting others.
The blogging thing, that’s easy to fix, although I know it’s not easy to find free pics of sexy guys…but you can find free pics. A lot of stock photo sites have free images. Dreamstime Free/Free Stock Images is one source. I use those a lot. Book covers always work, if you’re talking books. If you’re talking movies? The movie industry is going to see that as advertising…that’s not an issue. You can find images.
One concern are sites like pinterest & tumblr though-these are very much image focused.
Some are talking about deleting their boards, their tumblr accounts altogether. I understand that, too. It’s possible to respectful of what you pin, but it takes more work.
I set up rules for myself, and basically so others realize I am trying to respect the rights of others.
Source: shilohwalker.com via shiloh on Pinterest
~*~
One of my boards is entirely devoted to a photographer who gave me the okay to use his images…Trey Ratcliff.
My recipe board? I looked for recipe/food sites who already used pinterest and I started to follow them.
I searched photographers on Pinterest and followed some of them, but I only follow those who post their own images, not just those who pin pics they like. If it’s their content they are pinning, they know what’s going to happen once it goes up on pinterest.
My character inspiration boards are just a hodge-podge of images from IMDB (movie data base) and Trey Ratcliff, with some images from shopping sites like SteampunkCouture, and some from Pinup Girl Clothing. There are images from a model site that’s on Pinterest and they post their Model of the Day pics…I like those.
The hardest one to monitor is my JUST CUZ board. A lot of geekery/hodge podge gets in there. Some of the interet meme type things that come from movies and such. But I do think many of those fall under fair use…A snippet from a Labyrinth movie with CALL ME MAYBE lyrics…
Source: p.twimg.com via shiloh on Pinterest
~*~
I think you can use it respectfully, and responsibly. It takes more work. Sometimes I’ll pin something that I realize shouldn’t be up there-it was linked from google or the site didn’t attribute, etc, and I’ll end up deleting. Yes, it’s work, but the boards are fun for me. As long as they stay fun, I’ll do it.
But as writers, we can’t expect others to respect our work if we aren’t returning that courtesy.
