According to WordPress, over 409 million people view more than 14.4 billion pages each month, meaning blogs are a main source of information on the web. They give people the opportunity to learn about different industries, read personal stories, learn new tricks of their trade, and browse through photos and images.
Imagine finding a new blog, going through some of the posts, and stumbling onto a photo that you took or an image you made! With so much great information open to the public, it has become incredibly easy for people to take content or photos and use them as their own without permission. As bloggers, we first want to find out if people are taking our photos and learn how to help prevent it from happening in the future.
Are people using my blog photos?
There are a few tools you can use to find out if people are taking or stealing your photos.
Google Image Search
- Go to https://images.google.com/
- Either Drag & Drop the photo or Copy & Paste the image URL
- See the different websites where the image is appearing
Want More? Download the Search by Image extension so you can just right mouse click an image to Google Search
Image Raider
- Go to http://www.imageraider.com/
- Either Copy & Paste image URL or Upload File
- See the different websites where the image is appearing
Want More? Register for free and set up alerts for when people add specified images.
I found some, what do I do now?
If your work is being used without giving you credit, you can contact the blogger and either have them remove the image/photo or ask them to give you credit by placing a reference link back to your own blog or website.
How can I help prevent people from using my blog photos?
There is no sure way to prevent people from stealing images and photos, but adding a watermark on your images and photos will deter people from trying to claim them as their own. Watermarking a photo is adding a logo or name to images so individuals know where they originated.
My name at the bottom left could be used as a watermark example.
How do I watermark photos?
Go to an online photo editing tool (my favorite is PicMonkey)
If you already have a watermark you want to use:
- Open the photo you’d like to add a watermark to
- Upload watermark from the Overlays section
- Edit the watermark to best fit your picture (fade, color, size, etc.)
- Save!
If you don’t already have a watermark:
- Open the photo you’d like to add a watermark to
- Add text within the tool, could be your name or brand
- Edit the text to best fit your picture (fade, color, size, etc.)
- Save!
To get the PicMonkey full step by step Watermarking tutorial, visit their blog post here, http://www.picmonkey.com/blog/claim-your-artistry-by-adding-a-watermark/
Takeaways
1. Find out if your photos/images are being used without your permission
2. Watermark your photos to deter people from using them without giving you credit.
If you have been a culprit of taking other people’s images by mistake, there are many great sites and resources available that offer free photos. Check out http://search.creativecommons.org/ or https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/ or share your favorite websites in the comments!
