A question of legiality.

Seldom

Right, I'm an artist you see PA, and in my art i use a lot of different images. i usually just grab em right off of google images or sometimes i scan them in out of magazines. really any image that catches my fancy and i think i can work with and make some thing out of i'll use. i prefer to take my own pictures with my own camera when i can, but sometimes i see stuff on the net thats just too perfect, etc, and i just grab it and start fiddling and using it.

The problem is sometimes these pictures are of people, models etc and they have copyrights on the photos and i get a bit worried how much these copyrights effect me, and how worried i should be of them. i mean after I'm done manipulating the picture and making a piece of art outta of it i do sell it and theres a very, very small chance that it may be recognized by someone who may know the original photo or the model and say that I'm rippin their stuff. but some of these photos and images also get changed enough for you to not really recognize the image and i make them fairly much my own image after I'm done.

So what do you think PA, am i using these images within, i dunno, a fair use law? Am i really stealing the image? and should i be worried at all? i mean I'm not doing big business, or being payed for doing design for big business's. In the future is there anything i can do? ask the model if i can use her image? or would it be too hard/ pointless?

thanks guys, sorry if the posts confusing... it's fairly confusing for me too. So any help or clarity would be great

Munacra

It's stealing if you're using the image and selling it, yes.

The chance of getting "caught"? I dunno.

I know it may look bad if you do that and put it in a portfolio, so if you want to start putting things in a portfolio, then you should really stick to your own images.

But I don't think you have anything to worry about (well, apart from the reasons I gave above) unless your work gets very publicized. (sp?)

Thanatos

I know that when you change the original work beyond a certain amount, it's legal when it comes to music, at least. I would guess that the same thing would apply to art, especially if you change it so much that it's not recognizable in comparison to the original. With the image manipulation technology available out there, there's a lot of new territory that hasn't been wholly explored by the courts.

robaal

Aren't there, like, some sets of stock photos you can buy for cheap and then do whatever you like with?

also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

Munacra

shutterstock.com is a good one.
getty-one.com is another.

Getting stock images is actually pretty cheap, and the image quality usually is much greater than anything you could want out the internet.

oh ya. And any questions of legality are erased by one read of their copyright use sheet.

Seldom

I guess i always figured it was stealing.

I'm not a major, highly public or professional artist so i guess i don't have much to worry about.

i use the images for stencil art, on and off the streets.

some background:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stencil_Graffiti

and a gallery of stencils if your curious (not mine): http://www.peterjohnchen.com/image/tid/15?page=1

thanks for the clarification guys. i guess i'll just resign to the fact that i'm thief if i don't use my own material.

**edit** thanks for the links, i'll check em out.

Munacra

Well, I'm sorry if it came out like that. No one here is saying that you're a thief. It's just that the whole "I get pictures by other people and sell them" could get you in trouble.

Don't "resign" That sounds very drama-queeny.

Seldom

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as a drama queen, bad choice of words i guess..:)

Also, i don't get photos and just sell them, it's a lil different to just that.

I appreciate you guys helping and clarifying for me.

Thanks, I guess threads solved