To readers wondering about the general rights and wrongs of lifting photos for commercial use - you should know that all the photo-sheds monitor the web and hunt down rights-managed and royalty-free images under their control.
They invoice website owners who use their images without a licence.
I had a similar case whereby Getty Images tried to invoice me £2000 for use of a 150 pixel gif
But it was my photo! And I had to prove it was mine - but if I couldnt then they were preparing a routine bill for £2K.
They all use face recognition software to trawl the web on a continuous basis looking for images. And like I say when they find an image - they invoice.
Just a cautionary tale for anyone tempted.... Getty, Corbis, Istock and others all hunt for infringement.
Please also understand the difference between
Rights Manged images and
Royalty Free images. Some people assume you pay for the first and use the second for free.
Rights-Managed: You have exclusive use of that picture for your company and no competitors can use the same.
Royalty Free: Anyone can buy the right to the image and use it for unlimited purpose.
But you still have to pay for the right to use it.
Istock are one of the cheapest image suppliers and work on a system of pre-paid credits. Photos can cost about 50p each so its a good way to start a site but I appreciate they can be a bit boring and even a tad commercial. Make sure your search terms are wide. Try things like [
contemporary bathroom] and [
shower tiles] or [
domestic washroom] or [
bathroom floor] it will take you ages to trawl to find images.
I like wivers idea of taking your camera and photographing commercial displays. It could be argued that as the photographer you own the copyright to the images of subject matter displayed in public (ie the shop) but some shop owners might have some cause for complaint that you are using images of their product for commercial reasons.
This post is not advice from me either way - its just a cautionary tale from my own experience that any image used on a commercial website will come under scrutiny by third parties. If they have an interest in that image they will persue your company for payment. Its then up to the company owner (not the web developer) to ensure there is a right to display the image either by outright copyright ownership or a licence.
Just an idea but perhaps the tile training colleges could photograph the finished bays and build up a collection or portfolio of tile images for use by newly qualified tilers on their commercial websites. Hey the smart ones could even sell them to the Photo Sheds.
