to search by an image’s URL or to upload an image from your computer
Figure 2. “Nymphaea sp. (Nymphaeaceae), Borneo (Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia),” by Luis Mata/Dingilingi. Retrieved 2021 from the Flickr website, https://www.flickr.com/photos/31722525@N05/7378069090. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
(adapted from CalPhotos)
In general, Fair Use means that a small thumbnail photo that you find on a website can be downloaded and saved for personal or educational use without asking permission first or paying a licensing fee. The exact size of the thumbnail has not been described in the law as far as we know, but for our purposes, a thumbnail is an image that is 194x130 pixels in size or smaller. Fair Use does not apply to images that are larger than a thumbnail or to any text information that goes with the photo. Fair Use also does not apply to commercial use or to any use that might affect the value of or the market for the original photo. If you are in doubt as to whether your use would be considered Fair Use, please check with the person or organization that contributed the photo. Please note that Fair Use is a moving target because of changes in how the law is interpreted.
Copyright is different than plagiarism, but both involve academic honesty. If you want to reproduce the image in a research paper, PowerPoint presentation, or a poster, find the copyright instructions for the individual journal and/or database (or website). Frequently you can just do a search for the word copyright or the word permission, using the Find (Ctrl+F) command. Some journals will give immediate permission to use the images for educational purposes, provided the source is credited properly. Others require you to contact the author and/or publisher; generally contact information is provided, and replies to copyright requests are speedy. Contact the library for assistance if needed.
Thumbnail photos are small photos that often appear in the "browse" pages when you do a search, and at the top of each photo's "detail" page. For our purposes, a thumbnail is an image that is 194x130 pixels in size or smaller. Thumbnails can be used without prior permission under the Fair Use provisions of the Copyright Law of the United States as long as you include the proper credit for the photo (check the photo's detail page for wording). Please see below for an explanation of what constitutes Fair Use. Briefly, it applies to personal, academic, and other educational uses. If your use is not within the provisions of Fair Use, you may still be able to use the thumbnails, but you may need to request permission from the person or organization that contributed the photo. See How can I contact the photographer who took this photo?) for more information about obtaining usage and contact information.
Fair Use does not cover images that are larger than the thumbnail size, i.e. larger than 194x130 pixels. To use such photos, you will need to request permission first from the person or organization that contributed the photo. Some contributors allow some kinds of uses without advanced permission but you must verify this first. To find out whether you need permission, check the usage information at the top of the enlargement for the photo you are interested in. You can also find usage information on the photographer's "bio" page (click on the photographer's name on the detail page.)
This applies to downloading and saving the image on your own computer, as well as including a link on your web page that results in the image being displayed on your page.
If you wish to use the photo for a publication or some other commercial use, you'll need contact information. Contact the library for assistance if needed. In some cases you may need to pay a licensing fee or reproduction expenses to use the image. Or, you may be able to order a slide or a higher resolution version of the photo.
The caption of this image includes a footnote used to cite the image. The footnote is below the image here.
¹ From “Three genomes and whooping cough,” by E. R. Winstead, 2003, Genome News Network . Copyright 2000–2004 by the J. Craig Venter Institute. Reproduced with permission of the photographer. Available at http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/09_03/ whooping_cough.php
This image is hyperlinked to the article in which it appeared. This method would be appropriate for student work that is published on the Web.
Figure 5. The development of male antennae of the wild silkmoth.
Used with permission, © 2005 PNAS.
