Photo Posting Clarification Needed

[Gary S]

Posting a photo to the Internet does not put it in the realm of "fair use" or "public domain."

I agree. Although some of the posts in this thread may have implied that, I never made that claim. The way the photo is used is what determines whether it was fair use or not.

Re-posting an image to a forum with the [img] tag is a bad idea for a number of reasons. It sucks up the owner's Internet bandwidth and it negates the photographer's rights to display and distribute an image as he or she sees fit (and, as I said above, simply posting the image online is not a waiver of those rights). It's always best to post the works of others' with the [url] tag.

Both the url link and the img link equally negate the photographer's right to display the photo as he sees fit. Example:

(note: both of the following are from <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.sooline.org/models/index.html">http://www.sooline.org/models/index.html</a><!-- m --> - the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society webpage)

http://www.sooline.org/models/2010_7Post...0small.jpg

Clicking the link above shows only the photo, exactly as it is shown below. It does not show the photographer's entire website, which was how the display was intended.

Edit: I broke this link so the SLH&TS wouldn't eat the bandwidth...



The only difference is that the img link uses some bandwidth everytime anyone opens page 2 of this topic. The url link uses bandwidth only when a user clicks the link. I understand that some see a difference in the two links above. I just don't see any moral or ethical difference - especially when due credit is given and there is no attempt to make financial gain from someone else's work.

If the image link is wrong, then so is the url link.