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I don’t know if there’s a term for it, so I’ll just call it ‘attractive larceny.’
Images on the internet are so easy to grab, share or place on your own site that it seems like somebody left a bag of candy on your front porch. It’s not yours but … hey, it’s just too tempting.
And what’s the harm, really?
Well, photographers see a real harm when you appropriate their photos. So just don’t do it.
TechSoup recently offered an informative article on when it’s OK and when it’s not to use someone else’s photo for your own purposes.
Just as helpful is TechSoup’s companion article on where to find images you can use from the web.
If you get in the habit of using one simple Google tool, it’ll save you a lot of trouble. When you search for an image, mouse over to ‘Search Tools’ and sort the images by ‘Usage Type.’
It provides a few options to narrow your search, such as ‘Labeled for noncommercial reuse.’ Then when you see a photo you like, follow the instructions for attribution or how to purchase rights to use it.
For the photo above, the attribution is: By Visitor7 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons