This is a question and hopefully in the right place since I'm still new to DP. Some sites say we can get pictures to use on our websites for free but say something @ giving credits/attribution for who took the photo. My question does not refer to Hot-linking the photo. Instead I want to save it and upload it to my website. I know I need to give attribution who took it and possibly the site it came from. Does the attribution/credit have to be a "live link"? (gives link to follow) Or can the info just be a text type thing without getting into trouble for copyright issues? Sometimes its vague what the author says. It doesn't say whether it has to be a "live link" or not. just give attribution. Creative Commons law confuses me on this also. It talks @ attributions but nothing specific after that. Doesn't say "live links". Or it assumed attribution links are "live" and follow back to where the source came from? What do others do in this situation? Give a "live link" to follow back or just a text type statement that goes to no name or site but says it.
Attribution/credit = a text credit, not a backlink. I generally put attribution on the photo itself in tiny text, not in code.
Creative Commons doesn't necessarily require you to give attribution. The artist gets to decide, so it's good that you're checking that. However, if the image is specifically in the "public domain", no attribution needs to be given (as far as I understand). Attribution requirements vary depending on the owner of the image. Some will require that you link to the originating site, but most don't. In most cases, just mentioning the artist and/or the website URL will be sufficient. Like I said, it's different for each artist or website. Like Kerosene said, you can put the attribution on the image itself. This is convenient in case the copyright owner comes across the copy that's on your site in Google Images or something, they'll be able to instantly see the attribution and you'll be fine. You can also place a caption or a small line of text beneath the image in your post or page content. So, you'd have the image, then just below that give the attribution in tiny letters, so it can be read without taking up too much page space. I see many news and information sites doing it this way.