Using iStockphoto pictures legally

I've been buying credits on istockphoto to be used for small web pictures. I'm using them to spruce up my blog, and usually find relevant pics for any given post to make it more visually appealing.

I haven't been adding any sort of captions or attribution to any of the images. Is this okay? I read istockphoto's license agreement, but honestly, I've never been able to make heads or tails of any of these sort of legal documents.

The only thing I could find was this:
Under the heading of "Prohibited Uses" there is: "use the Content for editorial purposes without including the following credit adjacent to the Content: “©iStockphoto.com/Artist’s Member Name];"

So I guess one further question would be: what is "editorial purposes?" Is my blog considered editorial?

 

I guess that is related to editing the image you have bought from them.
And after buying the image you can edit it, the way you want to use it for your purposes. Not sure though!

 

you paid for them, you can do what you want with them

i thin editorial is if your using it as an article pic like in a magazine

 

As long as you don't sell them it's fine. Besides, unlikely no one will do anything other than ask you to take it down.

 

every photo purchased with iStockphoto's can be used only once,
or better to say on 1 website.
but if you change the photo in such a manner that it's almost inpossible
to recognize I think you could use it on a seco0nd site too.
I am not a lawyer though, so you should check their TOS

 

Editorial usage has nothing to do with editing the image.

If you write an article about housing construction and use a photo of a house being build, it is editorial usage.

If you use the same image to for an advertisement about construction loans, the usage is commercial.

There can also be grey areas, such as an affiliate landing page where you have some basic information about construction loans, but you are trying to sell an e-book about getting a construction loan. Basically it looks like an article, but the intent is really commercial (to get you to buy an e-book).

A better way to picture it might be on a local newspaper - it a piece is written by a staff writer or author, an accompanying image would be editorial usage.

If the photo is part of an ad, the usage is commercial.

I am not sure that istock aggressively enforces violations (I see editoral usage of their photos in web articles without credit all the time) but technically they should be giving credit.

 

If you purchased it, you can use it when ever you want. I purchase photos form them all the time, and they all have differing licenses.
Stick with "digitally rights managed free" (or something like that) and you will be O.K.

 

Just because you pay money for something doesn't give you the rights to do whatever you want with it. It's the license that does.

Now, you using the one that allows you to is a whole different story.