I figure that any picture I post is part of the public domain. Once a picture has been posted on a public site anybody can download it to their computer, unless it is copywrited work.

All pictures are automatically copyrighted when created.

That is my understanding as well. I copy photos I like and assume that others will do the same should they like any of mine. Sue

oops cross posted. I believe that once they are on the internet as in a forum, they are in the public domain and fair game. Garden web can use our photos as they like.

Actually, all photos are in the creators' possession, unless they've assigned copyright elsewhere or the photos were taken as work for hire. But unless you're intending to publish a book or post the photos to a for-profit website, you really don't need to ask permission for personal use.

ideefixe, thanks for the clarification. I will remember that. Sue

Hi Spitfire! I think we may have similar (fickle) design tastes! I do indeed have a living room like you're describing. You can copy/save any of my photos. It makes no difference to me.

And I understand *completely* about the style confusion. I have a quasi-rustic home, but my tastes are pretty much Southern Traditional. One day, I will have a Southern Plantation style home, and I'll have that refined elegance that I so dearly love (and have yet been unable to achieve in my own homes!) I really think there's something to be said about "listening" to what your current house needs as far as decorating. I think that's the frustrating thing; you have an image in your mind's eye of what you want, but you don't have the architecture, lighting, room size, etc. to make it a reality. You sort of have to work with what you have. (Or at least that's what I tell myself to feel better about the fact that my true house doesn't match my dream house vision!)

Living Room:

I keep a folder on my computer called "Decorating Ideas" where I save copies of photos others have posted that I especially like or want to remember a certain idea from. They're for my personal use only and I figure that's what this forum is all about, sharing ideas. I have no problem with anyone copying mine.

If you're worried about copyright, personal use is fair use. You can't use others' photos for your own financial gain.

Really, a copyright is only as valuable as the attorneys' fees and court costs a person is willing to expend in order to enforce it.

Thanks everyone. I wasn't really worried about copyright issues. It may take me a while (months, a year?) to build my virtual scrapbook of homes. I know from reading this board and others that it can be a little ... unsettling? to see your old photo pop up in someone else's thread, particularly if you took pains to remove that photo from your online account and particularly if you don't know the new poster. I didn't want to make anyone feel weird by saving their personal photos.

Reno_fan, you made me feel better. Yes, a lot of my decorating (if you can call it that) is dictated by my house's style. (I also think you are even MORE talented now that I know that rustic isn't your favorite style.) I see gorgeous, gorgeous homes on this board. (Loved newhomebuilder's latest set of photos!) But most of those homes have architectual elements that mine doesn't. I don't think my home is ugly, but I don't have the high ceilings and huge windows like a lot of the more modern construction. I do think my weakness is the details. I cover the floors, paint the walls, select the furniture. And I'm happy with all of those elements. But I never quite get around to those final, finishing touches.

Once summer cranks up and it is too hot to dig in the flowerbeds, you may see a lot more of me (and my pitiful house) here.

Thanks again,
Nin

Pitiful houses are the most fun to work on because everything's a big improvement. We had one but, tho it's vastly different and better now, it's still not finished. It's been 15 years!! I'm at the point now where my taste has changed from when I started, so I want to tear out that colonial style fieldstone fireplace I had done, and move things up a century or two. I'm fickle too!

Spitfire, It's fine with me too! Getting and giving inspiration is what it's all about.

I used to post pictures, but now just post a link to a picture since GW changed their rules. If I do post something, usually in BAH or Baths, it's not a good picture. I also have asked others not to post my photos after I've shared with them. I don't want GW owning the rights to do whatever with them.

I went to a copyright and licensing seminar back in March, given by a copyright lawyer. His focus was on two things - website owners and folks in the music industry - because those are the two most likely to blow the copyright law and not know it.

A photo is owned by the publication or person who took the photo, regardless. If you find a photo in a magazine or on a website, you are supposed to ask permission before saving it and putting it on your own website or someone else's. GW should ask the owner before putting the photo in its gallery, even if the GW rules tell you that posting a photo in the message board gives them permission to do that. (Makes me glad that I use Tripod and have to give folks a link.) If you find a photo online someplace and want to share it, the safest and most legal way to do so is to LINK to it.

The same goes for whole articles and recipes that one finds on the web. You can print them out for your own use, but you aren't supposed to highlight-copy-paste into a forum such as this one. It's better to link to the article or recipe.

That's the way I understood the lawyer. But I'll give you a little experience - after sitting in that seminar, I removed quite a few of the articles we had posted in our website without permission. Bear in mind that most of the articles were 35-40 years old. Then I started emailing the copyright owners for permission to reprint their articles online. I sent out a dozen requests AND HAVE GOTTEN NO ANSWERS. I figure, the magazines thought I was NUTS to ask for permission to run a 35 year old magazine article. So asking for permission sometimes is a lesson in patience and/or futility!

DonnaR/CA