First, let me say what my interests are. Even though I create and maintain it for educational purposes, geology.about.com is a commercial site. Because my images make money for About.com and for me, it's important that they show up in search engines. When someone copies one of my images and posts it on their own site, very often Google stops showing my copy. That can damage my income. That is why I strongly prefer that you not use my images online. Nevertheless, you have a legal right to fair use for educational purposes and for other purposes related to free expression of opinion. (The agonizing details are given under the educational fair use guidelines established by the U.S. Congress. My rules are adapted from university library policies and appear to be as legally strong as anyone else's.) I look kindly on people who wish to use my images for the following limited purposes.
Students, Teachers, Bloggers
Students, teachers and bloggers have slightly different guidelines.
- Students may include as many as five images in education-related things like papers, reports, PowerPoint slides, posters and so on.
- Teachers in nonprofit schools may incorporate as many as five images for the same purposes as well as things like class notes (including online class notes), handouts, and computer displays. Teachers may use them for no more than two years, except for things like portfolios. If you use them in an online quiz or test, please take them down promptly when the test is finished.
You may use my images for these purposes if you do three things:
- Copy or download them from this site (no need to ask me first). Please use only the image, not my caption, my article, or any of About.com's content. It's important to me that you write your own supporting text in your own original words.
- Use them without significant changes. I make my images to look and work their best at a certain size and shape. Some cropping is OK, because sometimes that's just necessary. Shrinking them is OK too, but please don't enlarge them significantly. Please don't change the file format, either, because the results are usually bad.
- Include their source whenever you use them. The language I prefer is "Copyright [year] by Andrew Alden, geology.about.com, reproduced under educational fair use." It would be especially nice if you include a link to the page where the image came from.
If you do those three things, you don't even have to tell me about it—but I hope you'll let me know anyway. You can write me at geology at about dot com and ask for permission, in which case you can say "used by permission" instead of "reproduced under educational fair use."
Bloggers include independent commentators as well as writers in the blog format for a larger entity, such as a magazine or an agency. I value your place in the public discourse, and I acknowledge that you may make limited use of one or two images for purposes of commentary. I request that you always include a link to either the page where the image lives or the home page of my site, in recognition that your usage may affect the direct benefit I derive from my image.
Free Wallpaper Pictures
Some places I've been are so beautiful that I give away the pictures at full screen size—800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 pixels. See these in the Wallpaper Picture Gallery. You can download them and use them freely (1) at home, (2) as Twitter backgrounds or (3) in presentations and posters.
Images that Are Not Mine
Some of the images on my site are created by the U.S. government and its agencies. These are not subject to copyright and may be used freely.
Some other images are by other people or agencies, used here by permission. And some come from commercial sources such as Getty Images. You have the limited right to make educational fair use of those, too, but follow the fair use guidelines carefully. Be aware that the owners of these images, particularly those from commercial sources, may interpret the law differently from me.
Buying Images
If you take my images from About.com and use them (1) on your own websites or (2) for commercial purposes, I will start by asking you to stop that use. Both About.com and its parent company, the New York Times, stand behind that request. However, I'm happy to sell my images. At the bottom of every page on this site is a Reprints link, where you can put a formal request to About.com. In many cases I can supply a different image of the same subject. If you're interested in that, inquire directly to me.
