Copyright, Fair Use, Creative Commons, Public Domain -- Oh My!

Everyone wants their papers, websites, and more to include dynamic images. BUT, most of the images you find on the web aren't actual free for you to use in a published document without permission, since they are protected by Copyright. You need to either ask for permission, find images that don't have restricted use, or contact the copyright holder for permission.We all want to be creative, but how can we be when so many works are copyrighted? 

Herse's a video that explores Copyright and Fair Use. And, it's a lot of fun! :) 

While Fair Use can help you take advantage of using images you find on the web, if you are transforming, critiquing or, in recent years, a new option has become available to make finding and publishing other people’s material – and sharing what you create yourself – easier: It is called Creative Commons. 
Here's a a video that explains Creative Commons.

Finding Photos & Images You Can Use in Your Published Projects

Flickr is a website used primarily for storing and sharing photos. You can use this site to find pictures on any topic. It includes photos taken by individuals as well as from important museums and archives like the Library of Congress. If you open an account, you can also use this site to upload pictures you’ve taken and then you can share them with your family your friends or the whole world.

Flickr includes many Creative Commons images, as well as many that are copyrighted. If you want to publish an image you find at Flickr on your blog, be sure to search for images with Creative Commonslicenses. Hint: To find images with Creative Commons licenses, go to the Advanced Search screen, enter a keyword to search, then check "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content“ and click Search.

Or, you may find it much easier to use the Flickrcc site, which searches just Creative Commons-licensed images on the Flickr site for you.

When you publish one of these images, be sure to give credit by citing and linking to the url of the page where the photo appears. Look for the word “attribution” on the Flickrcc site. Copy that address and paste it under the photo in your post and make it a hyperlink. Remember, it’s very important to give credit to the creator of the original image.