Use of Photographs for an Article

Hi,

I'm currently writing an article about a news item that was covered in America. Does anyone know if I can use photographs that i've found online linked to the case or are they copyrighted?

I would be really grateful for any advice

Thanks in advance!

Default setting is they're copyrighted, the copyright is owned by whoever took the photograph. Technically you could nick them and hope for the best but then again someone could nick your article, pass it off as "found on the net" and take credit.

Find the source and ask them if you can use their work. Some wont mind, some will charge a fortune, some wont let you use it all. Try an agency or stock photography site.

For better advice, ask on the photogrpahy forum on this very site - they probably know better than I!

Try searching for photos on the Creative Commons site, it will link you through its search engine to photos from various sites such as Flickr where up-loaders have given up copyright to allow anyone to use the pics.

Thank you both so much for the replies.

I'll pop a post on for the photographers now. I'll also have a look at the Creative Commons site and I never even thought about flickr - i've heard of it but never looked into it. I'll do that as well.

Thanks once again guys x