Some downfalls on visual blogging

photo by George Downing

So due to some recent comments I've been thinking about the use of images on blogs. I have always felt that I've been a strong promoter of linking and crediting correctly as much as possible...but Ive realised I could be doing more.

In the past I have done a combination of asking for permission to feature an artist/photographer and other times I go ahead and post the image (more so this) and then link to the person's flickr or website (linking to weheartit or ffffound is not correct crediting). General blogging etiquette has so far seen this to be perfectly fine. But I've decided that I could be doing more, so I've made some new rules for myself....

1. Name the file with the creator of the image, this way if the image is re-posted the name of the person will go with the file. Other large profile art blogs do this and I feel I should be doing it too.

2. Try to email people a bit more and ask for permission to blog about them or only blogging people who send a submission to me. Although I'll have to find a balance on this, as emailing all the time could be pointless (if not very annoying) as well as slow down the spontaneity and pace of a blog.

Also I thought I would point out this website to people who are concerned about the use of their images on blogs and the internet. TinEye - its a reverse image search, so you can upload an image and see all the places it has been used..including where it has been cropped or altered (although it seems to be limited in searching ability). This website will also be handy as a way of finding the correct copyright owner of an image, as many weheartit and ffffound links lose that information. I know many times I've gone on an endless clicking hunt trying to find the original photographer of a photo.

Another tip that I use for finding an images source is googling the file name.

What do you think about image usage on blogs? Do you think it ok to use and link, or should people always be asking first?

EDIT: thanks for the feedback everyone, I am getting email notification of comments but they're not showing up on the blog. I think Blogger is having problems.