Designing a book cover

[Mythica]

[quote=""Justin Swanton""]No I did not obtain the rights. In the wicked world of graphic design one tends to grab and use images all the time without going through the tedious and frustrating process of finding out who owns their copyright and would they mind if it is used, even altered beyond recognition?[/quote]

As a professional photographer, I can safely say that YES, most photographers would be outraged and you'd probably face legal action for not only using and altering their images without permission but profiting them from as well. This is hugely illegal and unethical and you'd be surprised how recognizable images can be.

I greatly disagree that this is common practise in professional graphic design. As a photographer, I've worked with many graphic design artists and NONE of them would even dream of doing this. They use stock images and they pay for them.

If I tried doing things the 'legit' way I would soon be out of a job as I simply haven't the time.

Time? It would take little to no extra time to search stock image sites than it would Google Images. Typically, the excuse is "I don't have the money" but stock images are generally affordable too. Here's just a few stock images sites:

http://www.istockphoto.com/
http://en.fotolia.com/
http://www.shutterstock.com/
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/
http://www.123rf.com/

For the book cover I could have taken the time, granted, but I had been told by someone I respected (should have checked up) that if one makes changes to an image it is no longer in copyright. It seems, after investigation, that that is not the case. Oh well.

"Oh well"? Would you be saying that if someone took YOUR work without permission, altered it, and then made money off of it? Oh well? I flabbergasted that someone who produces his own creative works is so flippant about blatant copyright infringement of someone else's creative work. You seriously need to reassess your moral compass.

[donroc]

[quote=""Justin Swanton""]The Rocamora cover is certainly effective. Is the portrait taken from a painting?[/quote]

Thank you, Justin. No image of the historical Rocamora exists so my publisher merged a batch of 17th century portraits, added one female, and came up with it. On the back cover, she took the original portrait of the Infanta Maria by Velasquez and merged it with a photo of Scarlett Johanson, which is on my web site.

[bevgray]

Thanks, Justin. I look forward to hearing what you think.

As for Lee, Gettysburg has been a subject of discussion for generations of Civil War scholars.

[boswellbaxter]

[quote=""Justin Swanton""]No I did not obtain the rights. In the wicked world of graphic design one tends to grab and use images all the time without going through the tedious and frustrating process of finding out who owns their copyright and would they mind if it is used, even altered beyond recognition? If I tried doing things the 'legit' way I would soon be out of a job as I simply haven't the time.

For the book cover I could have taken the time, granted, but I had been told by someone I respected (should have checked up) that if one makes changes to an image it is no longer in copyright. It seems, after investigation, that that is not the case. Oh well. [/quote]

If the images are owned by someone else, they shouldn't be posted on this site by you. Accordingly, I removed them from the original post.

[Justin Swanton]

I must say I'm grateful to Mythica for raising the copyright issue. As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, I was honestly under the impression that substantially altering an image pulled off the web put it out of copyright, but it seems (after some digging around) that that is not the case in every instance. I've always held dear Miss Marple's little saying: "never believe anything anyone tells you" - and I still get caught out!

Boswellbaxter - I've managed to find the sites for three of the four source images I posted, and have written to them asking for retroactive permission. The fourth image - the background sky - I cannot trace. There are a gazillion sky images on the web, I used only part of one image and altered that. If I find the site, I'll let you know.

[Justin Swanton]

Mythica - I did a little checking up on my design work done over the last two years at the printing firm I work at. Out of 572 jobs, 2 used photos pulled off the web, 3 used clipart, 2 used flourishes and 1 used a calendar layout. So I have no idea where I got the notion that I have to grab images all the time from Google (I do mostly corporate work, for which the clients supply any necessary images).

I agree with you that it is only a courtesy to ask permission if one wishes to use another's artwork in a substantial way. I can appreciate that you wouldn't like it one bit if one of your photos appeared in a commercial publication without acknowledgement or compensation. A photographer has a right to recognition and a living!

In the kind of layout work I do, any extraneous material that might be used tends to be 'bits and pieces' - small design elements rather than full-on illustrations. Personally I don't have a problem with this. If I found one of my illustrations from Centurion's Daughter in another publication without my knowledge, I would be annoyed. If I recognised a bit of an illustration - a hand, say - in another composition, I wouldn't mind.

[Mythica]

[quote=""Justin Swanton""]Mythica - I did a little checking up on my design work done over the last two years at the printing firm I work at. Out of 572 jobs, 2 used photos pulled off the web, 3 used clipart, 2 used flourishes and 1 used a calendar layout. So I have no idea where I got the notion that I have to grab images all the time from Google (I do mostly corporate work, for which the clients supply any necessary images).

I agree with you that it is only a courtesy to ask permission if one wishes to use another's artwork in a substantial way. I can appreciate that you wouldn't like it one bit if one of your photos appeared in a commercial publication without acknowledgement or compensation. A photographer has a right to recognition and a living!

In the kind of layout work I do, any extraneous material that might be used tends to be 'bits and pieces' - small design elements rather than full-on illustrations. Personally I don't have a problem with this. If I found one of my illustrations from Centurion's Daughter in another publication without my knowledge, I would be annoyed. If I recognised a bit of an illustration - a hand, say - in another composition, I wouldn't mind.[/quote]

It doesn't matter if you'd mind or not, it's still illegal and you still risk legal action. If you choose to take that risk, all I can say is that I think you'll find most people in the industry would disapprove and it may hurt your reputation even if no legal action is ever taken.

Also keep in mind that this isn't just about the courtesy of recognition or compensation. The owner of the copyrighted material has the right to deny you permission to use and alter their work if they choose. I'm glad you've gone to the trouble to retrace your steps and find the owners of the images you've used and contact them belatedly - but keep in mind, they may not be happy with what you've done to their photos and they may tell you to cease use of them. For your sake, I hope they are just amateurs who would be happy to see their images used professionally for a little recognition but we'll have to wait and see.

[Stoney]

Currently I have three novels, one novella, and a short story available on Smashwords. I designed the covers on all of them (I've been a graphic designer dor over 30 years). On two of them, Whalesong and Level Six I use the work of a fractal artist and a space photographer. For both I tracked down the creators and asked their permission. Both were surprised I asked and both immediately granted me permission to use their work - for free. I credit both of them in the acknowledgements and am sending each a copy of the novel.

For my novel Treadwell, A Novel of Alaska Territory I used 71 vintage photos of the areas mentioned in the novel. I paid for the reproduction rights for all of them to three different libraries. It wasn't cheap and I have yet to break even, but I have been told by readers that the photos really add to the novel. I also use six of the photos on the cover.

Incidently, I "found" all of the images on the internet over the years and spent three months backtracking to get the rights - keep notes.

[LoveHistory]

I have a designer who only uses images from Wikimedia Commons that are designated for public use.