Crediting your photographer is an important step when using his or her images in your social media posts. But not everyone understands why. Let’s start with the impact of crediting your photographer when sharing your photos to social media.

1) Those viewing your page or feed may like an image and want to know who took the picture so they can work with them as well or get more information.

2) Social Media is an extremely large part of a photographer’s marketing. With the immense use of social media such as Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, photographers rely on social media to get their name and brand out to potential clients. We also love beautifying social media with pretty things!

3) Any artist, including photographers, put their heart and soul into their work. Their work is them, and they are there work. Crediting the photographer is simply tying the creator to the image. A lot of photographers don’t watermark their images so there is no distractions from the work they created. Their photograph could be floating out in the cyber world with no link to their name or business.

4) If you loved working with them wouldn’t you want to share the love?! Having a good experience is worth talking about and for photographers it all starts with an image and your kind words, oh and a link to their page of course!

 

Now that we have the reasons behind crediting photographers’ work, let’s talk about HOW to do that properly.

1) Facebook – Facebook in some respects makes it fairly easy to know who took the photos, if you are sharing them from the photographer’s page. If the images you want to show on your page are on the photographer’s page, you can click “Share” and when it shares to your page, it will note where the post came from. If you are downloading images from some type of gallery, you can type the @ and the photographer’s page name to make sure the photographer is credited. Ex. @nicoleweeksphotography.

2) Instagram – Again, this is relatively simple. Use the @ to credit the photographer in your post. Ex. @nicoleweeksphotography

3) General Posting – Your photographer should always be credited for his or her work. If you are writing an article and including pictures or posting in some other format and there is no built-in way to credit, simply use “Photo Credit – Photographer’s Name/Business Name.” Ex. Photo Credit – Nicole Weeks Photography.

If it’s not clear what the usage rights are for photographs you’d like to post, it’s always best to ask the photographer for permission to use the image/s. In most cases, he or she will be thrilled to have his or her image showcased. Taking a moment to credit your photographer will allow the world to see who has created the image, and build a solid foundation of respect between you and the photographer, especially if you plan to work with him or her again.