Credit a CC BY photo on a website

For a photo you have confirmed is licensed under CC BY 4.0, credit the creator, identify the work and its source, link the license, and state whether you changed the image. Creative Commons’ CC BY 4.0 summary permits commercial sharing and adaptation subject to attribution, a license link, and a change notice. Its reuse guide explains the attribution elements and the need to check the license on each work.

Begin at the page for the specific photo. Record the creator name and work identification supplied there, along with a link to the source. Check that the license shown for this photo is CC BY 4.0. A site containing some CC-licensed work does not establish the license for every image on it.

Read the photo’s own attribution notice before drafting the credit. The CC BY 4.0 terms also call for retaining supplied copyright, license, and disclaimer notices and any other parties the licensor designates for attribution. Keep those details in your editorial record and place the required information where readers can find it. The CC BY 4.0 deed summarizes these conditions; consult the linked legal code when a notice is unusual or incomplete.

Place a readable credit where someone viewing the reused photo can find it. A practical credit can name the creator and work, link the source and CC BY 4.0 license, and add a short change notice such as “cropped” when that is what you did. Use the actual names and links from the photo’s source. If no changes were made, say so only if that statement is accurate.

As a drafting pattern, write: “Work title by [creator], [source link], licensed under [CC BY 4.0]; cropped from the original.” Replace every bracketed field with the information supplied for the specific photo and remove the crop notice if it was not cropped. If the source lists additional credit parties or a copyright notice, include them as required instead of treating this short pattern as complete. Keep the image file and its license page together in your editorial notes so a later replacement does not inherit the old photo’s credit.

Before using the page, inspect the credit as a reader would. Can you tell who made the photo? Can you reach the source and license from the links? Does the change notice match the image displayed? Recheck the original photo page if a name, title, or license version is uncertain.

This procedure covers the attribution information documented for CC BY reuse. It does not verify that an unexamined image carries that license, or resolve rights and restrictions outside the license information you checked.

If the source page lacks a clear license for this image, stop before publishing it. A useful credit cannot repair a missing right to use the image. Choose a photo with traceable terms or obtain permission from the rights holder for the planned placement.