Dear Lifehacker,
I'm an amateur photographer and I share my pictures on Flickr with the default copyright license, which is "All Rights Reserved." Recently I was contacted asking permission to use one of my photos. Do you recommend a different license? I never changed the default setting.
Signed,
Reserved
Dear Reserved,
Choosing a license for your photos is a very personal decision which will determine how your photos get used by others - or not. If you want to get your photos (and your name) out there, consider using a Creative Commons license, which gives others the right to re-publish your work under certain guidelines. You can do this right inside Flickr. I know legal mumbo-jumbo isn't the most fun thing in the world to figure out, but CC licenses are pretty simple. You can specify whether or not you want attribution (photo credit) when others republish it, if you don't want others to create derivative work from it (like Photo-shopping your pic into something totally different), or whether or not the photo can be used for commercial works or not.
For what it's worth, here at Lifehacker, we only use Flickr photos that are CC-licensed. In the case of "All rights reserved" photos, we usually pass, unless we really want to use the photo and have the time to contact the photographer and ask permission. Sometimes we do, but often we don't - so CC-licensed photos definitely get used more, and thus get more exposure.
Check out the Creative Commons license form to see all your options, and have fun releasing your work into the world!
Love,
Lifehacker, aka
