Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Finding images tutorial (section)

== Ask for permission ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Swindon]] -->
If you can't find a public domain photo, then you may have to ask a copyright holder for permission. Select an image from your search with a copyright holder that may be willing to give you permission to use their image as public domain or under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License. In general, copyright holders that earn money by charging [[reproduction fees]] for their images are unlikely to give them away for free. For example, [[News agency|news agencies]] have an excellent image database, but will give you the rights only if you pay a hefty fee. (If you're willing to spend the money, donate it to  Wikipedia instead). Asking news agencies for free images is unlikely to succeed.

Private individuals that have pictures on their homepages or online photo albums are much more likely to grant permission if asked nicely. See if there is an email address associated with the photo, or if the webmaster's e-mail address is available on the site. You also should check when the website was last updated.  To do this, first go to the website in question.  Then, copy "javascript:alert(document.lastModified)"(no quotes) into your address bar (this works on Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, but not all browsers) and push enter.  If the time that comes up is only a few seconds old, it is probably the time the server sent it to you.  Otherwise, it is the time the author updated it.

A website not updated since 2001 is probably abandoned, and the copyright holder is no longer available under the given email address. Once you have narrowed it down to one or two images with copyright holders that are available and potentially willing to release the image under a suitable license, you may write them an email and ask nicely for permission to use the image. For sample requests see [[Wikipedia:Boilerplate request for permission]]. Your request should:

# Introduce Wikipedia 
# Mention which image you want to use (with link)
# Mention where you want to use the image (with link)
# Ask for permission to release the image in the public domain or under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License
# Offer to credit the copyright holder/photographer on the image page
# Offer to add a link to the copyright holder website on the image page
# Thank the copyright holder for their time

If you receive permission, add the credits to the image page as promised, for example on [[:Image:FremontTroll.jpg]]. Don't forget to thank the photographer and provide them with links to the image page and the article(s) using the image!

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Searching for [http://images.google.com/images?q=Stetson*++OR+ten-gallon+OR+cowboy&ie=UTF-8&hl=en Stetson*  OR ten-gallon OR cowboy] gives many good images. A possible target contributor would be [http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/live_presentations/Stetson.html John Muir Exhibit], which was recently updated [[as of 2004]], and has a volunteer webmaster (with email address), which may be inclined to volunteer a photo for Wikipedia.
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