Pictures are essential to a high-quality product. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about using photos in your projects—ones you do with us or ones you do on your own:
Can I use photos I have taken?
Yes. Photos you have taken are often the best ones to tell the story of your work.
What if I don’t have any photos?
Try some of these resources:
- Extension Communications Photo Library
- Oregon State University photos
- Federal agency sites such as BugWood, Agricultural Research Service, NRCS Photo Gallery, USDA image gallery, USDA SNAP-Ed photo gallery and Forestry Images
- How to Find and Use Media Assets Legally (info and links to various databases)
- Flickr (look for images in the public domain or with appropriate Creative Commons licenses)
- Photos your colleagues have taken
If you can’t find anything using these resources, we will help you. Just let us know.
Do I need permissions for photos?
If you didn’t take the photo and it’s copyrighted, you need written permission to use it.
Send the permissions to Extension Communications when you submit the photos for your project, and include any specific instructions for how the photographer’s name and affiliation should appear.
Can I use photos from the Internet?
Yes, but you still need to get written permission to use them.
Can I use photos with people in them?
Yes, but you may need a model release. University Relations and Marketing provides model release forms.
What resolution do the photos have to be?
By nature, most images on the Internet are fairly low resolution, around 72 dots or pixels per inch (“dpi” or “ppi”), which means they are relatively small files that are optimized for fast downloading. This resolution is generally not high enough for quality printing purposes and may not be high enough for uses in some apps or online PDFs. Always send the highest resolution image you have, and we’ll let you know if they won’t work.
How should I send my photos in?
Send photos and other graphics files separately; don’t embed them in a Word file.
