Meredith from Like Merchant's Ships recently posted a good reminder about not using content from other websites without permission. She gently reminds that it's simply not okay to copy and paste entries or photos without permission!

For those curious, our policy about our recipes and photos can be found on this page. You can also read about copyright protection of recipes here.

Joshua and I take hundreds of photos of our food (we're not professional photographers, by any means!) and sort and crop to find the nicest photos to use on this website. I spend time re-sizing and uploading photos in order to give my readers an attractive website and easy recipe browsing.

You may also notice some stock photography on our website. We have purchased collections of royalty-free stock photography that we are licensed to use on our website.  

While there are websites with "free" graphics, just be sure that to check the website's policy on image usage before copying their images.

I know it's easy to just copy the url for someone else's photo and add it to your blog entry, but "hot linking" is stealing someone else's bandwidth, as well. If I see a familiar-looking photo, I often look to see if it came from someone else's website.

If in doubt, contact the owner of the website or photo you wish to use. A person is more likely to give you permission when politely asked than when they find their images displayed on your website. Just remember to respect the property and hard work of others, and show kindness. :)