Specifically equine artists and photomanippers, of which there are a huge number here...

If you are an artist looking for reference, or a photomanipulator browsing the equine stock galleries for the ideal horse to use in a new piece... For goodness sakes people... please please LOOK at what is in front of you.

There are so many stock galleries here and many specialising in horses. Horses are popular... horse art is popular... therefore, equine stock galleries are popular. Very much so, and deservedly so in most cases. A lot of stockers work hard to provide us with material, for which we're all really grateful, right? Because reference material is invaluable.

Please just be wary, because people are not always so honest. I've come across quite a few stock galleries here that are made up of stolen images (and yes they have been reported whenever I can find the originals, good image recall comes in handy many times)

What concerns me is that I come across dodgy stock galleries fairly often, and even though it is sometimes quite obvious that the gallery is not legitimate, and that the images are stolen, people are STILL using the images. LOTS of people. As I said, equine art and equine photomanipulations are very popular here. And people are taking advantage of that.

There are a few giveaways that could point to stolen stock images... always check the following...

- EXIF data. That's the camera info on the right hand side under the image - including camera make and model, date the photo was taken, ISO speed etc etc. Uploaded images do not always contain EXIF data (sometimes photo editing prior to uploading can remove the information), but it pays to be cautious if the EXIF data is not present. Remember if an image is stolen from another source, the EXIF data will not be present. (The exception here would be scanned photos from a film camera, obviously)

- Size of the images. Stock photos need to be large. Look at the sizes of the images in the gallery. Are they small? Tiny even? Do they have a downloadable large version? Very small photo sizes are often a dead giveaway that the photo is stolen from another source (like Google or Flickr)

- Consistency of images. Look carefully at the images within a gallery. Are they all in quite different sizes? Do they look like they were taken with very different cameras, ie some with a cheap pixelly digicam, some with a high-end digital SLR? Do they look like they are all taken in different locations? Does every image feature a different horse every time? Again, this does not automatically mean the images are stolen, but it pays to be vigilant. Keep your wits about you, check the images against each other, check the descriptions.

- Comments about the image. Always read the comments... I have seen images where someone has eventually found out, and posted a link to the stolen photo's original location, or called the stocker out for stealing the image from somewhere. And yet people still leave "Wow I want to use this!" comments, even after it's been established the image is stolen.

Please, before you use that image that looks too good to be true, look again at the source!!

Now obviously just because a photo does or does not fit one of the above criteria, that doesn't mean you should automatically condemn the stocker as a thief. Just use your common sense, it is usually pretty apparent when a stocker is using someone else's images.

Why is it so important Amanda, you ask? Shouldn't you have something better to do than go around looking for and reporting kids who are just wanting a bit of attention and respect from the busy community of equine artists?

It's important because it's not only the person who has stolen the images who will get into trouble. Anyone who uses those images is also at risk. I personally get riled up about this because, as a horse artist, I often browse the stock galleries looking for references I might want to use in my art. Say I find a nice horse... I use it as ref for a painting, and ask the stock provider if I can then sell that painting. They say yes. I sell it, then the real owner of the original photograph finds out. Not only are they going to be pretty mad at the stocker, they are also quite possibly going to want to sue me for using the photo, and profiting from it, without permission. Never mind that I had no idea the photo was stolen... the likelihood is the photographer is not going to see the situation like that.

So you see, it gets everyone into all sorts of bother.

Please... before you use an image... take the time to really look at what the stocker is offering. I know it's cynical, but better to be cynical than encourage dishonesty.