TIGSource Forums

Say if I wanted to, for example, cut out this picture of a sparrow and use it as a platform in my platform-y sort of game.

(http://www.usefilm.com/images/1/6/6/0/1660/425109-medium.jpg)

What do I need to do to make that square and decent?

I don't know yet if I'm going to charge people for the pleasure of playing my game, but it's best to assume for now that I will.  If that makes a difference.

I am hoping to use a lot of such image - resized, colour adjusted and removed from context - so many that it probably just won't be feasible to ask every single copyright holder for permission.

There will be plenty of original art in the bgs/characters/enemies, but I really would like a mix.  I guess a good reference might be Umihara Kawase:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cYbKdESqvI
or Bubble Memories:
http://youtu.be/3aA2YTedo48

Only legal way I can think of is using photos the photographer has already given explicit permission for you to use, most likely with a creative commons license. flickr has millions, and you can use their search engine to find ones that match your requirements (eg ok for commercial use).

Well, that or public domain photos (eg very old or produced by us government)

yeah photos are copyright by default, so it's not okay without permission, even if you alter the photo significantly. there are so many public domain photos that you may as well use those, i see no reason to risk using copyright photos when there are so many public domain ones

Any work of art, including photography, is copyrighted.  Get permission, buy stock photos, or use public domain to avoid legal troubles.

If you plan to release the game for free, you can use photos released under a Creative Commons non-commercial license.

If you plan to sell the game, you are limited even more to photos that have a free license - meaning, use in any way.

If you just use random photos and sell the game, though, you will probably be breaking copyright law.

You can look on stock photo sites and Flickr for some free photos, but your idea is a lot more feasible as freeware.

Recently I've been using flickr advanced search, and only searching for creative commons photos, where I can modify the photo.  Usually the photos returned will still require at least a credit, and sometimes they stipulate that you cannot make any profit with it (look at the license section to right of the photo at the bottom).  I've been messaging the users of photos I like, explaining to them why I like & how I want to use their photo.  Half of them never reply, a quarter say no, but the other quarter say yes.  There are enough good photos on flickr that I've never had a problem with finding what I want (so far).

Thanks all for the advice.

Looks like commons/pd is the way to go.  There is a bunch of stuff on flickr and wiki has a great list of pd image sites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_image_resources so I am not likely to run into any difficulty.