Copyright and Creative Commons: Thing 11 of 23

The challenge this time around was to find two images I was using for a presentation in my field and doing a review of how they were licensed and what that means.

In my enthusiasm I have gone a step farther. I have taken two images and then combined and changed them as per their Creative Commons License agreements to create the following:

The two original pictures I found on pixabay with help from the creative commons search tool http://search.creativecommons.org/.

You can find them both by following the links below:

https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-binary-binary-system-2962360/

https://pixabay.com/en/angel-wings-character-no-background-2686787/

So with a little help from GIMP I combined the two and made a composite image (not to mention colouring in the angel knight).

Was this allowed?

Pixabay’s statement on that was as follows:

Using Images and Videos
Images and Videos on Pixabay are released under Creative Commons CC0. To the extent possible under law, uploaders of Pixabay have waived their copyright and related or neighboring rights to these Images and Videos. You are free to adapt and use them for commercial purposes without attributing the original author or source. Although not required, a link back to Pixabay is appreciated.
Please be aware:
a) Images and Videos may not be used in a way that shows identifiable persons in a disgraceful light, or to imply endorsement of products and services by depicted persons, brands, and organisations – unless permission was granted.
b) Certain Images or Videos may be subject to additional copyrights, property rights, trademarks etc. and may require the consent of a third party or the license of these rights.

In short, the license that was on these images was one that required no attribution of the original creators and allowed the images to be used in any way that puts words in the mouths of others. Which seems fair.

There are a number of other license types out there for creative commons and all of them are used in different ways. There are licenses where the image cannot be changed, others where they can only be shared in the same way the original author shared them and non-commercial licenses (so no using them for work without permission!).
To find out more about those (because a lunch break is nowhere near long enough to write a post covering all that) you should go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Because it’s always refreshing when an organisation writes their guidance in anything approaching plain English!