Many chapter sites have images that were uploaded years ago, before Image Credit and copyright confirmation were required. This guide walks through how to check whether an existing image is safe to keep using — and what to do if it isn’t.
Why This Matters
Using an image without permission can result in a legal claim against ASSP, even if the image has been on the chapter site for years and nobody complained. Stock photo agencies and individual photographers actively monitor the web for unlicensed use of their images and send invoices or legal notices when they find one. “It’s been up for three years and nothing happened” does not mean an image is safe — it means it hasn’t been found yet.
Warning Signs an Image May Not Be Okay to Use
- A watermark, logo, or website name is visible on the image (even faint, in a corner, or partially cropped out). Watermarks exist specifically so a stock agency or photographer can identify their work if it’s used without payment — a cropped or edited-out watermark does not make the image legal to use.
- The image looks professionally shot or edited — perfect lighting, staged poses, obvious retouching. Real candid chapter event photos rarely look like stock photography.
- You don’t know where the image came from and there’s no Image Credit filled in.
- The image shows recognizable people without any record of them consenting to be photographed for chapter use.
- The file name looks like a stock photo ID — long strings of numbers, or names like
shutterstock_2847162.jpgorAdobeStock_193028.jpeg.
None of these guarantee a problem, but any of them is a reason to dig further before assuming the image is fine.
How to Reverse Image Search
A reverse image search tells you where else an image appears online, which usually reveals its original source.
Using Google Images:
- Go to images.google.com.
- Click the camera icon in the search bar.
- Upload the image file, or paste the image’s URL if it’s already live on your site.
- Review the results — look for stock photo sites (Shutterstock, Getty, Adobe Stock, iStock) or the original photographer’s page.
Using TinEye:
- Go to tineye.com.
- Upload the image or paste its URL.
- TinEye specializes in finding the earliest known appearance of an image online, which is helpful for identifying original sources Google Images might not surface.
What to do with the results:
- If the image appears on a stock photo site → it’s licensed content and almost certainly not free to use without payment.
- If it appears on a photographer’s personal portfolio or Instagram → it likely belongs to them personally; don’t assume you can use it.
- If it only appears on free stock sites like Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay → it’s safe to keep using (see Finding Free Images to Use on Your Chapter Site).
- If nothing comes up at all → this doesn’t guarantee it’s free to use, but combined with no watermark and a plausible chapter origin (e.g., it looks like an event photo), it’s lower risk.
Auditing Your Chapter’s Existing Images
- Go to Media → Library in your WordPress dashboard.
- Switch to Grid view if it isn’t already selected — this makes it faster to visually scan for watermarks or stock-photo-looking images.
- Click through images that trigger any of the warning signs above.
- For each one, run a reverse image search using the steps above.
- Fill in the Image Credit field with what you find — for example, “Photo taken by [Chapter Name] at [Event], 2024” or “Unsplash.”
- If you determine an image is not safe to use, remove it from any page/post it appears on, then either:
- Replace it with a free stock photo (see Finding Free Images to Use on Your Chapter Site), or
- Replace it with an original chapter photo if you have one.
Tip: You don’t have to audit your entire library in one sitting. Prioritize images used on high-traffic pages (homepage, About page) first, then work through the rest over time.
When in Doubt
If you’re not sure whether an image is safe to use after searching, don’t guess — treat it as risky and either replace it or submit a support ticket and we’ll help you sort it out.