I notice a lot of stock images containing real photos of earth. Unless the artist has his/her own satellite, I can only assume that they got these pictures from somewhere, like NASA.  How is it that they can use these pictures in work they sell (even if it falls in public domain, surely you may not use it and sell the images containing these images)? 

http://www.istockphoto.com/article_view.php?ID=395

Thank you. I am not an IS contributor, but I guess their policy will be very much universal.

I notice a lot of stock images containing real photos of earth...

Some good 3D renders can look like real photos. There are some good 3D models and textures of Earth out there. They can be used to produce images which I cannot tell from photos.

Even on the NASA web site it states that their images can be used in commercial works.

I had a huge beef with one of the agencies in the past about using an image which was authorized to be used "in commercial works".  According to them, that will allow an ad agency, etc. to use it on a billboard or other published material, but did not allow me to use it in work I sell under my own name (even after changes was made to it). Since then I tread very carefully when dealing with "public domain"/"authorized for commercial use" images.

SS no longer accepts nor allows use of NASA images in your work because they say it must be all of your work and no one elses can be a part of it even if it is allowed to be used in a commercial manner.

Quote

Hello All,

Sorry for the delay. 

Regarding questions that came up about our policy with respect to public domain images:

Public domain images are typically those images for which the copyright has expired. Generally, it is safe to say that any image (published or unpublished) created before 1892 or by a U.S. artist who died prior to 1942 is in the public domain in the United States. It is not however easy to determine if an image fits those criteria and is in fact in the public domain.  As copyright laws vary from country to country, determining the copyright status of images created outside of the United States is more complex. 

Unfortunately, researching and verifying the copyright status of public domain images is not practical as part of the review process. On occasion, our policies have attempted to be more forgiving, but we can no longer accept public domain images.  For the foreseeable future we will be adhering to our existing guidelines, which prominently state "submissions must be wholly owned by the submitter. Found or public domain images or footage cannot be submitted under any circumstances."

http://submit.shutterstock.com/guidelines.mhtml

Thanks for your understanding and we sincerely apologize for any confusion.

There are no plans to remove public domain images that are currently in the collection, but we reserve the right to do so as we perform routine reviews and quality assurance. 

In addition, thank you for the feedback regarding our other review policies and communications.  As always, our goal is to have and maintain the best submission experience and your feedback is helpful.

Best Regards,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock

Everybody keeps saying that but they are still accepting my photos with elements of nasa photos.

SS no longer accepts nor allows use of NASA images in your work because they say it must be all of your work and no one elses can be a part of it even if it is allowed to be used in a commercial manner.

Quote

Hello All,

Sorry for the delay. 

Regarding questions that came up about our policy with respect to public domain images:

Public domain images are typically those images for which the copyright has expired. Generally, it is safe to say that any image (published or unpublished) created before 1892 or by a U.S. artist who died prior to 1942 is in the public domain in the United States. It is not however easy to determine if an image fits those criteria and is in fact in the public domain.  As copyright laws vary from country to country, determining the copyright status of images created outside of the United States is more complex. 

Unfortunately, researching and verifying the copyright status of public domain images is not practical as part of the review process. On occasion, our policies have attempted to be more forgiving, but we can no longer accept public domain images.  For the foreseeable future we will be adhering to our existing guidelines, which prominently state "submissions must be wholly owned by the submitter. Found or public domain images or footage cannot be submitted under any circumstances."

http://submit.shutterstock.com/guidelines.mhtml

Thanks for your understanding and we sincerely apologize for any confusion.

There are no plans to remove public domain images that are currently in the collection, but we reserve the right to do so as we perform routine reviews and quality assurance. 

In addition, thank you for the feedback regarding our other review policies and communications.  As always, our goal is to have and maintain the best submission experience and your feedback is helpful.

Best Regards,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock

Good then i will give it a try and see.

What Ponke said.  You can't submit NASA images but can include them in a wider composition.  I think that ban was mainly aimed at scans of images like old books, maps etc.

Yes, I don't think that statement applied to NASA images - according to their info on shutterbuzz (or whatever it's called), NASA images are OK if included as part of a composition with attribution.  I've never tested it but may in the future.

NASA images are OK for submission!

Thanks to NASA for providing us with these wonderful images. These images are created by NASA but you are allowed to use them in your commercial projects. PeopleImages has digitally restored and cleaned each of these images manually and spent hundreds of hours fixing scanning lines, sensor dust and noise problems. Enjoy!

http://peopleimages.com/search#shoot-id:780836

Thanks to NASA for providing us with these wonderful images. These images are created by NASA but you are allowed to use them in your commercial projects. PeopleImages has digitally restored and cleaned each of these images manually and spent hundreds of hours fixing scanning lines, sensor dust and noise problems. Enjoy!

http://peopleimages.com/search#shoot-id:780836

Credit where it's due, they seem to be available for free

Not so new: 47 posts since Feb.

Quote from: CD123 on October 02, 2012, 15:48

Quote from: heywoody on October 02, 2012, 11:40

Quote from: ProImage on October 02, 2012, 03:18

Thanks to NASA for providing us with these wonderful images. These images are created by NASA but you are allowed to use them in your commercial projects. PeopleImages has digitally restored and cleaned each of these images manually and spent hundreds of hours fixing scanning lines, sensor dust and noise problems. Enjoy!

http://peopleimages.com/search#shoot-id:780836

Credit where it's due, they seem to be available for free

Very true. Well done.
Next question, who is our new member ProImage who has so much insider info into peopleimages.com's activities?

haha I found this image on the site http://peopleimages.com/image/blue-planet-nasa-space-outer-space

The rest is just the image description I copied.

Good one