Images: Copyright / reusing images / creative commons licences

Creative Commons (CCL) is a licensing system set up to help image creators distribute their work. 

An image has a licence attached indicating how it can or cannot be used.               

There are four elements to the licensing system and this information can be found alongside the photo on the website if a CC licence has been applied.

• Attribution (BY) - You must credit the licensor of the work                 
• Non Commercial (NC) - You can only use the work for non-commercial purposes                 
• No Derivatives (ND) - You cannot create adaptations of the work                 
• Share alike (SA) - You can create adaptations of the work, but these must be under the same licence as this work                 

The four elements are applied in different variations to form six licences. 

• Attribution-Only (CC-BY)              
• Attribution-No-Derivatives (CC-BY-ND)               
• Attribution-Non-Commercial No–Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)                 
• Attribution-Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC)                 
• Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike (CC-BY-NC-SA)                 
• Attribution-Share Alike (CC-BY-SA)                 
• Public Domain (CC-0)

The latter is an overall public domain licence (CC-0) which means the image has no copyright attached and is free to use on all accounts.