Does it violate copyright to paint from a copyrighted photo, then sell the painting?

I see a lot of very nice images online of places %26amp; would like to paint from them, but if they are copyrighted is this ok, if later I might want to sell the painting? I have a realistic style, but it is interpretive, not photographic. (I will add that the images I would be painting would be places I've been before, so I know what the terrain climate and vegetation are like. I don't always have nice photos of when I visited those places though, or from that particular view).





Thanks!Does it violate copyright to paint from a copyrighted photo, then sell the painting?
This question falls under the ';Fair Use'; section of Copyright Law, here's a link to the Fair Use page on the website of the U.S. Copyright Office http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html


The actual limits are very fuzzy, but one of the most important things to pay attention to is this, ';the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.'; Basically meaning (in this case) that if people are less likely to buy the photo you based the painting on because of your painting, then you are infringing on the photographer's copyright.


Although there is no fool-proof formula, most will say that if your painting is altered 60-70% (which is hard to quantify) from the original photo, you are protected under Fair Use.





If that doesn't help I would recommend posting this question in the Law section.





Good luck!Does it violate copyright to paint from a copyrighted photo, then sell the painting?
Yes. It is also unethical to do without getting permission from the photographer.


Any photo you have taken does not have to be ';nice'; to use as an inspiration to do a painting from. I think all artists are interpretive, so not having a perfect reference to paint from should not be an issue.


Just because a photo looks good doesn't indicate it will look good as a painting.
Simply put, No. It is illegal. BUT there are certain loopholes around it, like adding your own element to the painting and omitting an element. You have to decide if selling it is worth the risk of the original artist coming after you for Copyright infringement. And you have to have a good argument to state that you did not copy them, but rather you drew your inspiration from ________________(Fill in the blank here) and not from their images.
Technically it does violate a copyright, but any case brought against you would be very hard to prove especially if you used significant amounts of ';interpretation';. Musicians copy each others riffs all the time and its called ';sampling';.


My advice it not to worry about it at all and paint away.