here’s a story.
my friend started jamie eason’s livefit trainer today. she has been texting me about it a bit.. asking questions, commenting on the program, you know. today she mentioned that the turkey meatloaf muffins she made were SUPER garlicky. i asked how much garlic the recipe called for.. and when she told me 2 tablespoons of garlic powder, i had to see that for myself. 2 TABLESPOONS of garlic powder seemed ridiculous.
i headed to bodybuilding.com, where jamie eason’s recipes are listed, and started perusing the recipes for turkey meatloaf muffins. side note: i did find her recipe and it did, indeed, call for 2 tablespoons of garlic powder or 2 cloves of garlic. i am sorry, but 2 cloves of garlic is nowhere near the equivalent of 2 tablespoons of granulated garlic powder. just, no. but that has nothing to do with my post. i just wanted to give you the background story of how i made a disturbing discovery today.
while on bodybuilding.com, i found another recipe for turkey meatloaf muffins. it was in an article that was a 1-week fit meal planner. i scrolled through the article and was shocked to see a photograph of some turkey meatloaf muffins that looked strangely familiar…
…the reason it looked so familiar is because it is MY PHOTO. from the first time i made my turkey meatloaf muffins back in march of 2010.
i was immediately filled with a range of emotions, the strongest being betrayal. someone had stolen something that was MINE and didn’t say a WORD about it. they posted MY photo and they were trying to pass it off as THEIR muffins.
after the initial wave of feelings, i started to get a little pissed. i realize that anyone can take anything from the internet and pass it off as their own.. and chances are, they will never get caught. but this was on bodybuilding.com! a huge website. and not only that, a website i frequent all the time. a website that i just dropped $72 on last night when placing an order for supplements. a website that i thought had a whole lot of credibility.
until i saw they stole my photo.
and were lying about how their recipes actually look.
i went to both facebook and twitter to complain about the situation. i emailed my contact at bodybuilding.com (because she is awesome and i knew she would help.. we have actually become great online buddies) and told her the situation. this wasn’t her fault.. but i am sure she hated reading my email explaining the situation since the responsible party was one of her co-workers. she apologized up and down and assured me the situation would be fixed.
sure enough, the photo was soon taken down and the article is still there with the recipe–just no photo. the funny thing is, this article that had my photo has plenty of recipes on it. six, to be exact. and these recipes don’t have photos.. so what was the point of putting a fake photo of the meatloaf muffin recipe in the article at all? why not just skip the photo like they did with the rest of the recipes?? my mind is baffled.
now it’s night time. i have had all day to think about what happened and reflect on the whole situation in general. i am not mad anymore.. and i don’t even feel betrayed. i just am annoyed. and i have also lost a LOT of respect for one of my favorite websites. if they used a phony photo for one recipe, chances are several of the other recipes on their site have photos that aren’t actually of the recipe posted. the credibility for the food photography on bodybuilding.com just went straight out the window.. even IF any of the photos are legit. who’s to know?
this experience set my mind into a tailspin.
enter: two different debates.
debate #1: using food photographs that are of the actual recipe.
there are often times recipes i see online and then make.. and my version NEVER turns out like the photo. granted, this is usually due to human error, but it makes me wonder how many recipe photos were actually of the recipe listed. i know when i have seen really fat, fluffy pancake recipes online, i bookmark them because they look fabulous. and i assume they are really made using the ingredients listed. i know my pancakes from yesterday sure are. but sometimes i see recipes for protein pancakes that look RIDICULOUSLY fluffy and fantastic.. and i kind of wonder if they really were made using the ingredients the recipe lists.
for example.. i am now skeptical that this pancake recipe actually turns out like the photograph above the recipe:
[source]
i say that i am skeptical because i make a nearly identical protein pancake recipe and they don’t look like that. usually i would just think it was due to human error and differences in the cooking method, heat setting, etc, but now i wonder if the pancakes in the photo above were even made using the ingredients in the recipe at all.
ya know?
i then got to thinking about food photography and food styling. it is really common for food stylists and photographers to use items that aren’t even food AT ALL and pass them off as food in the photos.
a few examples i found after doing a quick google search:
- using motor oil as syrup
- using dish soap to make bubbles in coffee
- placing a pencil under a hot dog to make the bun appear fuller
- microwaved cotton balls stuffed inside food to create a “steamy” appearance
- using shoe polish to paint grill marks onto meat
aye, aye, aye.
i knew this kind of thing happened in the magazine and book worlds of food photography. when i see new clean eating recipes in oxygen magazine, i wonder “how did they get that protein ice cream to LOOK like a legit ice cream sundae?!” um, because it’s probably not made from the real recipe. happens all the time in all of the magazines i read, i am sure. and, who knows, it could easily be happening on some of my favorite blogs. i sure hope not, because i think that those bloggers have a lot of credibility and actually photograph the food they make using the recipes they post.
moving on…
debate #2: when is it OK to post someone else’s photo and/or recipe?
if i had seen my turkey muffin photo on the article with a credit source to my recipe, i would still not have been okay with this. why? because the recipe listed wasn’t the recipe used for the photo. it’s straight up lying.
however, if my recipe was posted along with my photo AND the link back to the original post, that would be a different story.
there are a lot of different views on if it is OK to post another blogger’s recipe onto your own blog. i know i have posted photos that i did not take–like this post–but i always gave credit to the sources of the photos. also, if i am posting a photo that belongs to someone else AND talking about their recipe, i will never post their full recipe AND their photo. that is just taking their content and passing it off as your own.
lame.
however, if i make someone’s recipe and take my OWN photographs of the recipe, that is a different story. i love it when i see someone make my recipe, link back to my original post, and post a photo of how the recipe turned out for them. it’s part of the joy that comes with sharing recipes! that’s what we do. we share our recipes in hopes others will make them and enjoy them.. if we didn’t want our recipes to be made, we wouldn’t blog about them! we’d just keep them to ourselves, right? so when a recipe is made by a fellow blogger and they post their photos, experience, thoughts, changes, etc.. it is awesome to see the feedback.
here is where i stand on the debate, bullet style:
- any photo taken from another website MUST have the source. i either do this by writing [source] by the photo with a link, linking to the original source on the photo directly (which makes it so when you click the photo it takes you to the source) or by stating the photo source at the end of a post.
- any photo of a recipe taken from another website MUST have the source and you shouldn’t actually post the recipe! if you post a photo of the recipe that you got from the blogger and say something like, “i have to make this soon! looks so great!” with a link to the recipe, then that’s awesome.. it spreads the word about the blogger’s post and sends traffic their way. if you post the photo AND the recipe.. why would your readers bother clicking over to the site where you pulled the recipe from? they’ve got it in front of their face, after all.
- if you make a recipe taken from another blog and made NO changes.. just say “i made this recipe” with a link to the recipe and a photo of how yours turned out.
- if you make a recipe taken from another blog and make a few changes.. list the changes you made. if there are only one or two, i will typically say “i followed this recipe for the most part, except i subbed out this for that and that for this.” and then i’d include a photo of my version with a link to the original recipe.
- if you make a recipe taken from another blog and make a whole slew of changes, i think it’s fine to post the recipe you ended up with, but make sure you say “recipe adapted from this one” or even if you got the idea from someone, it’s nice to say “recipe inspired by this one” with a link.
yep. those are my thoughts.
i would love to hear yours…
oh and by the way, i made sweet potato shepherd’s pie tonight.
i followed my own recipe. i took a photo of the real food. that i actually ate.
it may not be a glamour shot.. but hey, it’s a real recipe. and a real photo. and it really came from me. and it is really good.
Qs~
1. thoughts on faux food photos?
2. thoughts on recipe reposting?
xo. janetha g.
Next Comments →
This was an excellent post Janetha. Thank you so much for educating all of us. I am also freaked out by the “art” of food photography. I wish they would just take a legitimate photo of the real food – as you do. It is really frustrating when the recipe you make looks NOTHING like their example. I hate that, and it makes me feel like a failure. The shepherd’s pie looks yummy by the way. I’m going to make it this weekend.
Seriously WTF with bodybuilding.com. I am flabbergasted. You hear of bloggers doing this but a website? Dude.
I need to double check myself on this issue. I actually rarely post recipes because 1. my food photography is shit and 2. I make up stuff as I go. I’ll give a run-down but not an step by step recipe. Still, I should make sure I’m giving credit where it is due. I *think* I am pretty good.
One thing I’m noticing, recipes on pinterest? Why not link to the photo? Then you can click the photo to get to the post with the recipe.
I love Food Photography … I actually take pics of the food I make or eat out … but all is edible food … so therefore the results are not always optimal … I am either too hungry or the family is anxious to start dinner … so I do the best I can … but at least everything is “eatable”!
I had a very similar situation with a local restaurant when I discovered they were using one of my photos in a restaurant review post I wrote, and didn’t give me credit for the photo or link to my blog. I actually was shocked by how poorly they handled my email requesting that if they wanted to use the photo (totally fine!) that all i ask they do is give me credit. Well… Let’s just say I haven’t been back. It’s really sad what little respect some people have for other’s property. Creative or not. Sucks too bc they’re food was bangin.
wow that must be SO frustrating!
i also find it funny that bodybuilding just took down your photo. nothing else. hmph!
Wow. I am way too sleepy to articulate myself this evening but I wanted to say that I love this post. I was following your tweets earlier today and it is amazing to see how your emotions morphed from this morning to this evening. Very well written. I think your main point is give credit where credit is due and trying to define where the line really is in food photography – definitely agree with giving the proper credit and wow what a slippery slope there can be with photography.
I can’t believe they were using your photo at bodybuilding.com – so crazy! I would have been pretty upset! It reminds me of the issue with VegNews using istockphoto images for their recipes – no wonder our versions never turn out like the photos in magazine!!!
And, I love your bullets on the debate. Those are my thoughts exactly!!
First off, I made your sweet potato shepherds pie, and posted my pic but linked back to your recipe. Because it’s an awesome recipe and deserves recognition. So good!
I think it’s really too bad that this website posted your photo, but I kind of understand it. Food photography is hard! They’re a big site, and they should totally know better, but if they were in a rush to get some recipes posted, well, google images is easy to use. What they probably should have done instead was a reader contest to take some good photos.
The thing about recipe posting tht really grinds my gears is when people change two or three things and post the whole recipe as “adapted from.” I don’t get it! I spend a lot of time developing my recipes and testing them, but I have learned so much about cooking from it, that it’s totally worthwhile.
If you don’t like it when people share your recipes and give you credit, you should probably stop posting recipes on your blog.
Eesh, I can only imagine how shocked I would feel if I came across my own content somewhere else online being associated to something completely different with no credit given. I’ve never been a huge fan of watermarks on photos, but I do understand the person’s desire to label their own work.
I remember a huge scandal in the vegetarian world where it was discovered that a popular veg magazine was using photos of actual meat alongside their vegetarian recipes. Crazy. I do find it easier to trust bloggers versus magazines and other publications when it comes to portraying the recipe accurately.
I remember that, too. It was crazy that they were just photoshopping the meat out of the photo.. um, at least find a photo of the actual food you’re talking about. Photoshopping seems like it would be extra work…
I am so sorry that happened to you…I’m sure it was an awful feeling!
I think your bullet points are spot on…great points
Why hello sherpherd’s pie….I’ve never had you but you look mighty fine!
I’m frustrated for you in this situatiuon, to prevent that would you consider putting your blog name on the photos like some other sites do or just not your thing? The only reason I can see them using it instead of nothing at all is to entice readers or b/c they didnt have better on their own. Personally I like seeing how a meal is supposed to look when making something. I always use the source when I can but through the years Ive saved various pics to my computer and have no clue where I got them. I agree with you on the recipe making as well, if I make no changes, I link back without posting the recipe (also try to do when I make something from a cookbook) but i I make my own revisions, I post it with said revisions.
I like taking pics of food especially when I have some natural light and can angle it at home but am not anal about it like some are (ex. my plates will have a smudge of the food on the side, doesnt bother me)
PS-Bought tickets for this wknds game against the Utah Jazz, thought of you!
oooo! go jazz! haha. i love nba games!
the funny thing is that photo of the muffins sucks. they could have google imaged a zillion better photos. strange mine was there. and the rest of the recipes had no photo at all.. so why that one? so, so strange.
When I saw you post about in on Facebook I was so pissed! I’m doing LiveFit right now and love Jamie Eason and up until now liked bodybuilding.com enough, but that’s just shady. Especially for a legit site that makes enough money to have real photos or at lease be professional and cite sources. Blah, the whole situation leaves me feeling a bit letdown.
I also am super frustrated by sites/people who use photos for recipes that aren’t the same food. It’s basically false advertising and in real businesses (like restaurants) it is not allowed but online it happens because anything goes, more or less. Eh, who am I kidding, it probably happens everywhere and in magazines too. There is no honesty in the world.
This has left me pretty sad but at the same time… yum to turkey meatloaf muffins! I had some today for lunch! :)
If I remember right, someone was stealing your entire posts.. right? So lame.
Yeah. Things on the internet are hard to protect. It’s a bummer. :(
I’m SO sorry that that happened! That’s baffling to me, but you handled it in a great way. It’s too bad that a big site like that was so willing to tarnish it’s credibility when a simple, “hey can we use this pic for our post? we will credit you” would have taken 4 seconds!
It’s funny you talk about not using a picture that’s not from the recipe, I was just thinking about it because I saw a Healthy Choice frozen meal commercial, and I was like NO way that that looks like that out of the microwave. It kind of annoys me when ads go over the top like that, or they show 19 portions instead of a reasonable one.
There are a few blogs I’ve stopped reading because they will post a recipe and then use a picture of traditional lasagna, and then I read that the recipe has zucchini noodles. They aren’t the same thing! I’d rather see what you made thankyouverymuch.
Oh and I need to try that shepherd’s pie. I LOVE shepherd’s pie so much!
tough questions…. food photography IS an art, right? and even food (like human models in magazines) are styled because the authors and publishers want them to look good. but if i’m not paying $34.99 for a coffee table quality gallery style cookbook, then i don’t need shoe polish grill marks on a photo of a steak on a blog or recipe site. that’s just a waste of good food :)
always cite your sources. DUH. for a legit company to not cite you is just unsettling…there is this little thing we call business ethics…
anyway, it’s great that you’re taking it with a grain of salt. or with a plate of shepherds pie. i don’t know why someone would ever use a normal potato when there are sweet ones in this world! looks great!
I hate this. it is SO incredibly frustrating, it has happened to me more times than I can count (including three times someone has posted my photos to tastespotting/foodgawker – and they were approved!).
it is stealing, absolutely. so many people think it is okay, because “it’s the internet – you share it, it’s fair game”. I have had SO many people use this argument with me, and honestly? they are sites with so little traffic I just drop it. the main thing for me is that I spend so much time developing recipes and taking photos, and other sites take 2 minutes to copy + paste the entire thing. no permission, no credit given. again, most of the time it is a blog, but there have been a couple times when it is a website, like in this case, and once – a newspaper!
someone once told me a great way to find your content copied elsewhere is to take a random sentence somewhere in your post or recipe, copy / paste into google. people often know enough to change a title or recipe name, then leave the rest as is. I was BLOWN AWAY how many things I found. I can’t do it anymore.
I have only used other’s photos a couple of times, usually in a round up listing type of post and only after I’ve been given permission. I love to share other recipes (I did today!), but I only post my photos and share any changes I have made – if you want the recipe I give a link to the original.
faux food – no! just no! I have a food styling book that talks about all of those things, and it’s fun to read! but I have never done anything like that, each and every photo I take are actual photos right before I eat that plate! from the real ingredients I listed in the recipe! (I love when I can capture steam, though… I may have to think about the cotton balls…) ;) KIDDING.
sorry this happened – glad it was a fairly smooth takedown.
Kris, I totally agree and didn’t even read your comment til I commented right under you…and as we’ve chatted about on email…umm, yeah. Shocking what you see out there!
I had your post in mind when I was thinking about this! The way you posted the fudge and your changes was exactly the way I believe it should be done.
Girl I have written about this ad nauseum. I have my recipes reprinted in entirety, no changes made, daily. I have gotten over it as the years go by, for the most part. If they link back to me at all, that’s good…I wish they would link to the actual recipe, not just my main URL but anyone who is reprinting in entirety doesn’t seem to get that, either.
The issue of taking photos: never. You can be sued. Period. As a photographer, I can tell you that photos are copyright protected in a much stricter way than recipes or written words and you cannot take and reprint, period, without expression permission. You cannot take images you find on google images searches, you cannot take photos from other bloggers, you really just cannot take photos unless you have express permission from the photographer.
There are tons of cases where people are sued for 5k for a photo of carrots or seemingly trivial things like that.
Food styling and using fake food and tricks. It’s done, yes, but I advocate using natural methods and when I take workshops, I only attend natural food photography events. No motor oil on turkeys. Maybe some coconut oil to make it shiny, not WD-40.
I could go on and on. Oh, and I have been reprinted in entirety and ripped off by bodybuilding.com about 3 yrs ago. A few readers of mine brought it to my attn back in the day.
De-lurking to chime in. As a photographer I find it amazing how often copyright laws are breached on the internet. In the “real world” this is an absolute no-no punishable by law so why do people think its ok online? My friend an author, blogger and photographer made an excellent poster to highlight this:
http://blog.piajanebijkerk.com/WordPress/2011/03/18/giving-credit/
PS. Wonderful blog Janetha, have been reading for a long time but never commented :)
Thanks for chiming in and thanks for the link to the poster. I love flow charts and am off to read the whole thing!
SO RAD.
I’ve seen more and more businesses doing this. I read both food/health blogs and beauty blogs. Two businesses have been busted recently for using other bloggers photos and cropping out their watermarks.
I guess at this point people are going to need to watermark the center of their photos. Horrible that it is necessary but really the only way to prevent some jerk from taking them.
I need more coffee. I first read that “cropping out their watermelons”.. sigh.
And watermarking is a PAIN in the ass.. I tried it for a few weeks and gave up because I am lazy. Sigh again.
thats a wee bit sketchy. Just sounds like someone was slacking on the job on their end. I would have done the same, just followed up with them.
from now on, its copyrighting, yes?
Everything already is copyrighted.. but apparently that doesnt stop anyone =/
I actually saw your tweet or maybe it was on FB early today and I clicked on the link but they had take the photo by then.
That sucks what happened to you, I would feel the same way too. Glad that they took the photo down but that’s beside the point, the point is that they took your photo and tried to get away with it.
Thanks for sharing the food styling industry secrets…never even thought that they did that, motor oil as syrup?
That same kind of thing happened to my friend. BIDRACK’S put of picture of her with the bag she designed on their website with some testimonial (different name) claiming they were selling the bag. Sad and annoying that websites are so dishonest. Here is her story:
http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2011/02/cool-and-not-cool.html
Oh your friend with the cute bracelets! That’s so whack. I am sure she was FURIOUS. And what’s worse, it that it’s false advertising. Um, no, miss Stefania did not get a bag for 95% off. Ugh.
i saw your FB post on this earlier today and it made me mad for you that it happened! the LEAST they could have done was cite you as the source for it, otherwise it total plagiarism and that is just uncool.
have you heard of the book “Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs”? it’s really cool…each chapter is a profession (actor, doctor, escort…) and it is one person who is in that profession and they talk about their “gig”. anyway, there is a chapter about a food stylist (which is why i brought this up) and i remember reading that she used all sorts of inedible stuff to make her food photos look delicious. now i look at food pics a lot differently! the following is the link to that chapter i found on google if you’re interested :)
http://books.google.com/books?id=qNul6gQdbj4C&pg=PA255&lpg=PA255&dq=gig+food+stylist&source=bl&ots=Ckmn-CJS9d&sig=3Bc5MjMzoBkLda-6qpQ_EZUiifk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qeYLT76KK8mQiQKW5ejqAw&ved=0CE0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
Thanks for the link, Elaine! I can’t wait to eat a bowl of cereal with hair tonic…
That whole food picture thing bothers me alot. Luckily my food pictures never look that great so I’m not really leading anyone on. LOL. Your little google search came up with some pretty entertaining find though.
Recipes- yes, if you use someone else’s recipe- just link. I think you can repost if you change enough things to the recipe, but still give credit to the original source or inspiration behind the recipe. :) XO
I was actually just reading food blogging 101 by averie @ loves veggies & yoga and she talks about photo stealing. Not cool at all!!!! Especially cuz bloggers put sooo much effort in to their taking them, editing etc. You should always ask permission if you want to use someones photos before posting and ALWAYS credit the source and trackback. Stealing online is still stealing and I know our mom’s taught us better than that!
Janeetha, that is so horrible & I would have reacted the same way. Even though information is widely available on the internet, it is never right to pass someone’s else’s anything as your own! I’m glad the problem was resolved and thanks for enlightening me on all of those “tricks” that are used in food photography, maybe I’m living under a rock, but the only one I’d heard of was the “got milk” ads. Thanks again!
Wow… I am really surprised that a reputable site like that would be using such shady practices. I agree that if you use someones photo, you like to the source clearly in your blog. If you use someones recipe, you link to the recipe and say you copied it. If you modified it, also link to the recipe. I would never uses someones photo AND recipe because at that point, your just rewriting Their blog!!
Yes! Exactly! I found a blog the other day that was doing just that.. it’s like, where’s the effort??
Here’s an example of one of her posts, that I know is Chocolate Covered Katie’s recipe and photo: http://1fitchick.blogspot.com/2012/01/healthy-sugar-free-cookie-dough.html
And it’s all over pinterest leading to her blog. So lame.
Wow, that is CRAZY that they would use your picture. That just seems… so wrong. I too trust bodybuilding.com and use it all the time for new workouts, recipes, and placing HUGE supplement orders.
Thank you for the insight, and I am sorry this happened to you.
I agree whole-heartedly with all your bullet points, Janetha.
Have you thought about formal follow-up with bodybuilders.com?
I am supposed to be receiving an email from one of the media guys. Haven’t yet.
i would be so frustrated too if i were you. i think the best thing to do is to (if you’re using someone’s photo) at least ASK if it’s ok to post their photo WITH credit if the recipe is similar and would likely turn out the same. i know that’s probably just too easy, but it’s the ethical thing to do!
Thats so crazy! I have to SO agree with you on making a recipe based on the picture and then having the recipe turn out totally different. This frustrates me a lot- especially with baked goods when I know I was spot on with the measurements etc.
I recently read a craft blog talk about why she watermarks her photos. A tutorial she did years ago got picked up by some other website – as in, they just took all her instructions and photos and DIDN’T credit her, and then THAT non-original website got pinned – BIG TIME. Driving tons of traffic to the site that did originally create the content.
This is something that I’ve heard discussed again and again, it seems, since I started communicating with people in the HLB world. [we did a BTT post on it last year, after HLB Founder, Lindsey, posted about it herself. You may be interested in the discussion there, too: http://healthylivingblogs.com/2011/03/blog-tip-thursdays-recipe-sharing/ ]
Although, I must say – that when I first started blogging, I didn’t really THINK about this stuff. I posted a photo I took of the pages in a cookbook of a recipe I was giving step by step photos for. I just didn’t think about it. No one told me, “ummm….that’s not a good idea, silly!” I was just ignorant. And I think a lot of time, perhaps, we as a community could dare to be a little bit more tactful and a little more considerate in terms of pointing fingers.
I would say that just about weekly I get an email I have come to personal call a “cry-out.” A blogger emails me, or a group of blogger friends, to ask how to handle a situation in which they found their content republished on another site. I would say that 95% of the time the links they send in their email are to blogs that have been in existence for less than 3 months. Sometimes, people just don’t KNOW better – they don’t KNOW the best practices. They don’t GET it, yet. I think that as leaders in this community [people who set things into motion in the community] that we should aim to be educators on this front.
Also – maybe it’s just my inherent need to play the defender in every story I hear, but perhaps the same is for the person who put up your photo. Maybe they didn’t even know better. Maybe it was some sort of intern and no one took the time necessary to explain things and she/he thought she was doing something GOOD for the website. [which, would have been a mistake.] Or maybe it was someone who knew better, who no longer works there. If you loved the website/company so much more BEFORE this, and they are quick to fix it and being totally apologetic…. I guess, perhaps, what I am encouraging is that forgiveness can be given to brands as well as people. People make mistakes. I know I sure do. Brands do, too. [because they are run by people]
Also….
It goes much past recipes and photos though –
This fall, I attended a brand trip with a bunch of bloggers I’d never met before. I had a list of people attending weeks before hand and wanted to check out their blogs to give myself a little “about” session on each of the girls I would be spending the week with. When I came across one blog, i noticed that she had the same graphic in her blog header as a dear, dear friend of mine. I happen to know that my friend paid a designer to make her header, and it made me raise my eyebrows a bit.
i should clarify that the “cry-out” emails come from numerous bloggers, not just one blogger.
Agree on the “not knowing any better” front. I’ve emailed a handful of bloggers who had copied my recipe and photo, and a few of them honestly didn’t know and changed it right away. Some didn’t think they were doing anything wrong, but a few were truly apologetic and thanked me for letting them know the “do’s and don’ts” of recipe blogging.
People are legally allowed to copy ingredient lists but not directions.
Awesome points, Heather! I always love your insight. It’s definitely possible the offender didn’t know better. This has happened with my blog posts time and again with the exact verbiage (with all my quirky words) copied and pasted to a community recipe blog. They didn’t know better and apologized up and down and took it down.
I thought better of a major website, and would imagine they’d employ people who know the ropes. I think that the thing that pisses me off more than them using my photo is that they are trying to say one thing looks like another. I guess with meatloaf muffins it’s not a big deal since they do all look the same.. but it’s the concept.
That’s really disappointing about the header issue! Wow..
I totally understand your frustration, Janetha! I am now looking through my own photos on the blog history to see if there is anything I myself have done that shows one thing, but really it’s another! this post has REALLY got me thinking :)
Thanks!
Just commenting on the recipes/photos…I think you’re spot-on. Give credit where credit is due. I tend to make a lot of changes to any recipe…blog, cookbook, etc. so tend to re-work the recipes but always give credit to the original.
I’m totally with you on the photos.
I need to rethink the recipe reposting. I usually post the recipes because 90% of the time I change something in them. And I’m of the school of making things easier for readers. AND I encourage people to go to the site I got the recipe from because most of the time it’s from a blog that I frequent and I want other people to get the same enjoyment out of it. :)
However, I think after reading this, I’m going to only post the recipe if I make changes to it and link to the original one (which I link to the original one ANYWAY, but you have a good point about people not clicking on it).
Also, WTF, BB.com? I use that site a lot too. And I can’t believe they just randomly stole your photo. And passed it off as their recipe. I agree. Straight up lying.
Side note: I actually have a friend who does “CIY” (cook it yourself) over at 20’s hacker. She makes recipes she finds on pinterest and then posts how they turn out. (here’s her latest: http://twentieshacker.com/ciy-cilantro-lime-chicken).
Oh, that’s awesome! I actually pinned that chicken recipe the other day, hahaha. Thanks for the link to her blog. Cute idea. I like how she compares the photos pinned to her photos. I would still probably just link to the recipe if it wasn’t changed, but it looks like she does a great job of giving credit to the original creators.
i agree – that blog is awesome and does a great job of crediting. It’s a bit like two other favorites I have – Brownies and Zucchini ( http://browniesand zucchini.com ) which is AWESOME at crediting, and Pinterest Fail ( http://www.pinterestfail.com/ ), which is v. new, but a brilliant, hilarious, and perhaps completely necessary idea from Jenna Anderson of That Wife Blog and Jenna Cole Photography.
I read B&Z and am off to check out Pinterest Fail. The name alone makes me know I am going to LOVE that blog.
Good post – glad it got taken care of.
As for the garlic, I did the full 2 TBSP and thought they were fine! Maybe I really like garlic? Also, the recipe says to make 12 muffins and it is supposed to be 18. Maybe she only made 12 so the garlic was extra concentrated??
I would probably be ok with that much garlic, too.. but I think for people who aren’t in love with garlic, 2 TB is a lot and 2 TB doesnt=2 cloves. I would never only use 2 cloves in a recipe, though, because I am ridiculous and use like 6 or 7 haha.
hahah same, which is why i didn’t even question the 2 tbsp!
wow, that is not cool! I’m glad you got it removed. I think sometimes people just do a google image search and assume they can use whatever photos pop up, not so. I’m all for sharing a great recipe, but you need to give credit to the person who created and ideally think to their site as well.
Not cool at ALL! I hate when I here people doing stuff like this! I give credit where credit is due! I do not steal, its horrible and it will come back to bite you in the ass!
Love you!
SO NOT COOL!!! I was watching this convo yesterday on twitter. its crazy that people can do this and its not illegal or something. i dunno. imagine if it were something more important than a recipe or photo? seems sketchy. i wont tell kyle about it since this is his worst fear in being all over the internet.
ps that much garlic makes my breath hurt just thinking about it.
I have had a few photos “stolen” including some before and after shots from a fitness program that ended up on a supplement site! It was on an old forum and they just took them and did nothing when I asked for them to be taken down. Very frustrating!
I see that so often! It’s like no, that person did not lose the weight using your diet pill! Frustrating.
I don’t want to “name drop” but I definitely know a few bloggers (one in particular) who use “food substitutes” i their photography to make the pictures look better. I think this is super misleading and essentially, false advertising. I also think it’s “cheating”. I guess I’m “okay” with using enhancers to make the quality of the food look better (i.e. rubbing shoe polish on raw meat to make it look “crusty”). To me, that’s kind of like adjusting the color/lighting. It’s when bloggers/food photographers use replacements for the food (i.e. shaving cream instead of frosting) that I think is wrong. Esepcially when they boast the recipe is great with their “homemade buttercream frosting!!!”. No, it’s great with shaving cream. And drizzled with motor oil, apparently.
and as far as using other people’s pictures? thats fine. But give a girl credit where credit is due!
thanks for this post, J!
I remember watching a video in junior high about how food commercials are made! And watching them use elmer’s glue as milk in cereal ads just blew my mind. They showed you how McD’s make their burgers look so good in commercials while using very little actual food.
I admit, I like pretty pictures on blogs. But I also want honesty. I don’t want to make a recipe and be bummed out because mine looked nothing like the amazing picture I saw of it.
But anyway…. maybe its time to watermark your photos? What a pain, though!
I know. SUCH a pain.
That is crazy that they stole your photo! Great tips in here!
Dude…that blows my mind. But your response should be required reading for all bloggers and website owners. Well played, friend.
Fascinating post, and really well articulated girl. It’s such a controversial thing, and I know it probably happens all the time with my photos, I just have no way of knowing. I always assumed it is being done by robo-bloggers and on small sites, not anything large and important! I’m glad that you were able to get that resolved, but it’s such a big problem. I so respect you for handling the issue with such grace, I would have been SO pissed. <3
that was one thing i always thought was a give in, but found out it wasn’t, and that was sourcing where you get your recipes. i have seen so many that i know i have seen others post, or i know where the recipe came from and the person claimed it as their own. i ALWAYS source even if i just took the idea from someone, but tweaked it to my own. i would hope someone would always do the same to me.
kind of stinks when it happens to you, but take it as a compliment. they clearly thought it was worth taking :)
The first thing that I thought of when you mentioned food looking different is any sort of frozen meal. But I think it comes down to art and advertising. If you took a real picture of a Kashi frozen meal and put it on the box, no one would say, “This looks good!” I think it’s just become commonplace to have stylized picture of food for advertising sake and if a company or website were not to do that, no one would buy their food because the other company’s food looks better, at least on the package.
I agree with you on the recipe/photo debate. Although I also think that there are a lot of people that just don’t know any better. Jason is always telling me that I should change one or two ingredients from a recipe and call it my own (or at least write the recipe) and doesn’t understand when I say that I won’t do that. How do you feel, however, about including an entire recipe in a blog post when it’s not from another blog? Like if you got it from Food Network or Allrecipes? Is it okay to put it on your blog then, in your opinion?
While using the photo without citing the source is unethical, that is the only part of using your photo that is wrong. You do own the copyright, but there is no stated “all rights reserved” policy on you blog. Many will take that as a “fair use” policy.
I have to note that I immediately found the photo through Google Image -and the blog using it isn’t yours. So likely IF Bodybuilder had cited a source, it still wouldn’t have been you.
The larger the business -whether print or online- the less likely the photo they use is one of their own. Perhaps it’s because I’m not a food blogger, that I don’t even expect that anymore.
Or maybe it’s because I used to write for a large-ish website (BlogHer), and was required to source photos for every article I submitted. Finding a photo was often the hardest part of the job. I always preferred to limit my searches to those with a Creative Commons license (use with attribution)- many professionals don’t.
There’s a copyright notice down at my footer that covers everything on the whole site. It’s small, though. Chances are this one was pulled from Google images, and they never even looked at my site..
However, I did figure out later on that the author of the BB.com article lives in my town. So she probably does look at my blog. Which sucks even more.
I tried searching for my image on Google image, too, and mine never came up. You said you immediately found it–what term did you type in? Just curious. Also, it’s so weird because that was a shitty photo. Why they chose to use it is beyond me.
What bothers me the most is the misleading representation trying to play it off that their recipes look a certain way, but in reality, they just pulled a generic image that isn’t the recipe at all. Lame.
My search term: turkey muffins? I think. (what did you search?) Right on the top row came your photo with a link to kathleentensori.com.
Awesome, thank you for the info! Because that is actually the author of the Bodybuilding.com article that had my photo. Same offender. Same girl.
Oh! And I searched “turkey meatloaf muffins” for some reason.. ha.
Such a great post Janetha!! I agree to what your “rules” are exactly. I always give people a little slack if they are new to blogging, but when I see people straight up re-posting recipes with like 1-2 changes and they’ve been blogging for years, it’s a little frustrating. Sorry that happened to you! I’ve had similar situations occur but never on a professional website! Maybe it’s time to start watermarking the photos!
I know, I wish it wasn’t such a tedious task!!
I know it’s still tedious, but you do know about watermarking right in WLW (which i know you love!), right?
Sigh. I miss WLW SO much. It was so easy to watermark in there! I usually did it for guest posts but got lazy on my own.
Anyone know of an easy way to watermark with Mac apps?
wow that is so frustrating!!!! I loved your post though – it brings up such a great question of ethics. Glad it was all resolved so quickly though. You should “demand” that they post your picture back up and link it to YOUR website! I think that’s the least they can do for you!
I wouldn’t want that to happen, though, because the photo isn’t even of the recipe they posted. They’re misleading all their readers. So frustrating!
that’s true….I think you handled it so well though and it’s such a great lesson for all food bloggers or bloggers in general…thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Shady McShadersons. I make every effort when I post a recipe to link back and only post my substitutions unless I’ve really changed it a lot, but even then I post the inspiration link. Sheesh.
On a happier note, Alex made us shepherd’s pie over the weekend and topped it with a sweet potato/regular potato mix… soooooo good.
just wanted to chime in & say thank you for writing this post. i’m so sorry that happened with your photo!
and i agree 100% with all of your bullets. after hearing about similar situations from a couple people recently, i make sure to cite any sources of inspiration for recipes. and definitely, if you only change one or two things about a recipe, i don’t think it’s ok to re-post the whole thing. just say you made the recipe with xyz changes and link back to the original recipe!
1-I have heard about ‘food styling’ before but hadn’t realized some of the things they actually use in the process. Sort of like how they try to make fast food look appetizing on tv. No burger ever looks like that after you order it.
2 – How hard is it to give credit where credit is due. That’s why I only post photos of my cupcakes and not my recipes, I doubt anyone would give me credit. I’m sure the photos are passed off as their own but sadly I won’t ever find out.
I noticed an ad for to travel to Alaska the other day and the photo of it wasn’t even Alaska. It was Moraine Lake in Banff, Canada. I know, I have been there and have photos of it. Yet to the curious- never been to Canada traveler, they wouldn’t know the difference.
Ugh! That right there is ultimately misleading!
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