I thought that if we take a photo from the Web we have to cite the source?
No! This is wrong.
You need to acquire a license to "take a photo from the web." There may be a requirement to indicate the source. And Steemians may expect you to cite your source to prove you didn't borrow it without permission.
But this citation is not a free pass to use photos if such a use is not permitted by the original artist.
You are a professional blogger and publisher of information, @katdvine. You make money from being on Steem. You are responsible to obtain a license to use photos in your blog.
In the reverse situation, if you took all the pictures in the world, and only the people blogging made all of the money, is that fair to you? What good is your work in photography and artistry if you get no gain from it?
It's artists versus the bloggers. There is some animosity out there. And it's really a thing.
I think the artists should not just get a link and a hat-tip while a blogger makes all the Steem. The artists should be able to license their photos and get some money for their use.
Did you not know that there are Stock Photo websites out there on which photographers make their living? And a good stock photo may cost $100 or considerably more for exclusive use rights for product ads and for certain sizes? Professionals are not feeding their families on our citations. They are feeding their families using money through licensing.
Well I do know now and thank you for that information. The couple of photos I have used were archive photos from a newspaper and museum. How would I go about obtaining permission to use those? Although I think I shall just draw them as I usually do.
Most advice is to merely search in the places where "free" images are found in the first place. If you do somehow like a particular photo or image, and you find it elsewhere, you can do a reverse image search on the Web. You upload the source image to them. The results of that search will show you where else the photo is used, beginning with Stock Photo companies. If it's on such a place, you merely go to their website and purchase rights to it.
If it's not on a stock photo site, you will need to track down the artist and ask them. I have done this before. The answer may not be to your liking if it is truly taken by a pro who values their work in Benjamin Franklin notes. And then you will usually need a copyright notice. This is why stock photo subscriptions save big media companies big money on licensing... the terms are usually more reasonable.
But I have also literally hired semi-pro photographers before, paid them by the piece or hour, and they send me the photos and agree to transfer to me the copyright. That's real people, real contracts, and real photography done professionally. Not even wedding photographers like to turn over their copyrights, and so you still see "copyright" notices on wedding photos that are just annoying. But that's the photographer's right unless he transfers it.