Are there rules against using images you find online to include in your entries? I've used google image search for all of my entries so far... not too sure if that's against copyright or something; or does everyone pretty much do the same thing?

I do that.

okay, I guess I missed that rule somewhere. Everything you submit MUST be all source? Thanks.

EDIT:
nevermind, that was your signature lol. I thought that was what you said to me.

That's a great question. When I first started here, I'd use google for source pictures too, but I've stopped incorporating them into my chops because of respect and copyright issues. I wouldn't want someone using a picture that I took of my baby and turning her into an ugly Satan child. I do sometimes use them as reference photos, however, when I need to visualize a composition, but can't quite do it in my head. For my source pics, I pretty much stick to deviantArt's stock galleries, and scx. I always observe the rules for the pictures, crediting when necessary (and usually when not necessary also).

I'm interested what everyone else does though.

No problem as long as you are not one of the boneheads who find a different view of the original contest image and post it as your entry. That has actually happened...

Contest entry...
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/93499/a-little-bit-more.html

Google image...
http://www.annamariarental.com/tour/cityjail.jpg

¿Qué? what rule? are you selling your images? (then I would worry)
and what jerry said.

If it werent for Google Images, I wouldnt have half the images I use!

but if youre worried about it, try these out too
http://www.imageafter.com/

http://www.pics4learning.com/

http://www.mayang.com/textures/index.htm

oh i'm not really worried about it, I was just curious if that's what everyone else does for their entries. I sort of felt guilty that I was using > for example: wood grain textures that i stole off google images. I guess I don't feel so guilty now though.

There is a great post here that links to a number of photoshop related sites and has a couple of sections that list free photo search sites:

http://photoshopcontest.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=4161

I think the following sites that come from that post have a clear policy as to use of their images:

1)
http://www.imageafter.com/index.php
see:
http://www.imageafter.com/forum/index.php?thread_id=317

2)
http://www.morguefile.com/archive/
see
http://www.morguefile.com/forum/faq.php?sid=b75f27fa25c1ce86e525f9e2d0f9621c#0

what people commonly do is what people commonly do - I enjoy what I see here very much - all of it - and I will continue to enjoy what I see and continue to enjoy this playful place as a playful place.

So this is by way of FYI - not at all a criticism or critique of anyone's approach:

this specific question is addressed in the FAQ

FAQ:

http://photoshopcontest.com/faq/help.html

look in the Legal Issues section
"Can I use copyrighted material in my entries?" subsection

This is one prickly issue with the old World Wide Web. Technically you can't use someone else's image (here in North America UNLESS it is public domain. And, of course, the WWW IS very PUBLIC.) The person who actually owns the copyright MIGHT take offense (as BroChris mentioned about not wanting his images Satanized) and then they will contact this site and ask that the post be removed. 99.999999999% of the time they WILL NOT spend the energy or $$$ on getting a lawyer to sue your ass.

So
1) go ahead and GOOGLE and realize that the owner of the picture has the right to ask you to stop using the image. If this happens, honour their request and delete the post with their image in it.
2) until they do, enjoy.

This site is known for what we do, we are not hiding the fact that we HORRIFICALLY PIRATE AVAILABLE IMAGES, and we entertain a lot of people with the result (and put a few $$$ in JMH's pocket so her remains inspired to keep this thing going).

P.S. BroChris - can you send me a picture of your dog, please! ?

haha! heh. yup, Google image does indeed rule. Thats all i've ever used, simply because 99% of the time, it gets me what I want.

Lol, don't have a dog, but feel free to chop up my cat! That sounded so wrong...

basically, as far as I know, the images copyrights are not applied if you modify a certain % of the copyrighted image... just not sure how they measure it...

When I look for stock on google, and I find a really good picture, I always look on the website to see if they posted any copyright stuff. at the bottom of the page. If they did, then they probably do not want you using their picture. But the ones that don't have it, I use it with no problem.