Sharing via Creative Commons license on Google+

Do you want to share your images on Google+ under a Creative Commons license? This is actually a fairly easy process and there are only a few steps needed. Here is the process I followed:

1) Decide on the type of Creative Commons license you want.

There are 3 main decisions you need to make:

• Allow commercial uses of your work?
• The licensor permits others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, including for commercial purposes.
• Allow modifications of your work?
• The licensor permits others to copy, distribute, display and perform the work, as well as make derivative works based on it.
• Share Alike?
• The licensor permits others to distribute derivative works only under a licence identical to the one that governs the licensor's work.

2) Set the options in Picasa
Picasa is the image bank/engine for Google+ and that is where we set up the license type.

• Go to https://picasaweb.google.com/home and select the gear icon on the right.

• Select Photo Settings and then select Privacy & Permissions.

• Tick the box to allow any visitor to Download your photos.
• Set the Creative Commons license type you have decided to use. 
• Save the changes

All done!  This change will now apply to all images uploaded to Google+.   At the time of writing this blog post Google+ does not display the license details when viewing the image, so until they do you may wish to add a further layer of information to the viewers:

These next two steps are not totally necessary but add that additional layer of information, making the point once again that there is a Creative Commons license involved.

3) Picasa - So you want to make it even clearer!  Marking the album display

• In Picasa go to the album you wish to mark

• Select Actions, then Album Descriptions
• Type the details you wish to display in the Description box.

• This will then be shown at the top right of the album view in Picasa

4) Google+ - add a description to the image in G+ including details about your choice of  Creative Commons.

If you want to find out more information about my choice of Creative Commons license arrangements you can read them here: http://www.stevegillphotos.co.uk/2011/12/creative-commons.html

EDIT: Thanks to   for this update:
You can change the global setting applied for a single image or video by setting the "Photo Reuse" options against the image.  Once again this is accomplished in Picasa.

 
Through my Lens: