Some answers to frequently asked questions...

Please read the description of my Wee Planets set. It has many links and explanations.

Most of my pictures were taken with a Pentax K10D, and I have recently (October 2009) upgraded to a Pentax K-7 body.

For panoramic shots I use a Pentax 10-17mm fisheye zoom. I also use a
Manfrotto panoramic head (303SPH), but with the fisheye zoom it's
often easy enough to shoot handheld.

I use only free software. I've been an exclusive GNU/Linux user for about 10 years now. I use tools like The Gimp, enblend, hugin, and mathmap.

Many of my pictures are licensed under one of the following two
Creative Commons License in order to ease sharing.
1. Attribution Share-alike
2. Attribution Share-alike Non-Commercial usage

Beware that not ALL pictures are under a Creative Commons. You should be able to tell which license is used by searching for these symbols in the bottom of the right column of the picture's page.

The Creative Commons license allows you to display, print, and generally reuse my work as long as you play by the rules of the license. The abridged rules are

1. that any use should be duly credited, and the license of the picture should always be indicated
2. any derivative work should be distributed under the same license
3. for some pictures (), you may not use them for any commercial purpose


Derivative work is when you build upon my work to create another work. For instance if you use my pictures as textures in a composite, it's a derivative. Silhouetting a picture to create a sticker, also creates derivate work. You may only distribute your derivation under the same license.

Simply reproducing the picture (for instance on the web or in print) does not constitute a derivative work. In other words a blog or a journal that publishes one of my pictures does not need to be distributed under the same license... However they have to credit me and state that the picture is under a Creative Commons license.
Someone who alters the picture to turn in into an advertisement is obviously both making a derivative work and having a commercial usage of the picture.

For credits, I prefer my full name to be used (it's Alexandre Duret-Lutz) along with a mention of the license. For websites, it's OK if you replace this credit with an obvious link to the picture's page on flickr.

Please take the time to actually read the text of the licenses before using my pictures, these explanations are by no way a substitute.

Mail me at aduret@gmail.com.

I receive too many such questions my mail. Please read the previous text and get yourself familiar with the Creative Commons licenses. If your intended use is compatible with the license you do not need my permission to exercize a right that I've already granted you. If it's not compatible, you should tell me how before I can give (or sell) you my permission.

For any of my picture that is under a Creative Commons license, you can download the full size picture and have it printed for your personal use, without bothering about the obligation to credit and display the license of the picture. (Any distribution of the resulting print should however respect these obligations, because it's not longer private use.)

If you hang the picture in your house, I would really appreciate if you could send me a picture of the installation (or better: post that picture as a flickr comment to the picture you printed).

Some of my pictures are on sell on ImageKind. If you buy here, I'll earn a small commission. However you should feel free to have the picture printed elsewhere if you want.

If the license allows commercial uses, and if you respect the rules of the license, the short answer is yes. For postcards, it's easy to credit the author and display the license on the back. For mug, you might decide (that's a hypothesis) to modifiy the picture to overlay it with credit and license, in that case you have built a derived picture that you should make available using the same license as the original picture. The idea is that anybody should be able to print the same mug without buying yours.

Regardless of these licensing issues, the reason I distribute some pictures using a license that allow commercial uses (like printing in a journal) is not so that other people make money on my back by selling derived products on a day-to-day basis. If you want to start such a commerce, I'd appreciate if you could be fair and contact me to buy reproduction rights.