What are your policies on photos?

RIGHTS: You should check into the license on any photos or graphics you want to include that you didn't create. If you don't find out otherwise, assume that someone owns all rights to the picture. If you don't have the right to use the image, you need to ask permission, or stay within the bounds of "fair use" (as described in some more detail in the FAQ about quoting other sources).

Incidentally, there are some great places to find images that you are allowed to use. For example, check out flickr.com/creativecommons for a searchable database of photos using one of the creative commons licenses (like this one of a North Carolina National Guardsman over the Pisgah National Forest, by Flickr user "soldiersmediacenter"). A creative commons license means that the author (or rightsholder) of a work wants to retain some control over their stuff while allowing certain kinds of use. (There are different kinds of cc license, so be sure to read the license and make sure that you're using it as allowed; more on the different licenses here.) You can also check out search.creativecommons.org for more cc content.

ETIQUETTE:

1. When you use an image that lives on someone else's web server, you're using that person's bandwidth. It's kind of rude.
2. When possible, make the picture a link back to the page on which you found it.