depth of fair use and other questions

[rachnr]

hi everyone, this is my first post here...and i know there are plenty of questions on this topic, and i know this is a gray area and whatnot, but hopefully someone can clear up my confusion. Inevitably when you take photos to use as your own source material, you're more than likely taking pictures of things other people have created. I was wondering, how does this affect your own copyright on the photo, and also how does this affect the usage?

Assuming that I'm never going to use the source to advertise what's in the picture as my own, do I have restrictions on using my own photos? Say I have a picture of a willing subject who happens to be wearing a Nike t-shirt or something... I read once that as long as the copyrighted image isn't the focus of the manner in which it's used, that it's okay. But, what if you're taking a picture of a very unique architectural element. It's not your object, but is the picture free and clear for you to use or no? What do most of you guys do? How do any of you that design professionally handle issues like this?

Like, I always wondered about photographers for red carpet/celebrity stuff. Some of those dresses are meant to be one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Do the designers have any say about their dresses being displayed in photos in magazines nationwide? Or is the copyright solely with the photographer (or his/her company, etc)? Or say you're doing a collage-type piece...do you have the same ownership over the finished piece even though it's actually comprised of bits and pieces of things you didn't make? And can you even legally do this to begin with?

I was also wondering about legal resources for some of the retro-ish photos and/or illustrations you see a lot of people using. Are most of these illegal, and if so is this considered at all acceptable? Or are there stock photo/illustration places where things of this nature (photos from the 30s-70s, and the very kitschy type illustrations that are probably 50s-60s era) can be found? I'm having a tough time finding material like that myself, so I wasn't sure. And yes, I could draw my own illustrations and make all of my own art from scratch, but to be honest after 2 years of art classes, I can't draw much more than a stick figure and doubt I'll ever have that kind of talent.

Anyway, maybe all of this is awfully picky, but as an artist, I would never want to step on anyone's toes when trying to create my own art. But in the same breath, I also know that since we're not all omni-talented, we can't possibly create pure works of art all the time in which the final product is not influenced by, or doesn't use pieces of, existing ideas or styles. I'm just not sure where the line is drawn...if you see what i mean.

Thanks for anyone's advice, and sorry for the length!

[RedRobotHero]

That's a lot of questions. I'll try just one.

I was also wondering about legal resources for some of the retro-ish photos and/or illustrations you see a lot of people using. Are most of these illegal, and if so is this considered at all acceptable? Or are there stock photo/illustration places where things of this nature (photos from the 30s-70s, and the very kitschy type illustrations that are probably 50s-60s era) can be found?

If you'll look at this info on copyright terms you'll see that any works created between 1923 and 1963 were covered for 28 years, but the copyright could be renewed. Usually, nobody bothered renewing old newspaper or magazine advertisements, so it's pretty safe to grab them. Plus, anything from before 1923 is fair game.