philo Loc: philo, ca

I hope not; because I use a lot of the images from UHH as screen saver. You guys do such great work I enjoy seeing some of them again and again.

anotherview Loc: California

The OP did not mention a model release. He asked about using a beautiful photograph as a background.

Ast to copyright law, I spoke from general knowledge gained from reading about it here.

barneyanne Loc: Alabama

Thank you all. I don't sell my cards but I send them to a card ministry. They sell them to the congregation members. So to be safe, I won't use anyone's photos on this site.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Copyright stays with the person who took the image. However, in a courtroom the case will not be heard unless you have a registered copyright.

Use your own pictures or seek the artist and negotiate a license.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

False.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Regardless of the law, contracts, lawyers and courtrooms, consider ethics.

Anyone with any standard of ethical behaviour would be bothered using images taken by others. Well, at least they should be.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Anyone can use any photo I post anytime they want to. Just be sure to notify me so that I can go to all my friends (not a long list) to say 'See, See, I took a good photo! Someone likes it!'

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Anyone that thinks they or their lawyer is going to Aruba on the proceeds of a successful copyright fight is a bit out of touch with reality ...

Dik

(c)Statutory Damages.—
(1) Except as provided by clause (2) of this subsection, the copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the action, with respect to any one work, for which any one infringer is liable individually, or for which any two or more infringers are liable jointly and severally, in a sum of not less than $750 or more than $30,000 as the court considers just. For the purposes of this subsection, all the parts of a compilation or derivative work constitute one work.
(2) In a case where the copyright owner sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that infringement was committed willfully, the court in its discretion may increase the award of statutory damages to a sum of not more than $150,000. In a case where the infringer sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that such infringer was not aware and had no reason to believe that his or her acts constituted an infringement of copyright, the court in its discretion may reduce the award of statutory damages to a sum of not less than $200. The court shall remit statutory damages in any case where an infringer believed and had reasonable grounds for believing that his or her use of the copyrighted work was a fair use under section 107, if the infringer was: (i) an employee or agent of a nonprofit educational institution, library, or archives acting within the scope of his or her employment who, or such institution, library, or archives itself, which infringed by reproducing the work in copies or phonorecords; or (ii) a public broadcasting entity which or a person who, as a regular part of the nonprofit activities of a public broadcasting entity (as defined in section 118(f)) infringed by performing a published nondramatic literary work or by reproducing a transmission program embodying a performance of such a work.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

If it's just for personal use, don't worry about it. If you are making greeting cards to sell, then that's another story... you'll need to obtain permission from the legal owner of the image.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

LOL - Disillusion exhibit #1

Dik

There is no exemption to copyright law for "personal use".

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

True, but you need to have someone with deep pockets taking your image and selling (and making) a profit. It will help to have a good and expensive lawyer to push the case to a successful end-result in your favor. If you don't have that luck, you probably shouldn't be planning your vacation. Here's a good summary of several cases. Note the unique and / or common issues involved in each case and the names and sizes of the litigants. https://www.pixsy.com/10-cases-that-show-how-complicated-copyright-law-really-is/

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Dik

#6 seems closest to question at hand -
#6 You can’t use someone’s photo just because you found it on Twitter.

famous-copyright-cases-haiti-port-au-prince-morel-afp-twitter

Summary:

Photojournalist Daniel Morel sued Getty Images and Agence France-Presse for taking and selling photos of the 2010 Haiti earthquake from his Twitter account.

Outcome:

Twitter allows for posting and retweeting, but not commercial use of photographs posted by users. The jury awarded Morel $1.2m in damages.

Despite this ruling, many still believe that copyright is lost when a work is posted on social media. As we explain to infringers every day, this is simply not the case, and it was an expensive lesson for Getty.