Attribution is optional under most free library licences and expected in a lot of client work. When you do credit, the format and the placement matter more than the fact that you did it.
The credit string
A usable credit names the photographer and the library, and links to both when the platform allows links. Photothentic generates the string on each image so it can be copied rather than reconstructed.
Photo by Ana Ruiz on Unsplash, for example, is enough for a feed post. For a website, make the photographer's name a link to their library profile and the library name a link to the licence.
Instagram and TikTok
- Put the credit in the first line of the caption, not buried after hashtags where it gets collapsed.
- Tags do not work in captions, so name the photographer in plain text rather than as an @mention you cannot verify.
- If the post is a carousel, one credit line covering all images is fine when every image has the same credit; otherwise credit per slide.
LinkedIn and newsletters
Use a small line under the image or at the foot of the post: “Photography: Ana Ruiz / Unsplash”. On LinkedIn, mention the photographer only if you know their profile, otherwise plain text avoids tagging the wrong person.
Websites
Visible credit near the image is the safest reading of most licences, and a caption element is the natural home for it. Add the licence link to your credits page as well, so a single URL answers the question for the whole site.
Keep the credit with the file
The most common failure is not a missing credit, it is a credit that gets separated from the image when the file moves into a design tool, a CMS or a folder someone else owns. Store the credit in the licence log as well as in the design, and export the log with the folder when the work is delivered.