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I have "Photo Credits" section in my book containing a list of all image citations in the Chicago style, much like a bibliography. CMOS (Chicago manual of Style) 16th edition doesn't say anything about how to deal with Creative Commons images taken off Flickr. So this is an example of how I'm styling my citations:

A Volkswagen Sedán taxicab in Mexico City. Source: Carolina Arevalo, "Taxi." 2006, digital image. Available from: Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinaarevalo/5008340224 (accessed June 16, 2015). Licence at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.

As you can see, I'm appending the CC license information to the end of my citation although CMOS doesn't mandate doing it (but Creative Commons does). Is this the most appropriate way to go? Or is there something more standardized? Yes I am being a tad too pedantic but I want it to be as standard as possible. This is a very formal piece of work.

Also, Carolina Arevalo is the photographer, i.e. owner of the cited image in the example above. What is recommended if this information isn't available? There are quite a few images that I'm using and most have no owner-name available – just a Flickr ID.

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    @Amphiteóth They do categorise “at the end of the post” as being “good” (though right under the image is “preferred”). That page is directed towards blog posts, though, which are inherently different from printed books. Equating an entire book (or chapter) to a blog post might be a stretch, but not too much of a stretch.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Jun 17, 2015 at 9:22
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    @Amphiteóth I don’t see how it’s substantially different from giving full bibliographical information about published works cited only at the end of the book, which is standard. Both are works that are somehow quoted in the body of the book; both are under copyright and licenced in some way; and both are referred to at the back of the book in an index, where their copyright and/or licences are specifically stated. It is worth noting that museums and galleries (which usually have much stricter views on copyright/licences) generally have no problems with this approach.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Jun 17, 2015 at 9:44
  • I am going to have to agree with Janus Bahs Jacquet on this one. If all other kinds of citation can go in the end of the published material (e.g. book references, etc.), I don't see why CC images couldn't. I am still satisfying their criteria that the images being used be attributed. Why should it be offensive?
    – TheLearner
    Jun 17, 2015 at 11:36
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    Re: does that satisfy "attribution"?// I apologize for my prior overreacting; the implied license construction clashes squarely with my idea of giving everyone their fair due as it does not closely associate the artist with their work meaningfully imho. But as CC won't tell people how to attribute and rely on their being reasonable with it, I should rather commend you for trying to comply with the requirements, especially since 90% don't attribute at all! How CC's faith fares against the numbers is off topic. Thank you.
    – user98955
    Jun 17, 2015 at 20:49

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I would say yes, that is the correct way to go. The CMOS does not explicitly ask for licences, but it does not say they should not be there, either; in fact, according to CMOS 16, section 14.274 Audiovisual materials—elements to include,

Documentation of a recording usually includes some or all of the following pieces of information: the name of the composer, writer, performer, or other person primarily responsible for the content; the title, in italics or quotation marks, as applicable (see 8.192); the name of the recording company or publisher; any identifying number of the recording; indication of medium (compact disc, audiocassette, audiovisual file, etc.); and the copyright date or date of production or performance. Recordings consulted online should include a URL or DOI (see 14.5, 14.6). Supplementary information, such as the number of discs in an album and the duration of the recording, as applicable, may also be given. [my emphasis]

The CC licence information is clearly supplementary information in this context, albeit of a different type than the one they mention as an example.

In section 14.280 Online multimedia, they do not really say much that is very useful in the text, but the example citations given do give some hints, particularly the following example which quotes a YouTube video:

“HOROWITZ AT CARNEGIE HALL 2-Chopin Nocturne in Fm Op.55,” YouTube video, 5:53, from a performance televised by CBS on September 22, 1968, posted by “hubanj,” January 9, 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDVBtuWkMS8.

Adapting this for your photo credits, I would personally go with something like one of the following options:

“taxi,” Flickr photo, taken 11 December 2006, posted by Carolina Arevalo, 20 September 2010, https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinaarevalo/5008340224 (accessed June 16, 2015). Licence at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.

“taxi,” digital image, taken 11 December 2006, posted to Flickr by Carolina Arevalo, 20 September 2010, https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinaarevalo/5008340224 (accessed June 16, 2015). Licence at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.

(I would leave out your own description of the image in the Photo Credits section—that belongs as a caption to the image or in the body text, not as part of the credits.)

In cases where you do not have the name (or even a user name) of the photographer, but only their Flickr ID, you’ll just have to write that instead of the actual name:

“taxi,” digital image, taken 11 December 2006, posted to Flickr by user “13548987@NO9”, 20 September 2010, https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinaarevalo/5008340224 (accessed June 16, 2015). Licence at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.

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  • But how does one approach a scenario where the name of the owner (Carolina Arevalo in this example) is missing? In fact, a majority of the images I'm using are of this type where all I have in the way of an owner is their Flickr username.
    – TheLearner
    Jun 17, 2015 at 11:33
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    Oh right, forgot about that part; edited in at the end.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Jun 17, 2015 at 11:47

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