Images on your website: what is allowed?

Last updated: 23 October 2026 · By Maurice, freeehouse team · About 3 minutes to read

Which images may I use?

• Your own photos, taken by you or employees as part of their work.
• Photos from a photographer, if the contract allows use on the website.
• Stock photos with a valid licence, within the permitted scope and with attribution if the licence requires it.
• Images under a free licence, if you comply with the licence terms.

It is not allowed to simply take images from Google Image search, other websites or social media. Even ordinary photos are protected in Germany as photographs under § 72 UrhG (German Copyright Act).

What happens if I break the rules?

Rights holders can demand that you stop and pay damages, as set out in § 97 UrhG. In practice this often arrives as a warning letter with a claim for costs. For stock photos, some agencies run targeted searches for unlicensed use.

What applies to photos of people?

Under § 22 of the Kunsturhebergesetz (KUG), images of people may only be published with the consent of the person pictured, with some exceptions. For photos of employees on the website, that means: get written consent and settle what happens when someone leaves the business. With customers, for example in a restaurant or at events, caution is needed if they are recognisable.

What about generated images?

Images generated by software often look interchangeable and can irritate customers if they fake real rooms or employees. In our projects, customers almost always wanted their own photos instead of stock or generated images, and rightly so: real pictures build more trust. If you use generated images, you should label them and not show anything that doesn't exist.

How do I take good photos myself?

• Use daylight, avoid flash.
• Tidy rooms up and shoot at eye level.
• Show people at work, with their consent.
• A few good images beat many mediocre ones.
• Landscape for large images on the website, portrait for details.

How do I credit image rights?

If a licence requires the author to be named, the credit belongs next to the image or in a list of image credits, for example in the legal notice (Impressum). Your own photos need no credit.

This article is for orientation only and is not legal advice.

At freeehouse we work with your own images and take them over from your current site. We don't use stock photos without agreeing it with you. We don't charge for building the website. How freeehouse works

What applies to photos of employees who leave?

Consent under § 22 KUG can be withdrawn if there is an important reason, and people who leave a business often no longer want to appear on the website. So settle what happens on departure when you obtain consent, and remove photos of former employees promptly. That also makes sense from the customer's side, since otherwise they ask for people who are no longer there.

How do I name images for Google?

An image should have a descriptive file name and an alt text that describes what can be seen, for example treatment room with a view of the garden. That helps people using screen readers and search engines alike. Alt texts are not the place for lists of search terms.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• § 72 UrhG Lichtbilder, accessed 23 October 2026
• § 97 UrhG Anspruch auf Unterlassung und Schadensersatz, accessed 23 October 2026
• § 22 KUG Recht am eigenen Bild, accessed 23 October 2026

Providers' prices and terms change often. What counts is what's in your customer account and your contract. Not legal advice.

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