In addition to licensing, another thing to be aware of here is that iNat credits photos to the name of the account holder. So even if you add a comment that the photos were taken by your dad, or add an observation field, the name attached to the license info will still be yours. iNat is based on the assumption that accounts are for individuals posting their own photos, so there is no provision in the technical infrastructure for recognizing anything other than the account name in the case of joint accounts or family photos.
@bromine_17 If any of this is important to your dad (you mention he has some skill at photography, so it is possible he attaches some value to his photos as artistic accomplishments), this might be an argument for creating a separate account in his name on his behalf.
Hi guys, after many helpful forum replies Iāve made a decision on what Iāll do. Iāve decided that Iām not going to post the pictures on my account. If my dad wants to create his own account then he can, but right now he has many other more important things to consider than iNaturalist.
I posted like 5 photos that he took on my account but came to a realization. While I may not have anything to post on iNaturalist right now (like my own photos I mean, because itās winter where I live), eventually spring will come and I may not want all of these photos from 4-5 years ago cluttering my observations page. In a weird way it feels āuncleanā, if that makes sense. Iāve decided I want to keep my observations page just full of photos that I took recently, and as cool as some of the photos were that my dad took, they donāt have much value to me anymore (I get that iNaturalist isnāt about me, itās about biodiversity but I want the photos that I post to be meaningful to me). It feels like if I had a diary full of hundreds of entries and then randomly dispersed are entries that arenāt even my own. iNaturalist is so personal to me and I feel like I shouldāve thought more into the future when I posted this question than being so selfish as I was, wanting to find ways to fill my timeā¦ and my observations.
So maybe this post will help people in the future but I just wanted to share the decision that Iāve made. In the future, if my dad wants to make an account, I think that it would be great! But right now is not the time, so Iāll just stick to posting my own photos, even if they are just of dead bugs in the basement.
Thank you everybody for all the helpful replies and I hope everyone has an amazing day!
I donāt see a problem posting someone elseās photos for sightings where you were there. The important thing is to get the datum documented. Photo āownershipā is a separate issue. If you have your fatherās permission, then go for it.
And five years is nothing. My earliest record is from 1965 and I didnāt take the photo because Iām in it and I was only two years old. But the record is documented! ( https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2899985 )