How to Credit a Creator When You Reuse a Pinterest Image
You found a great image on Pinterest and want to use it in your own post. You add a caption that says "via Pinterest" and move on.
That caption doesn't actually credit anyone. Pinterest is where you found the image, not who made it, and the two are rarely the same.
Here's a simple, reliable way to credit the real creator.
A note on credit vs. permission: Crediting a creator is good practice, but it doesn't replace asking permission for reuse beyond personal viewing. See our guide on personal use vs. reposting for that distinction.
Why "Via Pinterest" Isn't Real Credit
Most images on Pinterest were pinned from somewhere else, a blog, a portfolio site, a shop page. Pinterest is a discovery tool, not the original source for the vast majority of what's on it.
Naming Pinterest as the source tells your audience where you found the image, but it doesn't tell them who made it or where to find more of their work. That's the actual point of a credit.
The TASL Method
A widely used framework for attribution comes from Creative Commons, the nonprofit behind open licensing standards. It's built around four pieces of information.
Creative Commons recommends the TASL method for attribution: Title, Author, Source, and License, adding as much of that information as is available for the work being credited.
What each letter means
- Title — the name of the piece, if one was given
- Author — the actual creator's name or handle
- Source — a link to where the original work lives
- License — any usage terms the creator specified, if applicable
01 Find the Original Source
Open the pin's detail page before assuming Pinterest is the source. Look for a linked website, which usually points to where the image was first published.
02 Identify the Actual Creator
Check the linked page for the creator's name, not just the Pinterest username who pinned it. The person who pinned an image is often not the person who made it.
03 Write the Credit Line
Keep it short and specific. Name the creator, link to their original page, and avoid generic phrases like "found online" or "via Pinterest" alone.
04 Place the Credit Where It's Visible
Put the credit near the image itself, in the caption or directly underneath it, rather than buried at the bottom of a long page where it's easy to miss.
What If You Can't Find the Original Creator?
Sometimes a pin's linked source is broken, missing, or leads back to another Pinterest page instead of the original site. In that case, crediting the wrong person is its own problem.
The safest move is to hold off on reposting until you can confirm who actually made the work, or reach out to the account that shared it and ask directly.
Paste any public Pinterest link into our Pinterest Image Downloader to save a copy for reference while you track down the original source.
Sources
- Creative Commons — Recommended practices for attribution — wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Recommended_practices_for_attribution