Questions about rights

I’m full of questions these days.  So here’s one.  I love the photos on Beautiful Planet Earth, and Beautiful Amazing Earth.  Who wouldn’t?  Forests fringed with frost, forests spongy with dark green moss, mountains, lions, Monarch butterflies.  I can gaze at them for hours, share them with my Facebook Friends, but I’m beginning to believe that some of the photos were not taken by the person whose name is posted in the top right corner.  I look up those names, but am lead to Facebook profiles that don’t mention anything about being photographers.  One guy has hundreds of photos, all over the map in style and type and places of the pictures he posts.  I messaged him, but my message got bounced. 

              I want to share the lion’s face, because it entices me, but I want to credit the photographer.  What’s happened to taking (and giving) credit?  Is everything on the web for grabs?  Can someone use a photo of me, or of my farmhouse, just because I’ve shared it online? 

              Some photos have a connection to a webpage, that you can like, and follow, and that seems the decent thing to do for a photo I want to look at for more than a moment, a photo I want to come back to, to save.  But what about the rest?

              So, here’s the simple part of the question: Do you think twice before sharing a photo online, be it your own picture, or one from someplace like Beautiful Planet Earth?  How do we applaud the artist?  Is sharing enough?

The name attached to this image is Mart In.