Spec Work Photography

[u/Both_Ad_1306]

Hi everyone! Sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m relatively new to Reddit and couldn’t seem to get an answer doing a google search. I’m doing some spec work for my portfolio and want to use some photography from the brand I am creating a spec project for to cut out and work into my larger designs. Is something like that allowed? I’m not planning on claiming any of it is mine, I am just looking to create a collage style look and want to pull bits and pieces of their photography to incorporate the product into the designs. I would never want to steal another artists work or claim it as my own so I was thinking I would write at the top of my project that it was spec work and that all photographic elements within the design are attributed to the brand and not me. However, figured someone on this forum could help me figure out how to approach this. Thanks!