Reference Art Fair Use?

[AdamAGB]

I took a photo inside of a restaurant for my artist to use as a reference for a drawing to be used on a website. When drawing the photo he made some changes to it of course but it remains heavily inspired.

It's a very small drawing, only showing a little bit of the corner at an angle, but the corner is decorated distinctly.

Is this within fair use? Should I make more changes to it or am I within fair use?

Any help would be appreciated,

[Syzygy]

Ultimately, it would depend on how you use the illustration. Fair Use is complex and there are very few clear cut 'Yes' or 'No' answers.

Asking permission might be the wisest thing to do. It would certainly be the courteous thing to do.

Syzygy