In our last section, we discussed the importance of knowing the different types of image rights. Today, I want to give you a list of great resources where you can you can go to find free or royalty-free images for your web content.
FREE IMAGES
*** Using Free Images On Your Site ***
As mentioned in our last section, public domain images often have expired copyright, so anyone can use these freely. Some websites make images available for free for personal use but not commercial use, and some sites require attribution (giving the author of the image or the site credit and/or a link). It's important, therefore, to check each site's terms and conditions of use and also any special notes or license summaries before downloading and using images.
*** Where To Find Free Images ***
There are lots of places you can go to find lots of great free images for your content. Here are just some to help get you started:
Public Domain Pictures - http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/
Public Domain Pictures is a repository for free public domain images. All pictures are free for commercial and personal use.
If you intend to use an image for commercial use, be aware that some photos may require a model or property release. Pictures featuring products or logos should be used with care.
Morgue File - http://morguefile.com/
A morgue file is a place to keep post production materials for use of reference. MorgueFile.com contains hundreds of free high resolution digital stock photography for corporate or public use, divided into several categories.
According to the site, their purpose is to provide free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits. Images are of a very high quality and completely free. A license summary for each image can be found directly below the image. Attribution is not required.
WikiMedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/
WikiMedia Commons is a media file repository that makes available to users over 18 million public domain and freely-licensed educational media content, including a large library of images, audio, and video files.
Wikimedia Commons is free. You are allowed to copy, use and modify any files freely as long as you follow the terms specified by the author. This often means crediting the source and author(s) appropriately and releasing copies/improvements under the same freedom to others. The license conditions of each individual media file can be found on their description page.
The WikiMedia Commons library can be browsed by media type such as images, photographs, drawings, illustrations or by file type like audio, video, image, etc. You can also search images by license. Many images on Wikimedia Commons are in the public domain, which means that you are free to use these without any attribution. Some images may have a creative commons license requiring attribution. As always, be sure to check the license information below each image before adding it to your content.
Some government sites also make images freely available, for example the US Agricultural Research Service Information Department website (http://ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/)
Note: If you have the WPTrainMe plugin installed on your site, check the tutorial below for a comprehensive list of sites where you can download images for free:
- Where To Find Free And Royalty-Free Images For Your WordPress Site
ROYALTY-FREE IMAGES
*** Using Royalty-Free Images On Your Site ***
As mentioned in our last section, "Royalty-free" images are typically purchased for a one-time fee, after which you can use the image in almost any way you like without having to pay ongoing royalties, and the image can be used in multiple projects.
Royalty-free images are typically priced by image size, where the smaller the size of the image being purchased, the cheaper the cost. On some sites, purchasing images in bulk can also reduce the cost. Typically, royalty-free images can be purchased without price negotiation, or a requirement to specify what the image(s) will be used for.
Important Points:
- Royalty-free images may have limitations and usage rights, and these must be respected. When choosing free or royalty-free images to use on your website, always check the image site for specific guidelines that you are requested to follow, and familiarize yourself with the site's usage policy and any limitations placed on image use.
- Once again, I want to remind you not to copy images from other websites without permission or "borrow" images from places like Google image search results. Using royalty-free images without the rights to do so on your site can be very costly - many companies monitor how and where their images are being used and will not hesitate to issue a DMCA takedown notice or pursue legal action against website owners who breach image licensing and usage rights.
*** Where To Find Royalty Free Images ***
There are many places you can go online to find royalty-free images for your web content.
Below are two of the most popular sites you can go to browse a large collection of stock images for web content:
iStockPhoto - http://www.istockphoto.com/
iStockphoto is one of the web's largest and most popular sources for high quality royalty-free stock images, media and design elements. The site's catalog of downloadable files also includes vector illustrations, videos, music and sound effects.
iStockphoto offers millions of royalty-free files, from tens of thousands of contributing artists, at affordable prices. You pay once and can use the file multiple times. The site even offers a Legal Guarantee that content used within the terms of the license agreement will not infringe on any copyright, moral right, trademark or other intellectual property right, or violate any right of privacy or publicity. iStockPhoto is owned by Getty Images (see below).
GettyImages - http://www.gettyimages.com/
Getty Images supplies stock images for business and consumers with an archive of 80 million still images and illustrations and more than 50,000 hours of stock film footage. It targets three markets: creative professionals (advertising and graphic design), the media (print and online publishing), and corporate (in-house design, marketing and communication departments).
IN SUMMARY
There are loads of sites that offer free and royalty-free images.
ACTION STEP
Familiarize yourself with the above image sites, how they work, pricing for royalty-free images, etc. Register for the sites you like where required, and make sure that when outsourcing the creation of content for your website, you specify that images must only be sourced from the list of sites you provide. You will want them to guarantee this in writing. This will help to ensure that all images used in your web content have the right permissions and usage rights and give you some form of legal recourse should you experience any issues in the future.
Hopefully, you have found today's section useful. In our next section, we continue the process of laying down the right foundations to outsource your content.