Finding Free Photos
Search
× Search

Sprocket Websites - Blog / News / Updates

Finding Free Photos
Kate Gingold
/ Categories: The Sprocket Report

If you find this helpful, pay it forward! More after the article...

Finding Free Photos

The Sprocket Report

Experts emphasize the importance of graphics in your blog and social media posts and many options are available just for the googling. But where can you find images that won’t land you in intellectual property trouble?

Of course photographers and other artists deserve credit and compensation for their work and there are plenty of options for purchasing graphic images such as Shutterstock, iStockPhoto and Getty Images. But the costs may be beyond the reach of many small business owners and fledgling entrepreneurs.

While some free options are available, you need to pay a little attention to determine how “free” they actually are. For instance, many people start their photo quest by searching Google Images using the “Labeled for reuse” tab, as seen below:



Unfortunately, many of those permissions are suspect because the photos were posted by someone other than the owner and who copied them from another, original, source. You may think you’re doing the right thing, but you could still get in trouble.

The most obvious answer to the original source problem is to be the original source yourself and take your own photos. Everyone has a camera on their phone these days. You could set up some shots on purpose, regularly collect interesting images or draw from your family vacation photos.

If you want to watermark your images, there are plenty of tools that make that easy to do, although there are differing points of view on whether you should. It really won’t slow thieves down at all and some say since watermarked images are less likely to be shared, your chance of "going viral" is also less likely. We are currently experimenting with some business tips using original photos, watermarked and not. We’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Even if you make the effort to build up your own photo library, there will come a time when you simply don’t have the right image available. That’s when it’s good to know a resource like Morguefile

Morguefile boasts a total of 378,489 images and proclaims right on the Home page:  “Yes, they're all completely free.” Even with all those images, you may not locate The Perfect Picture, but you have a good shot at finding A Pretty Good Picture. When you’re searching, you’ll see that there are also other tabs, such as iStock, which have photos for purchase, but as they are heavily watermarked, don't worry that you might upload one of those accidentally.

Morguefile specifies that their images are for use in a creative work – which your blog post is – but they also suggest that you get permission from the photographer before using an image with your blog. Like everyone else writing about intellectual property on the Internet, we have to remind you that there is still a whole lot of gray area that keeps shifting, so it makes sense to try your best to do the right thing.

With so much to keep track of in the marketing world today, you don’t need to be updating your website, too. That’s where we come in. Give us a call today and let us take that task off of your To Do List.


Did you enjoy this article? Was it helpful? Insightful?
Then please share it! Post it on your favorite Social Media platform(s) so your followers see it.
It's easy. Just click on any of the social icons below and we'll do the heavy lifting for you.
Oh yeah, leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for visiting!

Print
2977 Rate this article:
5.0
Kate Gingold

Kate GingoldKate Gingold

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

Other posts by Kate Gingold
Contact author Full biography

Full biography

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

x
Previous Article Twitter Revamps Ads and Introduces Ad Groups
Next Article Why Create a LinkedIn Company Page

8 comments on article "Finding Free Photos"

0
0
Avatar image

Jerilyn Willin

I am always looking for images and always wondering what laws I am breaking when use one. Thanks for this resource.


0
0
Avatar image

Kate Gingold

You're welcome, Jerilyn, and I agree with with your concern. That IP gray area has never been grayer!


0
0
Avatar image

Mark Buelsing

Thanks Kate. That looks like a great resource for really good images.


0
0
Avatar image

Kate Gingold

Morguefile seems like the most straight-forward of the "free image" sites. Hope you find what you need there! And thanks for commenting.


0
0
Avatar image

Pam Albrecht

You didn't mention pixabay.com. I use that all the time for myself and my clients. They have over 600,000 images that are free and free from copyright issues. I will check out the site you suggest as well.


1
0
Avatar image

Kate Gingold

You're absolutely right, Pam! Morguefile is a good introduction as it's the least complicated. We'll talk about some of the others in an upcoming article.


0
0
Avatar image

Tracey Cowart

Thanks Kate, this is an area I have been looking for information on. You write about exactly what I need to know!


0
0
Avatar image

Kate Gingold

Happy to help out, Tracey! If you have questions about other topics, just lob them our way for future articles.

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Contact author

x

Stay In-The-Know...

Via QR Code

... With Every-Other-Week Tips!

Every other Tuesday, you'll receive the Sprocket Report completely free! Learn the latest business tip or news about what's currently happening in internet marketing. You get:

  • A web marketing tip from Kate
  • Another one from Breanne, and
  • Bonus! Tips curated from around the web

That's three valuable posts that you can read, plus a quick look at upcoming events and what's being discussed on Twitter. 

You'll want to get this info for yourself, in your own inbox. It's easy!

Type your email in the box above. OR scroll to the bottom of any page on this site. We have our subscription box there, too!

We NEVER give out your email address to anybody else and we don't flood you with ads. It's just good, free information. 

About Us

We turn surfers into visitors and visitors into customers.

We'll make you a beautiful, interactive website. Then we'll help drive traffic to it.

Read Archived Articles

Search

GET SOCIAL

LEARN MORE

Get The Sprocket Report

 

Terms Of UsePrivacy StatementCopyright © 2024 by Sprocket Websites, Inc.
Back To Top