Autumn Mums
photo: Deborah Lee Luskin
So many people responded to my last post about fair use of images on the internet that a follow-up post is in order.
Many readers didn’t know anything at all about copyrights, and many of you reblogged the post. Thank you; this is information we all need to know. As I learned, ignorance is not a defensible excuse, so keep spreading the word and be sure you have permission to use the images you find. This permission comes in three basic categories:
- Out of copyright and free to anyone to use.
- Free to use with permission and credit.
- Available with permission for a fee.
Since most bloggers don’t earn money from their blogs, few of us can afford either to pay for images or pay fines for using images without permission. But there are a wealth of sources for available photos as I learned from readers who included links to their favorites in their comments. Crowd sourcing information is one of the great benefits of the blogosphere. In return for my readers’ collective kindness and generosity, I’ve compiled their links below.
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/ “hi resolution photos with royalty free license”
http://freerangestock.com/ “high resolution and high quality free stock photos”
http://www.picmonkey.com/ photo editing
https://www.canva.com/ “amazingly simple graphic design for blogs”
http://pixabay.com/en/ “free high quality images you can use anywhere”
https://unsplash.com/ ten free photos sent to your email every ten days
I recommend checking out each site to see which has images you like and reading the fine print before signing up.
Another source of potentially terrific photographs are those taken by people you know. I have several friends who are accomplished photographers. The one friend I’ve asked so far is happy for the free publicity of having her photos appear on my blog with credit and a link to her website. I’ll ask others as opportunity permits.
photo: Kathy Lena
Finally, I’ve relearned how to use the camera we bought for a trip to Utah in 2011 and haven’t used since. I’m now creating my own file of images for my personal use.
I have a long, personal, history with photography, going back to the days of developing black and white film and photos in a basement darkroom. But after I bore three children in four years, I resorted to snapshots that I still haven’t sorted. My digital files are even more of a mess – until now.
One of the unintended consequences of my own lesson in fair use is a resurgent interest in documenting what I see in a format other than words. It feels good to flex my visual muscles and to relearn the physics of light. Since I started following The Artist’s Way again, I’ve been taking my camera out on my weekly Artist Date and seeing the world around me in an entirely new way. This post is illustrated with a few of the images I’ve captured in the past few weeks.
Two-Toned Maples
photo: Deborah Lee Luskin
Thanks to all the readers who replied to my last post and inspired this one.
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and this post contains no explicit legal advice, just this admonition: learn the rules and follow them.
Deborah Lee Luskin lives, writes, and takes photos in southern Vermont.
Buddha in the Woods
photo: Deborah Lee Luskin
This is great information- thank you so much for posting!
Thanks for this list. I love Picmonkey!
Reblogged this on Study. Read. Write. and commented:
Sourcing free photos for your projects and possible Cover Art doesn’t mean you get low quality. Here’s a great list of where to get stock images!
New blogger here… Thank you for this information in your photos are great! A friend of mine did the artwork for me for my blog site in my avatar you just made me think perhaps I need to publicly acknowledge him for the same. What’s a good way to do that.
I’m new to blogging and have pulled photos off the internet…I may have broken some laws! Will be very careful from here on in. I’ve been trying to take my own photos for the most part and edit in picmonkey. Thanks for the good information!
Great advice. Thank you.
Reblogged this on Memoir Notes.
Reblogged this on This is your Happy Kit. So greek2m! and commented:
Enjoy Greek Autumn,,,,,This is your happy kit
I’ve used Wikimedia Commons as well. I’m not aware of restrictions on the images, although I do always try to put the link for the original image in the publication as well. If I do a PowerPoint that uses images, I list the URL with the image and then cite the images in the References section.
Thanks for the info. Its always good to have as many sources as possible. I supply most of my own artwork, but you never know when you will need that one elusive image. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for sharing this information with us. As a new blogger, I’m one of the people paying quite a lot for images to use on my blogs, so your post has been really useful to me,
Your photos are lovely, Deborah! 🙂
Thank you for this information. Such important and useful resources that I know I can definitely put to use!
And Deborah’s photos are wonderful! 🙂
Reblogged this on Steve's Blog.
Thanks this is a great topic to discuss.
Morquefile.com is great with credit.
Ettiquette!
Very helpful links! I’m always shooting a photo of something interesting or ordinary. My pictures often prompt a post topic that the photo naturally fits with.
Reblogged this on theowlladyblog.
Reblogged this on Living Life Day by Day and commented:
A picture is worth more than a thousand words but be careful! You may end up paying a dearer price if copyright issues arise when you use a photo that’s not your own. Great post on free pic resources (yes, in addition to walking around with your own camera)!
Wonderful post ! As far as possible I always try to use my own clicks but there are times when you require pictures pertaining to a topic that you don’t have. Thanks for posting all the links.
Reblogged this on Plasweld's Blog and commented:
This is some thing you need to take into account when blogging. We produce all the pictures we need to illustrate our posts. By doing so we don’t need to worrie about any copyright issues. If in doute use your own.
We use all our own images that way copyright is not an issue. It also means that they are all orginal.
thank you for allowing us to reblog this.
Reblogged this on The Neophyte Writer and commented:
Great information.
Great recommendations!
To add another, http://www.unsplash.com is my favorite resource when I’m looking for free and awesome stock photos for blog/web/graphic design projects 🙂
Reblogged this on moderncc12's Blog.
Reblogged this on Welcome 2 djkenny20's Blog.
Thanks for sharing. Unsplash is great source and I personally love these too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5vq5GDITEo
Thank you for the information. Do you mind sharing the brand of camera you use?
The Artist’s Way helps a lot. After all you do not really need other people’s pictures 😉 Why not be creative yourself?
And if not… I’ve got loads of pictures of France/Spain (El camino/Saint James Way, le chemin de St. Jacques)Kenya/the Netherlands. you can send me an email and find out how to use them for free 🙂