(Left Photo Credit to: DepravedDesire)
There’s no question that spicing up a blog post with great imagery can draw attention and make a post seem more lively. Some of my favorite blogs are those that use powerful images to visually represent the content on their website. Beyond that, using alt and title tags is a handy way to squeeze more…
SEO Power into Your Blog !
I could write a college dissertation on the proper way to choose images for blog posts, but today I want to address a bigger problem, which is one of the legal issues you might face when you get your images from…
The Wrong Place !
More specifically, I want to talk about why you not only shouldn’t, but can’t use…
Google Images to
Find Images for Your Blog !
1. Most Google Images Are Poor Resolution and/or Look Bad
From a quality perspective, Google Images is probably the worst place to get images because most of them…
Suck… period !
2. Most Google Images are Protected By Copyright
This is the big issue, and it’s one that many bloggers ignore at their own peril. Nine times out of ten, the images you find on Google images are protected by copyright, or by a license, and stealing them for your own use is against the law. The last thing you need is for your ISP to bring your domain down because you used an image…
You Weren’t Supposed to !
So to help you stay on the up and up, I want to offer my favorite places for finding great (and legal) images for your blog.
While iStock Photo has been getting more expensive, they have also been improving their quality. They are far and away the best source of true quality images. When you buy credits, you’ll need a minimum of 18, which you can use to buy at least one, but usually several, images. Most blog-sized images are around $3-$5.
I love Flickr because it’s free, and I usually come here if I need something that doesn’t require a premium photo. The trick with Flickr is to do a creative commons search for images that can be used commercially. Anything else will show images protected by copyright, which can only be used for non-commercial purposes. However, this is a great option for…
Hobby Bloggers !
Shutterstock is another stock photo site that charges for photos, but like iStock they have both photos and illustrations to choose from. Though they can be cheaper than iStock, I find that their selection is smaller, albeit mostly…
Good Quality !
stock.xchng has a great selection of free photos that you can use for most types of blogging projects. They do have a standard license, but it’s fairly straight forward and very fair. Though the selection isn’t as large here as it is on other sites but…
You Can’t Beat Free !
If you have a bit of a budget, and want the best of the best, then Corbis Images is where you want to go. These photos are gorgeous and immaculate. They are pricy, but…
Damn Good !
These are just a few of the best places to get images, but there are many more. The most important thing to learn from this post though is not where to get images, but…
Where NOT to Get Them !
Article by Wong Chendong
This bad boy delivers the oohs, ahhs, and woes of money matters like any man would... rough. He's frank, to the point and likes it raw. There's no sugar coating here, except for the taste of sweet success and the beautiful women who love it just as much. TheBadBlogger.com is a blog pictured and accented with the likes of lovely ladies and while the dames tend to be a delightful distraction, The Bad Blogger always takes care of business first. Find out how you can improve your marketing tactics, money matters and blogging techniques by Subscribing to his RSS Feed to get the latest update of his blog post or go direct to his blog at www.TheBadBlogger.com. You may reprint this post provided you leave the content, links, author, and "about the author" section at the end intact.
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{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Good list, my favorites are Nasa, Burning Well, the National Archives, Comp Fight and many do not know is that almost all the images in Wikipedia is free to use for everyone.
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 19, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Never know Wikipedia images are free to use for everyone, but since you said “almost” it means there are some that are not free… but how to spot them?
Same here … Even I’d like to know how to spot the images that aren’t free ??
P.S: Your comment luv plugin doesn’t seem to be working ….
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 19, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Yes, there is a problem and I’m fixing it right now… thanks for the reminder…
How about Deviantart.Com Mr.Wong? I bet you do get some of your images from it
PS .. Same with Salman. Your COMLUV aint working.
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 19, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Yes, I do use images there, but to find the proper images you have to search high and low from it that really suits the post, and the task isn’t easy, though I do have a way of using it.
And yes my commentluv is having problem and I’m fixing it right now…
Hey Wong,
Thanks for sharing these image places with us. I’m not familiar with a couple – off to check them out.
All the best,
Mavis
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 21, 2011 at 12:07 am
No problem, they are great photo sites, you should check them out…
This is a good list. However, if you’re a college student like myself you don’t really have extra money to buy your images. I think that as long as you give credit to the images you select from Google, you should be fine. I always leave trackbacks and an actual link within the post that links back to the site where i got it from. Cheers!
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 21, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Yes, that’s a good way to do it, I mean giving a link back is always safer then just steal the images…
Well, I am using depositphotos and in my opinion they are good too. Apart from them, I use Flickr. Anyway, thanks for sharing this list. I will surely try the last two websites listed in here.
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 21, 2011 at 1:38 pm
I will also go to depositphotos to take a look, thanks for sharing…
Hello Wong. I use Freegigitalphotos.com They offer high resolution images for just a credit to the photographer. Ive been using it forever and seems a great solution. Sadly, if I don’t find a relevant image I still go to Google images, but you make great points here. I will look into other resources. Some of my writers use the zementa plugin giving you good images with the necessary credit to it. That’s probably the most useful resource making blogging easier and the process quicker.
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 21, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Never heard before, but I will go take a look at the site and also take a look at the plugin, thanks for your recommendation…
I thought that iStockPhoto is the only place where you can get images without fearing copyright issues, it seems i was wrong.
Thankt you for this list!
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 21, 2011 at 1:40 pm
No problem, there are actually more photo site out there above are just a few I know…
Twitter: couponseasy
July 22, 2011 at 1:04 am
Hi Wong,
Nice collection… I use flickr very much as it’s free and you get good quality images.
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 26, 2011 at 9:36 am
Ya, but most of the time I can’t get the image I want from flickr….
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You’re a bit harsh on IStockPhoto regarding quality. I was a contributor as well as a buyer. Their standards are very high regarding submissions as a contributor. Many large agency’s use their library or buy exclusive licenses. Their prices are ridicules now and I have been using other sources.
There are sites, programs and bots that index images like Google does, but for the purpose of finding illegal usage of graphics or images. As an artist’s I’m glad to see it. Everyone wants good illustrations or photographs but overlooks the fact someone spent time creating them. Grabbing them off Google Images is no different than when folk were getting free MP3 files through file sharing.
We should all appreciate what is free, because one day it may cost you money for any sort of imagery, just as books, music and DVD’s do. I guess the artist guild is a bit slow in that department.
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
July 26, 2011 at 9:40 am
Well, though I admit when I started out, I use Google to find images, well… I here by had to say sorry to you and all the artist, as for now, I do not use any of them, most photo I use are from either BigStock or IStock and sometime credit those artist by linking back to their page.
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thanks for this great resource . lately i have ben trying to use my photography skills and take pictures for use in my blog. its always better as google gives +1 to enw images , also you dont have any copyright issues .
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Twitter: TheBadBlogger
August 4, 2011 at 6:29 am
Actually, I didn’t know Google +1 gives advantages to images, that’s a great news to me… thanks!
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My favorite source if Flicker and as you have mentioned you can get some pictures loyalty free. But for quickly finding images Google image search is a good place. And as long as you give credit I don’t you will get copyright notices either.
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Twitter: TheBadBlogger
August 5, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Yes, you are right, but did you know if you use high quality pictures which you hardly can find in Google images, it might increase your ranking, I’m not sure if what I said is really true but I did saw a few of my pictures on certain keyword in Google images and it’s position in the first line.
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If so, do I need to list the images-agent for every country on earth … If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want to stop Google from …
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
August 5, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Seriously I never stop Google from anything… I’m only stopping “blogger” from using Google Images for the reason most images are copyright, that’s all
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I think that as long as you give credit to the images you select from Google, you should be fine.
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
August 5, 2011 at 8:26 pm
But how many blog you had seen that actually put a credit on those photo they use?
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nice new resources but no one have data base like google
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Twitter: TheBadBlogger
August 6, 2011 at 6:38 am
Well… a question to ask, do you want quality pictures or non-quality pictures? Well.. data base is big but poor in quality… so which do you choose…?
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I am currently using flickr and iStockPhoto (at sometimes) for my blog post’s images and I get almost any type of image which I want from there. I was unaware of the other sites you mentioned, I will give them a try too. And also, this is my first comment on your blog and I am amazed how you relate blogging with sex ,-)
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
August 11, 2011 at 6:22 am
Well, if you did not realize not just blogging can relate to sex, games, spots and even health stuff can relate to sex and that’s how so many magazines have lots of beautiful women in them. Oh and if you think this post is great, don’t mind giving me a Google +1?
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Hi,
I use some of these places, but not all. I’ll check out Corbis since that is one I don’t use. I sometimes use a few “FREE” sites that are Public Domain: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/ is one. http://www.clker.com is another one for clipart. You just have to read their terms to make sure you give credit to the artist/photographer in the right way.
I also like 123rd.com is one you pay for, but not that expensive. Thanks for the great article. Sally
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Twitter: TheBadBlogger
August 15, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Hey, no problem and I’m going to check both links you recommend, though I had yet to know about publicdomain stuff, thanks to you… I’m going to check that out…
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Thanks Wong, another useful post! My mom recently had to pay getty images $600 for a photo she used on one of her websites so it can be really costly to steal images. Im sure she wont make that mistake again, and i sure wont. Thanks again.
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Twitter: TheBadBlogger
September 22, 2011 at 10:42 pm
That was a damn large sum, and I believe is a good lesson for everyone to know stealing images is wrong!
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Hey Wong,
Thanks for sharing these image places with us. I personally like ShutterStock…. But can you tell me from where I can get free images (high Quality)??
All the best,
Robert Lee
Twitter: TheBadBlogger
September 22, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Well, you can get it from “http://www.deviantart.com/” but you must ask them for approval, and also create a link back to the photographer. Usually you will get approve unless there the photo had some contract around it.
Most important is to let the photographer know you are using it
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That’s kind of a bummer, I thought the pictures you use were from your private collection.
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I’ll definitely try these website later. I’m looking for the perfect sites where I could search some photos. I wonder why Google images are all copyrighted while there are some sites which are not.
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Twitter: TheBadBlogger
February 15, 2012 at 4:16 pm
Well, I’m not sure, but may be Google images are are just for show
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Twitter: abhibalani
February 25, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Another useful share.
But one of my this year resolution is to make graphics for my blog myself. I’m doing with Photoshop. But I’ll use your suggestions whenever I need images from Internet.
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