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How to find free images for your blog?
This story is for both authors and editors
Why should you learn about it?
It has always been recommended that while one writes/edits a blog, he/she should add visual arts within the blog, i.e. photos, GIFs, Videos, to make the blog more reader-friendly.
The one common mistake that every new writer/editor does is that of Googling such images and directly copying them to the manuscript. Such a negligent action can have grave consequences.
Other writers might simply give credits to the website they have taken the image from, but that also only reduces the scope of the grave consequences and not finish them.
Every Photo/Graphic you see on the web was clicked/created by someone else, and many of them have some form of ownership over these images. There is always some sort of licence over such pictures, which restrict/liberate the scope of use of them by others. In case anyone violates such a licence, he/she may have to face legal consequences.
You can learn about such licenses here:
The above article talks about 6 of such licences: RM, EU, RF, RFE, CC, and PD.
The images that you can use without paying any money, or legal repercussions, are that are licenced under Creative Commons (CC) or Public Domain(PD).
The Creative Commons (CC) licence is also of several types, you can learn about them here:
It is always recommended that only CC Images that allow commercial use are used. Attribution means giving credits to the owner of any image
How to check if an image is free? Learn about it here:
In case you are not able to find about the license of such an image, you can always find one for yourself.
How to find free images? Finally.
Never, ever use Google images to find images for your article. You can use the usual google search to find links to websites that provide such free images. Just try to add “Public Domain Pictures” or “Free images” alongside whatever you are searching for.
For example:
The writers/editors can use websites that have a huge collection of stock photos such as Pixabay, Unsplash, Pexels, StockSnap, Burst etc.
List of websites that provide free stock images:
Most of these images are PD, therefore you can use them anywhere without giving attributions to the owner, but do try to give the credits where you can.
Also, you should provide a link to the PD image, no matter what, so that the reviewer/editor can verify the source.
In case the image is from any of the abovementioned 21 sites, make sure the link redirects to the page of the website where the details of the image are given. Such a link is always available in the URL Bar. Don’t share the links of the image directly as it becomes tough for the reviewer to find the owner of the photo. Understand this by the example below:
Link to the page of the image (Recommended): https://unsplash.com/photos/_kSWutjgAO
Link to the image (Not recommended): https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1594722553761-58b3be7b088d?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=334&q=80
However, watch out for CC images, they can be a slippery slope. There can be some CC images which bar making edits to the picture, or their commercial use. It would be in the best interest of the writer/editor to avoid using them.
If you find a CC image, in all cases, you need to attribute the owner. Mostly, the websites provide you with the attribution.
Life Hack 101: Wikipedia
Personally, Wikipedia works the best. Almost all the images on Wikipedia are either PD or CC. The only difference is that PD images don't require attribution, while the CC ones do. Follow the following steps to use an image from Wikipedia.
Google the specific subject
Due to the diversity of Wikipedia images, it is very likely that you’ll find a Wikipedia page specific to your article. Find one and open one.
Find an image, within the page, using the arrow buttons after opening an image
If it’s a PD image, like below, just copy the link address to the ‘More Details’ tab, so that the reviewer/editor may verify the source.
If it’s a CC image then click on the ‘More Details’ tab and then click on ‘🌎 Use this file on the Web icon’
Copy the attribution and paste it in the captions of the image of your blog
Yes, just like the image above.
I hope this article helps you in finding free images for your blog so that you stay away from legal charges. Keep writing! :)
