How To Find Photos To Use On Websites Or Projects

One of the biggest problems for me is finding photos and illustrations that fit articles that I have written. Not only do they have to fit, but I must have permission to use them. On rare occasions I have contacted other webmasters to see if they would give me permission to use a particular photo that they had copyrighted and had on their site. I must say that some webmasters were very gracious about this. When I do this, I usually get about a 20% permission rate. The other 80% is usually composed of non answers to my email. Who can blame those that don't answer? The amount of what I like to call fraud email is so great, that I can not condemn anyone who doesn't answer one of my emails. I try and not let this happen when I receive emails, but it is very hard to do when you are receiving many hundreds of emails every day.

There are several sources for photos that one can use. Before I get into that, let me explain that the copyright law in the United States provides that once a photo is published, whether on the net, in print, or in any other medium, it is automatically copyrighted and requires no statement to say that it is copyrighted. If you see a photo on a website and it does not bear a copyright notice, it is still copyrighted. When I had another website, I used a photo not realizing that it was copyrighted, because I had been out of touch with the copyright law for years and didn't realize that a copyright notice was no longer required and the owner contacted me and I had to remove it. You will notice that I now list the source for every photo and graphic that I post.

There are many sources for photos, but first you have to decide if they are going to be used for personal use, such as on a personal website, or commercial use. Some of the rules are different depending on their use. There are photos out there that you can use for personal use, but the owners want you to either get permission before using them commercially, or want you to pay a fee. You have to be very careful on this issue. About Facts Net is not a commercial website because it has no advertising, it is just a very large personal website, therefore I have access to those types of photos also. Since the site derives no revenue, I have no budget. I mention this because I can not buy photos as some sites do. Some of you will notice that I sometimes cite Clipart.com as the source for some photos and clip art and you may know that you have to buy their graphics. The reason I use them is that I got a complementary subscription to them. It is expired, but I have the graphics from them that I downloaded and can still use.

Aristotle - Example Of A Public Domain Photo

There are different sources available for photos and graphics. As I mentioned above, you can buy your photos, there are plenty of photos and graphics for sale. There is the public domain. These are photos and graphics that are available to everyone and you can even alter them or use them in any way you want. A couple of the ways a photo or graphic gets into the public domain is that it is either so old that the copyright law doesn't protect it because the copyright wasn't renewed, or the author of the work put it into the public domain. There are problems that can arise from using public domain work. First of all the person that states that a work is public domain could be wrong. Secondly a work could look like the copyright expired, but in reality it was renewed. You have to be careful using this type of photo or graphic.

Another source is Creative Commons. This work is copyrighted, but depending upon the license conditions and the type of site you want to use the photo or graphic on, the graphic or photo can be available for you to use. One license is Attribution, this means as long as you give credit the way it is requested, you can use the photo or graphic. Another type of license condition is Share Alike. This means that your use must be the same as the use of the original license condition. Another license condition is Noncommercial and this means just what it sounds like, you can not use this photo or graphic for commercial use. Lastly there is the No Derivative Works license condition. This means that the graphic, photo or text can only be copied exactly as it is. No derivative work can be created from it.

Another way to get photos is through the GNU General Public License. A GNU license means that whatever carries this license is free. The GPL version means that improved versions must be available under the same license. This is used a lot for free software.

An Image Obtained From Stock.xching

There are many different services that share photos and the authors of the photos let people use them if they get credit. One of my favorites is Stock.xching. They have a wealth of free photos and you will notice that I use them a lot for my articles. Another such service is Morguefile, it is very similar with not as many photos, but it is still a good source. I won't go on to site more of these private sources since they can easily be looked up using Google or other search engines.

A Photo Obtained From NASA

The government is a very good source for free photos and graphics. Any photo or graphic that was created by a government employee during his course of business for the government is free to use. Be careful, not all government photos fall into this category. Some bear a credit line from a private individual and this can not be used without express authorization. Another thing to watch for is photos that show people, such as an employee doing his job. You don't have the right to put up a government photo, in some instances, showing people. I am not talking about the President and such, but workers and others. What I usually do is block the face out if I really need the photo. Good sources for government photos are NASA, The National Park Service and the different U.S. military sites, to name a few.

You can also buy CDs that have thousand of photos on them. Make sure that if you do, that you have the right to reproduce those photos. Not all CDs give you this right. Lastly if you have a digital camera you can take photos yourself and put them on your site instantly. Photos and graphics are great for making a point, or spicing up a website and like the man said, “a picture is worth a thousand words”.