Looking for free pictures for your business blogs?
Adding pictures to blog posts is a common way to generate interest and make reading blog posts more interesting. However, the cost of photos adds up quickly, even when using micro stock which often costs $1.
There are several sources of free pictures available online, with varying license options. Understanding the license requirements isn’t as complicated as you might think. Understanding how to use freely available images and the associated licenses, opens up a large resource of easy-to-use photo libraries.
Here’s a really quick rule of thumb. When blogging for business purposes, I look for the following Creative Commons licenses.
- Attribution License
- Attribution-ShareAlike License
- Attribution-NoDerivs License
Free Blog Photo Resources
- Everystockphoto
This site describes itself as a “license-specific photo search engine.” By clicking on ‘advanced search’, you can specify the license options, making it easier to find commercial-friendly photos. The search results include many of the popular free stock photo sources. - Stock.xchng
Stock.xchng has many photos available that don’t require attribution. However, the search results also have iStock photos which are higher quality but also require payment. - Flickr Creative Commons Search
Using the advanced search feature on Flickr, you can find free images to reuse by specifying the Creative Commons license in the search criteria. Typically, a link back will be requested for credit. Check the requirements of the individual who created the image. They usually specify the preferred method of use. Alternatively, follow the license requirement on the Creative Commons website - Google Creative Commons Image Search
Of course, a post like this wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Google’s image search. Using the advance image search on Google, you can specify keyword, image color, aspect ratio and usage rights. Look for images usage rights that allow ‘free to use or share, even commercially’.
Photo courtesy of: Hryck
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3 Responses to “Free Pictures for Your Business Blogs”
picdrome at 3:17 am on June 08, 2012:
Hi and thank you for the article!
I can also add http://www.picdrome.com, a growing Public Domain picture collection, free of copyright and licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. All items are free to download for personal and commercial use, without restriction and are available in high definition. New photos are added on a daily basis.
Diona Kidd at 11:34 am on June 12, 2012:
Thanks for sharing. Are these photos your original work?
picdrome at 3:49 pm on June 12, 2012:
Yes, I’m the author.