Since the first caveman drew on a wall, communicating with pictures has been a powerful way to tell a story. Internet content is now full of photos, video and other visuals of all kinds.
Appealing images are eye candy that add color, style and personality to your articles and blog posts and make them pop.
Sometimes finding the right image is a challenge and then finding an image you have the “right” to use can be an even bigger challenge.
That said, many free image resources are available online.
Look for images that are royalty-free and be careful to follow each site’s licensing restrictions, attribution and terms of use rules.
I have used paid sites like iStock Photo and scoured stock.xchng for appropriate free images. It takes time and if you’re buying images frequently, it may get costly.
Public domain and creative common search sites can be a rich resource for images but again, on privately-run sites, watch the fine print.
Whatever you do, DO NOT search google images and simply copy whatever you find. Only use it as a search tool. When you find what you want, check the original site and follow the usage rules or you might receive a big bill or even get sued!
Some other places to check:
I use and really like presenter media. It is an affordable source for powerpoint and presentation templates, clip art images, animations, video backgrounds and more. The annual subscription is about 60-dollars for unlimited downloads and gives me peace of mind. Maybe its little puffy people aren’t your style, but the site has a good variety of other choices.
You can customize the images and artists are constantly adding new ones. I use it for images on my blog, slideshare presentations and webinars.
UPDATE 2018 -Another favorite tool of mine is Canva. It’s very versatile and has a nice collection of images to use. Check them out at https://www.canva.com/photos/
What is your favorite source for images?