How to Find the Right Images for Your Blog
With every blog comes at least one visual. Readers want to see images that are relative to your blog posts. However, knowing where you can obtain an image for your blog is more complicated than you might think. Many images found on the Internet are either copyrighted or protected, and using them can lead to copyright infringement. So, in an era where images and videos are needed to draw in your readers, where do you go to get them?
There are three ways that you can obtain blog images:
1) Purchase:
Images are available through websites such as www.istockphoto.com after paying a subscription fee or buying credits to purchase an image. The images through such sites are high quality and they offer a variety of photos.
2) Free:
Everyone loves to save money! Photos are attainable through websites online at no cost. Some websites where you can find free images include www.photopin.com and www.flickr.com. Although free, every website has certain rules to abide by in using their photos. Users need to make sure they are following these rules and giving proper attribution.
There are several other free sites including Pixabay & Freedigitalphotos.net.
3) Take them yourself:
The easiest way to avoid copyright infringement or issues of the like… take and use your own photos! Most cell phones come equipped with cameras that take “blog-quality” photos.
If you are going to use a photo that is available online, you must be aware of proper attribution rules and the licenses the image’s owner has on that particular image. If you have not been given express permission from the image’s owner, you are in danger copyright infringement. In order for an attribution to be correct, it should include: the image’s title, the author, source, and license. However, the required attributions differ depending on the owner’s license.
Keep in mind we’ve all seen A LOT of different images. Be creative, be unique, be relative, but most importantly, be mindful of copyright law. Let us know what method you have chosen by posting a link to your blog below. We always enjoy reading a new blog!
-Jamie