Free Images Or Not Free Images
Couldn't make my mind up if this was a blog or a question or a tip or all three.... They all sort of rely on each other... Ultimately I'm hoping you'll be able to clarify so I can either celebrate or go back to how it was.
I use Ecosia for search and the results are good enough for my level of necessity. I don't know if it's good or bad but fit for purpose it is. Anyway, one of my offspring made me use it because they help plant trees...and other 'good' stuff...no arguments from me.
If you're looking for a picture then you can use it as you would any search...just click on the 'image' tab and you get a gazillion pics..Yay. On the same line as the image tab there is another option 'Filters' .. If you click on that you get another set of options. See below.
This is where I'm going to need your expertise and experience. If you click on the 'Licenses' it gives you this.
Now you have a number of different options that supposedly give you the choice of the type of license linked to the images that are then served up.
From a 'users' perspective, this is a major time saving. I'm not saying the overall quality of the images is going to be any better than if you're using any of the 'free to use' sites but it is all in one place.
There is a similar facility on Google but it's not as easy to navigate. This seems very simple in comparison
Is this all legit do you know ?
Has anyone used this feature and had any comebacks ?
Thank you. Be well.
Recent Comments
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Not sure I would use a search engine for free images for two reasons:
1. What if the search engine makes a mistake and displays an image that isn't copyright free? A search engine isn't a platform for royalty free content, it is simply a directory.
And 2: People can take down their images and or change their copyright status. Therefore, if I get an image from Google, in a week's time, someone could take their image down and no longer allow it to be used as royalty free.
I would need to remove the image or contact the creator for permission to continue using said image, and never even know!
The fact that Google (for example) still shows the little phrase: "may be subject to copyright" is a clear indicator that search engines are opting out of any responsibility for a user facing legal charges for misusing media.
The only SURE way to make sure you are never in jeopardy of violating copyright law is to only get images from sources that are specifically designed to host royalty free material.
If you go to a site like: http://freeimages.com or http://unsplash.com, these sites have clear statements made so that every user will never have to face the possibility of being sued over a picture.
If creator/photographer decides to change the legal status of their image, they cannot come after you because the image was hosted on a site that was "copyright or royalty free".
(Just giving this clarification because people might think you can just save images straight from a search engine. It is vital to get them from a reliable source, not something like Google.
I don't think that is what you meant when talking about finding royalty free images, but I thought it worth spelling this out. )
Hi Jacob, I appreciate you taking the time to clarify certain points. This is the kind of input I was looking for and has made me more aware. I can sometimes spend almost as much time sorting through images for a post than on writing it. Thank you.
Thank you soo much, Jacob, for that information and the links!!!
In the past, I used only my own images. But I don't have images for many contents.
I used yahoo free images but wasn't 100% happy with.
Aloha, Jenna
I haven't used it but would be going for the last option. I try to stay away from free images because I personally think that as the search engines become even more intelligent moving forward they are likely to see too many duplicate images on a site as plagiarism. I always try to amend the images to make them different slightly or add them to an infographic. Just my opinion, of course who knows what the future holds.
I think that is a very good point. If they can see duplicate text the search engines will certainly be able to do the same for images.
That's a great point and something worth bearing in mind. I wonder how much an image needs to be changed before it is no longer recognised as the original ? Thank you for that.
Hi Twak, based on your screenshot I would say they are ok to use. I have been using Unsplash some and they are pretty good.
https://unsplash.com/
Unplash just asks you to give credit, sometimes I have and sometimes I haven't.
Great post!
Cal
Hi Cal, I don't think I've used Unsplash before..I shall add it to my pics site folder. Thank you.
I also use yahoo ... and asked many times the same question :-)
Now I'm good with that :-))
Just found that link https://www.freeimages.com/
Thank you, Twack for that question. More clarity about images.
Aloha, Jenna
So many grey areas, I even wonder sometimes about taking a picture of a product with a label on....Thank you.
Yeah! Lots of grey areas! I was pretty uncertain about!
Better now!
Also Jacob's comment brings much light into it!
Aloha to you, Twack! And thank you for posting! Was helpful to me!
Jenna
firefox has an image filter for licenses. also you can search for images in public domain or royalty-free. There are also several online sources that offer free images if you join. do a search for "free photo downloads". I think those are better. sometimes I think I'm searching for photos that are OK to use, but in the search others pop up that are not royalty free. Also some try to trick you and say they are free, but after you have searched and found one it ends up being not free at all. I find everything I need at pixabay. But, there are others too.
Hi John, thank you for the info. I like using images but struggle sometimes with the more generic nature based on my search words...It would be good to have a 'onestop' place to go.
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I admit I have been very careless about this in the past and have used images via the search engines. Thanks for the free sites. I will certainly start there in the future.
Alister
No problem Alister. Just exploring options.