Photos are becoming a staple for websites to appeal to their audiences no matter what industry they are in.
If you need photos for your website, it is straightforward to look for pictures online. You can easily type what you need in a search engine, and you will get pages of images you can choose from for your site. However, is it ok to use photos from the net?
Technically speaking, you can use the photos you find online. But, for professional use, you shouldn’t. Like other created content, these images are owned by makers, and they may only be used for certain purposes. If these owners see the photos on your site, you may end up with copyright infringement charges that may cost you a lot of money to resolve.
Fortunately, there are ways to legally get photos you find online and not get into trouble with their makers.
Here are the ways on how you can get images legally for your blog:
Create Them Yourself
If you want to use images for your website, the first thing you can do is make them yourself. If you have a camera, take the shots related to your content and post those on your website! You can easily use image design programs like Paint, Photoshop and others to make the graphics you need for your site.
Use a Stock Photo Website or Free Library
If you are not tech-savvy and don’t have the resources or time to take the photos yourself, you can use stock photo websites or free libraries. These sites have a unique search engine that will allow you to browse their library of images and use them for your website. Stock photo websites like depositphotos.com or shutterstock.com may require a small fee for you to pay to use the photos. Meanwhile, free libraries like Pexels allow you to use their stock photos for free.
Pay the Licensing and Credit the Image Creator
For images made by professional photographers, you may be allowed to use their photos legally by purchasing the licensing for these photos. Fees do vary depending on where the picture will be used and your agreement with the photographer. You can use photography licensing platforms to purchase licenses directly from photographers.
When you do use their photos, make sure to credit them accordingly.
Check if You can Use It for Free through Fair Use or Creative Commons Conditions
You can also check photos that are under the Fair Use or Creative Commons attribution. Under the Fair Use attribution, you may be able to use an image based on three conditions: use for non-profit or education, use to share information and if the photo is changed so much that it is no longer the same picture.
Meanwhile, the Creative Commons Attribution varies depending on the conditions set by the photographer. Still, usually, it may be resolved by emailing them to request permission or crediting them on the site.
Conclusion
While the internet offers information and materials for free, it doesn’t mean you can immediately take them and post them on your website without permission. Always check the images you want to use and get the permission or license to use them. Without it, you may find yourself in a legal dispute that may cut your online career short.
Want to make your blog fly? Here are the ways to do it:
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MiddleMe 
Almost all of the photos I use are my own. If they aren’t mine then I will give the credit to where I got it from below the photo.
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That’s awesome!
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For the posts i write, edit and publish on here, i do use images on google, but i’m careful about which ones to use. Avoid ones that have words such as alamy, getty or anything showing a brand. The more my work is read, I will replace those ones with ones i can either pay for, take or be with those who take the pics. It’s a slippery slope especially if you have your own brand and can’t go cross-country.
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I use what I can get on wp or on pixabay & very few of what photos I have
& I’ve never had any issues using either 1 of them over the years online.
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i’ll keep pixabay in mind. the wordpress ones be helpful too
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Yea I have a few I put on my posts from
pixabay, but I use the 1’s on word press
as well till I can’t find what I want.
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That’s true too!
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That’s quite true. Just have to be careful and always seek permission of the photos does not belong to you.
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Useful. I once used a photo within a post and got a comment from the photographer years later even though I had credited him. My point was my nature blog is educational and I mainly use my own photos.
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A very helpful article. I only use other people’s photographs for historic purposes, and always credit them. Very often I type something into Google and my own pictures come up. I am OK with that – as far as I am concerned if I put it out there it is a gift. I don’t make money from my site. Only yesterday I looked up the address of a house we once lived in. There were many images of the street, and two of my wife – unrelated to the building.
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The post added sharing means we can share .I think no harm !!
Then quotes we can see their names , so sharing no problem👍🌹
Photos also !! But we cannot steal somebody’s poem and their
Articles 🙏🏼 🌹my comment 👏
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This is good advice. A writer can get in big trouble using another person’s creative content. Most people are not aware that they are doing anything wrong until they get notice of the infraction.
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Like BloggnNoggin I use Pixabay. They have a wonderful collection of images, and last year I started crediting the photographers in my blog posts (although I think Pixabay says that you do not have to do that to use their photos). Thank you for this summary of best practices regarding photos/images/graphics in our blog posts.
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Thank you, very interesting for my food picture (as a photographer, I’m a disaster 🙂
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You are doing great. I always enjoy your articles.
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Really? Thank you 🙂
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Thanks for the useful (and accurate) advice. Be well.
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Thank you so much!
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford.
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Thanks, Jonathan! Have a wonderful day.
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For blog posts I use pixabay, creative commons images or images I created. The images for my upcoming book will be original.
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That’s awesome advice!
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Okay, but the situation does not present itself, even so dramatic.
The Internet is almost saturated with images, and those that contain copyright represent about 0.02% of their total, so it would be a damn bad luck to come across a picture that you like, which ” he anointed your heart ”as they say to our , and that is to be covered by copyright. In addition, they are usually overprinted in gradients, which makes them unusable.
So, patiently, search engines have become very intuitive, only you need to know what you are asking for, and it is impossible not to find an image that matches your desire from that moment.
Then, to be bad, after I go through with there picture through multiple filters and as many renames, not even the devil will not assimilate the result with the original.
😉
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Thanks for sharing your experiences.
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I normally use WordPress free library, Pixabay, or I use my own, or I may search the net to see what I can use. I never want to do anything illegal. Thank you for this educational information. Have a blessed day.
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Thank you so much! Another great site is Unsplash.
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I get so confused.. half the time they say free and then they want you to buy them.. oye vey
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Avoid those that ask you to pay. Stick with pexel, pixabay and unsplash. These are copyright free photos that you don’t have to pay for them.
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Thanks Kally!! I think that’s what I’ve been doing 💕
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Thank you for sharing this. Great pics make a blog pop but want to get them the right way.
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Glad you find the post useful!
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Hi, Kally. Thanks for the well-researched and helpful article, as always.
Nearly every image on my site is my own, and what little which isn’t, is in the public domain. Has been for centuries, in some cases.
If ever there comes a time to use something else (unlikely), I will attribute. “Always credit your sources,” as undergrad journalism classes urged.
Now, from the other perspective, which is, from me as the artist (photographer), steal away, bloggers! If the image inspires you, post it. If you use it to make a billion dollars, please do. I’d love to see it happen.
Of course, for most other artists, their creations are their livelihoods, and their work deserves permission, or credit, at least. For me and for mine, though, it’s just a hobby, and I treat it as such.
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That’s really awesome! And thank you for contributing more advice.
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Excellent post Kally! We all need to be aware of copyright infringement, especially with photographs. Nearly all of my blog photos come from my personal collection or from the WP Library.
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That’s great that you respect copyrights.
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Is it usually fairly straightforward to get permission/pay the licensing fee for an image? There have been a few times I wished I could ask a creator for permission to use their images, but it looked like such a long and complicated process that I decided to use less interesting but free stock images.
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