Free Pictures for My Website

Content creators and graphic artists realize the value of acquiring a cache of free images that can be utilized for a specific topic or idea in their production. If intellectual property laws are observed when trying to find free images, then this process can be very productive.

Gaining the attention of a potential browser is one of the most critical points to selling an idea or production. The visual senses of all people are attracted by beautiful pictures, especially when they pertain to something of interest. If a writer or content publisher can grab the attention of someone passing by they are much more likely to turn them into a customer.

Images not only help to attract people to engaging content, but if images are named according to the surrounding content with the appropriate 'alt' attribute tags, this will entice search engines to index the content in a more relevant manner and possibly even higher in the results. There are also additional search related benefits for images which appear in the image search results for specific key terms.

Locating Free Images

Digital camera technology has enabled even the most novice photographer to capture images in stunning detail and clarity. The most obvious source for free images is simply using a personal digital camera. Not everyone has access or the means to use a digital SLR camera, but pocket size cameras can easily capture high resolution images for use in any media project. One consideration that should be kept in mind is to avoid trademarks and proprietary logos that could appear in an image.

Free image sharing has began to grow significantly in the past few years. Creative commons licensing has enabled many talented photographers and graphic artists to share their images through websites such as Wikimedia commons. This website has many talented contributors and even annual best picture contests voted by the site editors. The site allows for advanced search criteria which includes an option for creative common license types. Additional advanced search filter criteria can be used as well.

A very popular photographer social network, which publishes millions of new images every day, is Flickr. This website is hosted by the Yahoo network and is likely to be the most popular image sharing portal in the world. Since many members on this website are novice photographers, often the contributors to this website will allow their images to be published elsewhere free of charge. The site utilizes a creative commons licensing structure that allows contributors to specify the licensing type they wish applied to their images. An internal private messaging system allows for internal messages to be sent to other members in the event that there may be a question regarding an image. This is a great tool for building relationships and a content sharing network. Many will find that if an image creative commons license does not specify that an image can be shared freely, then they can simply ask for permission and most photographers will welcome their work to be published elsewhere if they are given credit.

One of the most powerful image search tools on the internet is Google images. This search tool allows for licensing criteria to be specified in the search query, so it is important to utilize this feature. Some may perceive that any image which shows in the Google image results can be used for free. However, as stated in the search results many images are subject to copyright. It is not a recommended practice to simply search and grab images from the image search results. An ethical webmaster will always ask first and obtain permission.

Integrating free images to a publication

No one single method can be applied for all types of communications. Publishing images to websites and blogs can require completely different procedures than publishing an image in a magazine or advertising brochure. If these processes are considered prior to beginning a project then time, space and cost can be controlled to a minimum.

Downloading free images and creating hotlinks to free images is demonstrated in a video titled "images for free" which provides a brief overview of this process. As these general methods are learned webmasters can then build upon these skills to further enhance and refine the process.

Image hotlinks allow an image to be published into a website, blog or bulletin board post but hosted and stored elsewhere. This can reduce website load times significantly which is something that search engines have begun to factor into rankings. However, although an image hotlink can be generated from just about any website it is not always allowed per the website policy. When an image is hotlinked Copyright infringement and intellectual property laws can come into play. It is important for webmasters to obtain permission prior to generating a hotlink. This is especially true if the website does not provide an automated method to generate the code for a hotlinked image. Some webmasters consider image hotlinks to be bandwidth theft and are not tolerant of image theft. This is because they pay for their website hosting by the bandwidth used each month.

Many websites offer the ability to automatically generate the code to hotlink images into posts and websites. This can help any web design novice begin to understanding how the code must be formatted to hotlink an image. Once a general understanding is learned then alternative file paths can be substituted for other websites that do not offer this automated function. Again, make certain that hotlinked images are permitted. The hotlink code must be placed in the appropriate place with the appropriate format. For instance HTML code would typically be placed in an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) compatible form, CMS (Content Management System) or a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor. Bulletin Board code (BBCode) can be placed in its respective locations as well. PHP Bulletin Boards are very popular throughout the internet and this Hotlink code is specifically for these types of Bulletin systems. If there is doubt as to whether the code will actually work or not, a test can be performed by pasting the code into a form and then utilize the preview button.

Derivative Works with Free Images

Certain creative commons licenses allow for derivative works. This means that the image can be changed and manipulated to suit a webmasters needs or content. However, attribution must be given to the original author of the work that was copied freely. Most artists and photographers will allow their images to be used if proper credit is given for their work.

Organization planning should be the first priority for a webmaster that plans to build a local image cache for offline manipulation. External storage has become relatively inexpensive and it is a good idea to purchase a storage device or even online storage when planning to build an image library. Also, it is good to plan a file and folder structure according to a commonly known standard. This can be accomplished by naming folders according to date, subject, topic or even season, etc. Many image editing applications provide a image name prefix to be added to each image as it is saved or processed. It is much easier to plan this ahead of time rather than depending on software to help organize later. The time saved in creating an efficient structure will be well valued in the long run.

The process for copying an image to a local PC is much different that creating a hotlink. Most websites permit the right click function on a mouse which produces a "Save As" or "Save Target As" option. If the website does not allow a right click of the mouse it is likely that the administrators do not want visitors or members copying the images and have implemented code to prevent image theft. If this is the case it is very important that a webmaster verifies permission prior to continuing with other methods to obtain the images. A true webmaster will follow best practices and respect the rights of artists and content creators. A bad reputation can be given to businesses and individuals who are issued DMCA take down notices because of stolen images and content that does not follow intellectual property laws.

Image Intellectual property laws

In the internet age intellectual property law has become a high priority matter. The loss of intellectual property can severally impact the profitability of an individual or company. Thus the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was instituted. This enacted law increases the penalties and fines that can be imposed upon intellectual property theft. If a webmaster were to receive a DMCA take down notice for a particular image it is in the best interest of the publisher to remove the work or comply with alternative requests as soon as possible. If the publisher has simply made a mistake then typically the law is forgiving, however if the image has been blatantly stolen and a commercial misrepresentation has taken place the law can be very strict.

Creative commons licensing has made it easy for artists and publishers to share their creative works with the world. This licensing model is not only applicable to images, but to written works and video media as well. It highly recommended that all web content creators become familiar with the creative commons licensing structure prior to seeking to obtain free images.

If web designers and content publishers first establish a habit of obtaining proper permission and researching image property law before using any images obtained from the internet, this common courtesy will go a long way to help build a professional reputation. Almost any image content need can be fulfilled from searching the vast resources on the internet, and common courtesy is well respected among professionals.