free website pictures

calog

i'm trying to build my own website and want to add a few pictures for IT environment. there are many websites that advertise free pictures but then want you pay for them.

has anyone had any experience in obtaining any such pictures and or could recomend where i can obtain them?

thanks in advance

paddyrg

Surest way is to get your camera out...!

fwor

Well yes, best way would be to make your own, but one alternative is to seek out pictures released under the Creative Commons licence scheme.

Take a look at the Wiki for more details of things like the need to attribute, etc.

Mista_C

What kind of pictures are you after? IT environment covers a wide range of possibilities.

If you can give me some more details and an idea of the kind of resolution you're looking for I might be able to help you out.

calog

paddyrg wrote: »

Surest way is to get your camera out...!

thanks - i may look at that but i don't have much experience with photography.

fwor wrote: »

Well yes, best way would be to make your own, but one alternative is to seek out pictures released under the Creative Commons licence scheme.

Take a look at the Wiki for more details of things like the need to attribute, etc.

thanks but i'm not sure what i'm looking for on that page - would help if you could be a bit more specific.

Mista_C wrote: »

What kind of pictures are you after? IT environment covers a wide range of possibilities.

If you can give me some more details and an idea of the kind of resolution you're looking for I might be able to help you out.

thanks for offer - i haven't got a clue about resolution but i'm looking 1 good bright picture including person or persons within the IT office environment and laptops, desktops, screens and components. the main thing is that i don't want to do is break copyright laws.

paddyrg

fwor wrote: »

...pictures released under the Creative Commons licence scheme.

I agree this is an option for the OP, but for some reason I assumed this was a business rather than personal website, and most CC licensed images are non-commercial. If so, taking their own pics is the safest/cheapest way to stay legal :-)

richt71

Many CC photo's are licensed for non commercial use only. I know of no truly free photo sites. You can however get a couple of pictures for about £5 on sites like istock.com depending on how large you require the photo's. Please be very careful and make sure you have a license for any photo's you use that you didn't take as their's a law firm called getty images that searches the net to find photo's being used without permission. If they find one on your website they will (and do) send you a demand for $10,000 for breaching copyright. They will sue you for more if you fail to respond.

zee_2

go to serif software
http://www.serif.com/FreeDownloads/

RealGem

A lot do have misleading advertising; you're right.

They want to lure you in with freebies, but then they make it confusing as to what is free and what is paid for.

Some require a link/attribution to the author. Look for this info, so you know what is allowed. Read all the T&Cs.

There are genuine free photos available at these sites, but you have to be careful not to pick a paid-for shot.

http://www.sxc.hu/
The free images are hidden in between premium ads at the top and bottom of the pages. And the ads are hard to distinguish from the freebies.

Just pick from the middle, where there is no mention of "Premium"!

http://www.123rf.com/freeimages.php - they like to hide their free photos section. Once you click elsewhere, you can't get back to the Free section. Save/Favourite this URL!

http://Kozzi.com - one download per day, (but VERY cheap for upgrade to 25 per day)

http://FreeDigitalPhotos.net - attribution (and link back to the site) must appear on the same page as photo.

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-2.0/

Sometimes doing a search within Flickr takes you OUT of the creative commons section without you knowing. Always check the Rights link (bottom right of photo page) to see if your site is allowed.

Out of the paid ones, I try not to pay more than £1 per image, unless I need a large one. Usually under 500 pixels is big enough for my sites, and there are plenty that do this size for 1 credit per photo ($1-2 each - if you buy around 30 credits up front).

The paid ones I use are:
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/
http://en.fotolia.com/
http://www.shutterstock.com/

macman

richt71 wrote: »

Many CC photo's are licensed for non commercial use only. I know of no truly free photo sites. You can however get a couple of pictures for about £5 on sites like istock.com depending on how large you require the photo's. Please be very careful and make sure you have a license for any photo's you use that you didn't take as their's a law firm called getty images that searches the net to find photo's being used without permission. If they find one on your website they will (and do) send you a demand for $10,000 for breaching copyright. They will sue you for more if you fail to respond.

They're not lawyers, they are one of the largest picture agencies in the world-hence their concern over copyright theft.
Have a look here for royalty-free images:
http://www.webdesignlessons.com/16-websites-with-free-stock-images-for-commercial-use/

RealGem

Just found another Free Images resource:

http://www.squidoo.com/free-squidoo-images-and-graphics

I think this is where I found some of the free photo sites in my previous post.