When developing content for several types of documents; graphic designers and webmasters often search for free images in order to enhance the appearance of the communication. If intellectual property laws are observed when trying to find free images, then this process can be very productive.
Images can enhance any project
When an artist or writer creates a work, often they will select or gather images that pertain to the specific idea in which they are writing.
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 which relate to the topic at hand help the reader to visualize the essence of a presentation or article. If considering the use of pictures on a blog or website, images named in relation to the written content, help a website to be found by potential visitors. Engaging website content certainly provides an enhanced experience for the visitor.
Where to find free images
A great way to get high quality and high resolution images for a website or other publication is to use a digital camera to take pictures. However, when the photographs are converted into images or logos it is critical that trademarks and symbols are not apparent in the picture, otherwise intellectual property rights may be of concern.
Another great source and probably one of the best, is Wikimedia commons. This media resource can be used to find images for free, according to creative commons licensing. Image content is categorized into many sections such as topic, location, type, author, license, and source.
Flickr is another source to find images for free, which is literally inexhaustible. Millions of people share images on this social network every day and many are often personal images which have no commercial royalty implications. Flickr has recently implemented a licensing option for images. The license is clearly stated by creative commons in order to avoid any confusion. If there is a question regarding the license of an image, a messaging tool allows users to send messages; and most photographers will allow their images to be used at no cost if credit is given for their work.
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.
Some of these basic processes are demonstrated briefly in the video titled "images for free". Hotlinks, downloads and other methods should be considered. Once the various methods are learned then they will become second nature and the process is much more efficient.
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.
Displaying a free hotlinked image on a blog, website or bulletin board could not be easier. When a hotlinked image is utilized this will offload the bandwidth from the website being displayed. To use an image as a hotlink it is best to find a site that generates this code already, then the code can be used as a template to utilize this for other free images from sites that do not generate the code. Typically code will be generated for Bulletin Board (BBCode) or pure Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). This code can then simply be copied from the site and pasted directly into a form for a bulletin board post or into a websites html page by content management system (CMS) tool etc.
Transferring free images to a PC
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.
True webmasters will ask a photographer or graphic designer about licensing first, rather than to build a website or publish a work and then receive a DMCA take down notice. Most photographers are proud of their work and will provide a higher resolution image at no charge, as long as they are credited.
Image Intellectual property laws
Intellectual property laws have recently become a more prevalent issue since the inception of the internet. Hence the US government has heightened copyright laws and penalties for breach of copyright. If a webmaster were to receive a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) take down notice from an internet service provider or other legitimate authority it is in the best interest of the webmaster to immediately comply with the request. This is especially true if the webmaster knows that they have copied the image from another website.
Intellectual property owners reserve the right to protect their works even if it seems that they provide their images for free of charge. Creative commons licensing outlines specific guidelines for attribution to the original creator, as well as criteria for derivative works. It is highly recommended to visit the creative commons website and become familiar with the various licensing models prior to copying or hotlinking to images even if they seem to be free of charge.
With a little time and research, artists, webmasters, developers and graphics designers can find many sources of images for free on the internet. All image content needs can be fulfilled while complying with copyright laws, this will help to build relationships with content providers for months and years to come.
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