Whether you’re just not gifted at photography or you can’t be present to take a picture yourself, there comes a time in most bloggers’ journeys when they need to find blog images.
Your firsts thought may be to grab an image off Instagram or Google, but wait! You can’t just use someone else’s photo from the internet on your blog without permission. All photos are protected by copyright – meaning the original author has the right to decide how and where the photos are distributed.
Even giving credit to the owner of the photo doesn’t suffice. You still need their express written permission to use it on your blog. Failing to get proper legal permission could land you in big trouble with the law.
Penalties for using copyrighted images without permission can cost you thousands of dollars if the owner of the photo decides to sue you. Don’t risk it!
Get Free Blog Photos and Images
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of getting image permissions from content creators, there are a few ways you can legally get free blog images to use as you please.
Buying professional photography can be expensive, but luckily there are a few free blog image websites where you can get totally free blog images!
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is a community of photographers who have offered their photography for free. I am always blown away at the quality of the images I find on Unsplash! You can find incredibly professional images that are completely free to use. This is truly one of the best resources for finding free blog images.
2. Getty Embed Images
Images of celebrities and high-profile people are hard to come by for free. This is where Getty Embed comes into play.
Getty has been around for decades and their image database is massive. You can find images of just about everyone in their database. Yet they are not cheap at all when it comes to using their images.
Thankfully, Getty allows bloggers and publishers to embed selected images. You can embed copyrighted images from the Getty database for free using their Embed tool.
3. 123RF
123RF is a stock photo image site with thousands of copyright-free images you can use on your blog.
4. StockSnap
Stocksnap.io is another great free image database to sift through!
5. UNESCO
The UNESCO media bank offers a search engine to find free photos taken between 1946 and 2018. Be sure to read the licensing guidelines and credit the photographer where required!
6. Creative Commons
Creative Commons, the organization that powers Wikipedia images, has partnered with WordPress to launch a free image search engine tool called WordPress Openverse. Use it to search through copyright-free images you can use, most of the time with attribution.
Check out the old CC search engine here.
7. Google Images
You can change the settings on a Google image search to only show you copyright-free images. Simply do your Google Image search. Then, click “Tools” to the right, then Usage Rights, and select “Creative Commons licenses.” You should then have a list of images free to use for your blog from places like Wikipedia. Be sure to double check the image is actually copyright-free before using it.
Risks of Publishing Copyrighted Images Online
Publishing copyrighted images online without obtaining proper authorization or a license can carry several risks, including:
- Legal consequences: When you use copyrighted images without permission, you infringe upon the exclusive rights of the copyright owner. This can lead to legal action, such as receiving a cease and desist letter, being sued for copyright infringement, and potentially facing substantial financial penalties.
- Damage to reputation: Unauthorized use of copyrighted images can harm your reputation, especially if the copyright owner discovers your infringement and takes action against you. This can result in negative publicity, loss of trust from your audience or customers, and damage to your professional or personal brand.
- Takedown requests and DMCA notices: Copyright owners have the right to request the removal of infringing content from online platforms. If you publish copyrighted images without permission, you may receive takedown requests or Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices, which can require you to remove the images or face consequences imposed by the platform hosting the content.
- Limited access to services: Some online platforms have strict policies regarding copyright infringement. If you repeatedly violate these policies by publishing copyrighted images without permission, you may face consequences such as account suspension, termination, or being banned from using the platform altogether.
- Financial implications: If you are found liable for copyright infringement, you may be required to pay damages to the copyright owner. These damages can include actual damages (e.g., the copyright owner’s financial loss) and statutory damages, which can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per infringing work.
To avoid these risks, it’s crucial to respect copyright law and obtain proper authorization, licenses, or use copyright-free or Creative Commons licensed images when publishing content online!
I hope this post helped you find amazing images for your blog!
Heyy loved reading your blogpost, I wanted to ask a question..
I live in a small house in the states, I want to start a home decor blog and don’t have things to take pictures of.
Can I make a successful blog by using images from this site?
I am interested in home decor, and can write good content, but have nothing to take picture of for my blog, so i really wanted to know that ….?
It will be more difficult, but anything is possible so you might as well try 🙂 What I did was start with a small area of my apartment that I could make look nice.