by 3 people |
Locating Free Photos for Your Lens on Flickr
If you took the photo yourself, or drew the graphic yourself, you're in the clear. But what happens if you're like me and have no art skills?
Never fear, Flickr will save you. By using their advanced search, and staying within the boundaries of the photographers, you can find thousands and thousands of wonderful images for you to use legally.
Creative Commons
Public Domain with Strings Attached
When anybody takes a photo, or creates anything, copyright is automatically assigned. They don't have to ask for it, they don't have to register it, it just happens.
That means that the photos you find on Flickr are off limits, unless otherwise specified. Flickr luckily gives an easy way for friendly photographers to specify exactly what permissions they want to give out.
The license they grant is part of a family of licenses called "Creative Commons". There is no single license called Creative Commons, but the photographer will choose one of several license offered, and grant those freedoms with their image.
The Creative Commons licenses vary on a few key points. First is the permission to use the work for commercial purposes. I suggest that images designed for lenses always be marked that way. Even if it's a pure charity lens (since Squidoo still takes a cut).
The next point they differ on is the "Derivative Works" permission. Some photographers don't mind if you use their photo as part of a larger composition (created in Photoshop). Others do mind, and don't want their work changed in any way. This isn't as necessary to worry about on Squidoo Lenses, since most of the time, you just want to include the image on your lens.
The final thing that the creator controls is the level of attribution necessary. Do they want credit for their work? You'll find that most authors say yes, they want credit. This is simple to do in a lens, just have a Text module at the bottom of your lens with image credits, and links back to the Flickr page you found it on. Be sure to do this though, you don't want to deny a great photographer the credit they deserve.
Using Flickr's Advanced Search
Ignore most of it
Load up Flickr's Advanced Search in another window, and follow along here. It's pretty straight forward what needs to be done, but there are a few tricks.
First is to check the boxes at the bottom to search for licensed images, allowing business use. That means that you need to check the first two boxes. The last one is irrelevant unless you want to open the photo up and change it.
Then of course, you enter your search terms up top. For instance for the broken lens image up top, I searched for "Broken Lens". For my CC book image, I searched for "sharing".
Ignore the rest of the fields, you don't need them for your purposes.
Once you load up the search results, skim through until you find an image you like. Click the image to load it up.
You probably want to save that first page's image, since it's the right size to go into lenses. Also, save the URL of the page off into a temporary text file (open up notepad and paste it there).
Here's the trick to get the exact specifications for the license. Click the "full size" icon above image. Once you do, you'll see a larger version of the photo, and below that are a few icons that say what the specific Creative Commons license chosen requires of you.
Reading the Creative Commons Icons
Attribution. Both icons meant he same thing, that you must provide a link back to the source of the image. I do this with a simple hyperlink in an image credits module at the bottom of my lens (just a Text module)
No Modification: This means that you are not allowed to change the photo or remix it into a new work. Don't worry about this if you're posting it to a lens, that's not reworking it.
No Commercial. If you searched the way I told you, this is not a problem. Don't use these images on a lens, since lenses are commercial (even charity lenses)
Share-Alike. If you make any derivative works (ie, use the image as part of a larger compilation), the new creation must be shared under Creative Commons as well. This doesn't affect lenses though. Disclaimer
What are your best tips for using Flickr?
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Reply
- Reggie_Marigold Reggie_Marigold Jan 6, 2009 @ 2:43 pm
- This helped me understand the differences on flickr and to be more effective in future searches. I wasn't sure if the 'no $' applied to charity lenses and as such ignored them to find a different picture. Glad that I did. What I'm curious about is this: if when making the lens intially the photograph you used was okay to use and then, say a year later, the photographer changed their licensing without you knowing it...where does that leave you? "Ignorance is bliss"??? Have fun with your Squidoo adventure.
Image Credits
Broken Lens. Flickr.
CC Netherlands. Flickr.
Creative Commons Icons. From CreativeCommons.org
3D Flickr Graphic is by msc-web.de at Flickr.
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