Add Images, Photos, or Graphics to Your Lenses the Right Way
With all the clip art, free web graphics, and stock photography sites out there, it's easy to make your lenses and webpages look great without breaking copyright!
Some people think images posted on the web are up for grabs. They aren't, any more than beach towels on the beach. Other people think it's okay to take graphics if you're not making money with them. Nope! You still need permission.
Luckily, lots of generous people do let you use their pictures with no strings attached. Others just ask for credit and a link back in exchange.
Here's the places I go to get free graphics, stock photos, and pictures for my webpages.
This lens is part of Greekgeek's Graphics Tutorials Suite!How to Align Images • How to Upload Images
Where to Get Graphics (Legally!) • Free Squidoo Graphics
How to Fix Missing Images in Amazon Listings
Photoshop Tricks: How to Make Glossy Buttons • Add a 3D Frame to a Photo
Creative Commons Are Cool!
Credit: Sterin.genini on Flickr. CC. Some Rights Reserved.
Creative Commons provides a wealth of images, videos, even music that's available for use. There's varying levels of Creative Commons licenses, usually indicated by a small graphic and/or two-letter abbreviation beneath the picture on the webpage where it appears:
BY: Available with attribution (credit) and a link back to where you found it. All Creative Commons images have this license. Tip: Want to know how to get a caption under a graphic like I did? See my aligning graphics tutorial.
ND: "No Derivatives" meaning you can't change, manipulate, or composite the graphic. Use the picture as is!
NC: NonCommercial. There's some debate over whether that means you can't sell products featuring the graphic, or whether you can't use the graphic on any money-earning site (like Squidoo). There's enough other images out there that I steer clear of NC graphics for Squidoo lenses.
SA: Share Alike. That means you should post your image with the same level of Creative Commons license.Tip: If you search on Creative Commons.org, you can limit your search to images licensed for commercial use and/or adaptation/remixing on their top banner.
Or go to Mycroft, the archive for Mozilla plug-ins, and add a Creative Commons Search to your Firefox toolbar. (I use the third one listed.)
Tip2 (Thanks Robin)! -- Wikipedia images are usually Wikimedia Commons. See Reusing Content Outside Wikimedia for the full scoop, but basically (a) For images labeled Creative Commons, do as above; (b) For images labeled GNU (or some similar) license, give attribution, a link back, and mention and link to the text of the license; (c) for images labeled Public Domain, it's no strings attached; and (d) Wikipedia doesn't recommend you reuse images labeled "Fair Use," because they're not 100% sure the person who uploaded them knew the image's copyright.
Stock Photos Are Slick!
Traditionally, you had to pay a licensing fee to use stock photography.
Nowadays, many stock photo archives offer a wide selection of free or low-resolution images that are perfect for web graphics. (They sell the higher-resolution versions, needed for print publications.)
On stock photo archives, you still need to double-check the license. Rarely, it will say non-commercial only. Sometimes the photographer asks that you email them to let them know where their photos are being used.
- Stock.XCHNG - Leading Stock Photography Site
- Stock Exchange / Jupiter images (not space images, it's the company name) are some of the best stock photo images out there. My link takes you to their browser. Browse by category at right, or use the search box at left.
- MorgueFile Free Photo Archive
- Free photos available for commercial or personal use. Browse by category or search by individual tags.
- Image * After Free Images
- Free graphics and textures (great for background-images) available for commercial and noncommercial use. Lots of nature, architecture, industry, miscellaneous objects, and abstract patterns.
- Pixel Perfect Digital - Free Stock Photos
- Great selection of sharp-looking stock photos on many categories, including some striking-looking photomanips plus a selection of "cartoon" smiley faces expressing different moods. For commercial and noncommercial use, except for use in company logos and print-on-demand (you can't sell their graphics). Website graphics a-ok, no link needed.
- FreeFoto.com - Free Pictures - FreeFoto.Com
- Large stock photography library. All images available for comemrcial/noncommercial use with link and attribution.
- BigFoto Stock Photography
- "themes" tab, which covers everything else -- people (with a nice collection of hands doing things), nature, food, fountains, fireworks and more! Terms: They ask for a link to Bigfoto.
- FreeStockPhotography
- Small but good collection of royalty-free stock photos (no terms given, so I assume these really are free for all uses). Includes some especially useful categories like "Toys and games" "Seasonal" and "Technology" as well as the usual nature, landscapes, flowers, architecture. Also includes good background-textures.
Dover Clip Art Collections
Classic Children's Book Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)
Amazon Price: $15.61 (as of 12/05/2009)
Dover Publications has a huge line of clipart books with millions of designs, all out of copyright. Most are old: 1930s, Victorian, or medieval images. There's also a lot of Japanese, Persian, Indian woodcuts and illustrations. Older Dover books are black-and-white, but recently they've joined the modern age with CD-ROMs and full color.
Tip: If you have Photoshop, you can "stamp" black-and-white silhouettes onto a colored background by opening the Layers Palette under Windows and choosing Multiply. Or use the magic wand to select all the white areas, delete them to cut them away, then try the Layers Menu and add Color, Gradient overlays, Bevel & Emboss, Drop Shadow, and more! Amazing effects are possible.
More Free Stock Photography and Public Domain Images
- Photorack
- Great library of stock photos in many categories, plus they're a friendly site: "No backlink required to use them, however we really appreciate it if you want to link back to us :) Enjoy!"
- Public Domain Pictures
- An excellent collection of free photographs. No credit required.
- Public Domain Images
- Public domain photos, fairly good quality and a large collection. No rights reserved, no linkback needed.
- OpenPhoto.net -- Creative Commons Photos
- Large archive of Creative Commons photos organized by category. Check the licensing for each photo (they use the CC icons I explained above).
- FreeStockPhotography
- Small but good collection of royalty-free stock photos (no terms given, so I assume these really are free for all uses). Includes some especially useful categories like "Toys and games" "Seasonal" and "Technology" as well as the usual nature, landscapes, flowers, architecture. Also includes good background-textures.
- African Wildlife Stock Photography
- Three pages of safari photos of African wildlife: zebras, lions, cheetahs, etc. Terms: Credit and a link back to the site.
- Nasa Images Archive
- NASA images are public domain! Airplanes, astronauts, spaceships, gorgeous images from the Hubble Space Telescope and more. Terms of Use: "A credit line should be used in connection with the images and should read 'NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.org.'"
- Public Domain Images
- Vintage postcards, old Victorian illustrations, architectural drawings, fairies, flowers, butterflies, medieval costume and design, and much more from this rich collection of Public Domain images drawn from old books.
More Dover Clipart Books
Free Clip Art and Web Graphics
It's hard to find good-qualitly, royalty-free clip art that doesn't have a watermark and isn't limited to noncommercial use. If you're willing to pay a (quite reasonable) subscription price, you may download and use millions of excellent graphics on Clipart.com, iClipart or Clip Art Connection. They allow you to use their graphics on website or for commercial purposes.However, many of us are stingy. We want free graphics. That takes a little more hunting.
- Open Clip Art Library
- The Open Clip Art Library is a stunning collection of public domain, high-quality free clip available for any use. (The camera I used in the header of the Stock Photo section is from Open Clipart.) I find it easiest to Search Clipart By Tags.
- Clker.com Royalty-Free Vector Clipart
- This and Open are the clipart sites I use. Tons of good graphics, easy to search, no fuss, no backlink required.
- Barry's Clip Art Server
- Good-quality clip art organized by category at left, animations at right -- middle column on homepage takes you to other websites.
- PSDgraphics Blog -- Web Design Freebies
- A limited selection of absolutely gorgeous Web 2.0 style 3D graphics, meant for blogs, but there's got to be a way to use these. The artist just gives them away!
- The Vintage Moth -- Old Images Clipart
- One technique for getting copyright-free clipart is to go with vintage book illustrations and magazine clippings. This blog serves up new ones regularly. Also check her links for more vintage clipart sites.
Pastiche's Clip Art Lenses
There's a lot of lensmasters who will point you to good sources for web graphics, but Pastiche goes a step further -- she has whole lenses devoted to various genres of clip art. Some of the sites she points to are for personal-use clipart only or must be purchased, but these are eye-popping, attention-grabbing, and/or unique collections of clip art you won't find any other way.-
Vintage Graphics & Antique Clip Art
-
The vintage graphics on old-time photos, retro greeting cards, sheet music, antique advertising, and other paper items add a warm and nostalgic feeling to crafts and hand made gifts.The vintage clip art, photos and drawings you find in old magazines...
-
Easter Clip Art
-
Grab your Easter Bonnet and follow this bunny trail to find the best Easter clip art on the web. Peter Rabbit and I searched far and wide across the global Internet to find the best Easter graphics and spring time clip art to gather into this lens....
-
Clip Art Lensography - Pastiche's Graphics Lenses
-
This Squidoo lensography features Pastiche's lenses featuring clip art collections, graphic borders,graphics and downloadable fonts for blogs, web pages, scrapbooking, flyers, school projects or crafts. Searching for good quality themed clip art can...
-
Pirate Clip Art and Graphics
-
Avast, ye can find a treasure trove of free Pirate Clip Art and Graphics, plus pirate borders, animated graphics and buccaneer pirates graphic web sets just waitin' to be taken for creative pirate ventures. As long as it's for yer own use, most of it...
-
Clip Art Borders & Frames
-
This lens is dedicated to clip art borders, page borders, frame graphics, scrapbook borders, dividers and border clip art for blogs, web pages and Squidoo lenses. Clip art borders and picture frame borders are one of the top free clip art searches o...
More Clip Art and Web Graphics Archives
- Creative Kitten Fee Clip Art, Graphics, Photos and Icons
- High quality although smaller collection of free clip art by a good computer artist. Terms: asks for credit and a link back.
- CKSinfo.com's Free clip art and clipart images
- Good selection of clip art including borders, buttons and lines. Terms of Use: credit/link is appreciated but not required. May not make money directly from images by selling them on products (i.e. not CafePress/Zazzle) or distribute them in image collections, but use of graphics on money-earning pages like Squidoo is fine.
- Microsoft Clip Art Collection
- Excellent collection, except the larger-size graphics have a watermark on the bottom. Terms-- must credit as: "Image(s) copyright NVTOfficeClips.com."
- PDClipart.org -- Public Domain Clip Art
- Another good clipart collection. Not many annoying ads, and a lot of great web graphics -- free, no strings attached, no need to link back.
- WilsonInfo Free Gifs & Animations.
- Animated graphics, buttons, banners. Free for any use with a link back to their website.
- IconBazaar Animated Icons and Web Graphics
- Included mostly for nostalgia, iconBazaar has been serving up animated gifs, buttons, arrows and tacky dividers since the dawn of the web, back when we thought Hamsterdance was cool. If you wondered where all those 1990s web graphics came from or went -- here they are.
- Free-Clip-Art.com
- Good-quality clip art, but it's only for noncommercial and/or educational use. Terms: Credit and a link back.
- Discovery Education: Clip Art Gallery
- Free educational clipart, but only for noncommercial, educational purposes. These are GOOD graphics. It's almost worth creating some nonprofit educational lenses just to use them!
- Pop Art: Free Posters, Gallery & Pictures
- Pop Art historical archives and free pop art print downloads from over one million pop art source images and countless finished pop art prints. Apparently it's all free to use!
Creative Commons Photos from a Fellow Squid
Photography by Heather Katsoulis
One of our Squidoo members has very kindly offered an entire set of Flickr Photos as Creative Commons.
Heather asks:
"Please attribute to Heather Katsoulis, and the specific flickr photo page."
Thank you, Heather!
Here's the first 12 out of 400 photos:
Jack Skellington
s is for syna
vegetarian s'mores
splashing in puddles
strawberry pie
shackles
shackles
Old Newgate Prison 0...
Old Newgate Prison 0...
Old Newgate Prison 0...
Old Newgate Prison 0...
mason's mark
Greekgeek's Graphics Lenses Suite
Tutorials, Clip Art and Graphics Tips for Your Squidoo Lenses
-
Fixing Missing Images on Amazon Listings
-
Don't you hate it when an Amazon product you want to feature is missing its picture? Sometimes it's an old book that's out of print, but available through used booksellers. Sometimes the product listing just happens not to have an image. And you know...
-
Aligning Graphics on Web Pages
-
Want to align an image on a web page? Need side-by-side graphics and text? Are you trying to align an image left, right or center? Or do you need to know how to position a caption under an image? This Image Tutorial Covers: How to Make an Image a C...
-
How to Upload Images on Squidoo
-
Need help getting graphics onto Squidoo? Look no further! This easy Uploading Images Tutorial will help you dress up your Squidoo lenses. SHORTCUTS! Jump to... • Squidoo Modules for Displaying Pictures • Squidoo Photo Gallery Mo...
-
How-to Photoshop Tutorial: 3D Photo Frame
-
If you've got Photoshop, here's a tutorial to make your graphics look 3-D, adding a frame to a photograph so that it looks like a polaroid snapshot. You will need Photoshop CS, Photoshop Elements, or a graphics program that uses layers and in...
-
Squidoo Graphics For Your Lenses!
-
Here's some Squidoo Squid graphics to jazz up your lenses! I've dressed up Squidoo's squid logo in different ways to use as clipart. Feel free to use these or change them! All I ask is credit and a link. Other Squidoo lensmasters are doing this too:...
AllPosters.Com: Free Pictures That Pay You
How About Some Affiliate Marketing?
How about free access to thousands of art prints from classical painters to movie posters (there's a ton of Twilight posters) to National Greographic photos? How about getting paid a 25% commission or more on items that are often over a hundred dollars? The only catch is that you have to have the "Buy at AllPosters.com" caption, which is what drives the sale.
Sounds like a fair deal to me.
If you'd like to try, please sign up here!
(Yes, that gives me an eensy referral fee).A few examples:
Graphics Geeks Guestbook
Shameless Plug Widget
Tweet it! 
Stumble it!
Rate it! 
Favorite it!
I hope you found this lens useful. Feel free to leave a note! If it was really useful, then please consider clicking the magic widget!
-
Reply
- divacratus divacratus Dec 4, 2009 @ 5:26 pm
- Thanks for providing a large number of free image and clip art links. I was in search of more free image providing sites and I stumbled upon this lens. Once again, thanks a bunch!
-
Reply
- SkinCareGeek SkinCareGeek Dec 4, 2009 @ 10:02 am
- Hey GG,
This is just the resource I've been looking for to answer a few questions I had! Thanks for the work you put into compiling all of that - it's super helpful! BTW, I found out about AllPosters the same way... weird huh? Squids really like it I guess.
M.
-
Reply
- shankapotomus shankapotomus Nov 29, 2009 @ 6:02 pm
- Thanks for the ideas, they may help brighten up my dull lenses.
-
Reply
- TimArends TimArends Nov 28, 2009 @ 6:17 pm
- I personally love Dover! A lot of great old-fashioned clip art is largely overlooked these days.
-
Reply
- cleanearth cleanearth Nov 22, 2009 @ 10:30 am
- Very good and informative lens. I had no idea there were so many available. Thank you for sharing
- Load More
by Greekgeek
Greetings! I'm not Greek, I just love ancient Greece. I'm a graduate student in mythological studies -- want fries with that? -- using the web to shar...
(more)
