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Free Web Graphics: Where to Get Them (Legally!)

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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
My Favorite Photoshop Tricks: Easy Tutorials for Beginners

Contents at a Glance

Creative Commons Graphics Are Cool!
Stock Photos Are Slick!
More Free Stock Photography and Public D...
Free Clip Art and Web Graphics
Zazzle Artists Create AMAZING Images
More Clip Art and Web Graphics Archives

Creative Commons Graphics Are Cool!

Creative Commons Credit: Sterin.genini on Flickr. CC. Some Rights Reserved.

Creative Commons is a great source for graphics, images, videos and even music, as long as you're willing to follow their terms of 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 image captions tutorial.

Creative Commons Icon - NoDerivs

ND: "No Derivatives" meaning you can't change, manipulate, or composite the graphic. Use the picture as is!

Creative Commons Icon - Noncommercial Euro

NC: NonCommercial. Sorry, you can't make money on these photos. That means you can't use these photos on pages that make money (like Squidoo), and of course no printing them on t-shirts and mugs for sale on Zazzle or Cafepress.

Creative Commons Icon - ShareAlike

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.

Tip2: Many but not all photographers on Flickr.com offer their photos as Creative Commons. Look for copyright or Creative Commons icons under "License" in the sidebar of each photo's page. To find Creative Commons photos on Flickr, go to their Advanced Search and scroll down, choosing "for commercial use" under Creative Commons.

Tip3: If you use Firevfox, 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.)

Tip4 (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!

free stock photos 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.
freerangestock.com - Totally Free Stock Photography and Textures!: Free stock photography for commercial or non-commercial use at freerangestock.com. Please read their very sensible terms of use: use them to illustrate and embellish YOUR work, but don't sell THEIR work as your sole content, whether it be in a clip art collection or on a t-shirt, mug, or some other print-on-demand product. A photo credit is appreciated.
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.
Freedigitalphotos.net: Free photos with an unusually wide variety of categories, including not just people, travel, nature, sports, holidays, but also things like icons and even "symbols and metaphors." Terms: you must include a link & credit. Click the ? next to "attribution required" to get the link + photographer's name.
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.
Freestockphotos.com: Excellent photos in certain categories: Animals, Athens, Christian, Egypt, Israel, Near East, Plants, Rome, Scenery, Sky. Up to 10 may be used without fee. Must retain freestockphotos.com watermark and/or link back to site with freestockphotos.com. (See Copyright/Terms of Use)

Dover Clip Art Collections

Classic Children's Book Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)

Amazon Price: $13.02 (as of 02/14/2012)

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. They ask for credit and a link back.
Public Domain Images: Public domain photos, fairly good quality and a large collection. No rights reserved, no linkback needed.
PDphoto.org: Yet another great public domain photo website. The site owner has uploaded thousands of his own photos of animals, places, travel, cooking, holidays and more, asking for credit and a link back.
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.
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.

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.
Freeclipartfree.com: Free, no credit needed. Huge collection. Categories: Agriculture & Industry, Animals, Architecture, Business & Commerce, Christian and other religious, Fantasy & Mythology, Education, Food & Beverages, Health & Safety, Holidays, House & Home, Lifestyles & Culture, Nature, People, Science & Technology, Signs, Sports & Leisure, Travel, Transportation, Weapons & Government, Webpage Graphics (arrows, bullets, lines, etc)
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.
MySiteMyWay.com Icons: Excellent buttons and icons on a gazillion different topics. Shiny, web 2.0, royalty-free, and they don't even require a credit or link. What nice people!
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.

Zazzle Artists Create AMAZING Images

Sign up as an associate and get paid to promote their work!

Here's a really exciting way to get images for your pages AND support hardworking artists and photographers.

My tutorial shows you how to become a Zazzle associate and how to find good designs, but more than that: page 2 offers HTML templates for you to use in displaying images centered, with captions, side-by-side with text, in image galleries, or much more. These HTML templates will actually work on any kind of graphics!

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!

Tip: Google Image Search for LEGAL Graphics

Have you found a website where most images are public domain?

Use Google Image Search to search images only on that site.

For example, go to Google, click the Image tab at top, and search:

site:commons.wikimedia.org shakespeare
site:www.fws.gov chickadee
site:www.nasa.gov jupiter
site:openclipart.org camera
site:www.clker.com dancer

You still have to check the Terms of Use to make sure, of course.

US Government Agency Websites

any site ending in .gov = mostly public domain

"The information on government web pages is in the public domain unless specifically annotated otherwise (copyright may be held elsewhere) and may therefore be used freely by the public." -- copyright notice on NOAA.

So, basically, if you find an image on a .gov site, unless there's a caption saying it's copyrighted or has usage restrictions, it is free to use! Please DO check.

If you're using a lot of .gov images, you must credit where you found them and acknowledge that they're public domain.

NASA Image Library: Space, astronomy, spaceships and rovers, planets and stars and telescopes, astronauts -- if it's up there, it's down here.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Digital Library: Animals, birds, fish! Mostly, but not exclusively, those found in North America and Hawai'i.
U.S. National Park Photographs: Public domain photographs from all of America's national parks. Gorgeous scenery, animals and birds.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: They don't have a nice easy-to-browse digital library, so this is a bit tougher to use, but you'll find a lot of charts and graphs on climate, plus scattered photos of weather, climate, oceans, fires, floods, storms, etc.
White House Photo Gallery: Photos related to the U.S. government, including some of military and soldiers.
U.S. Government Photos and Images: An index of all government agencies' photo gallery and image library sites.

SPECIAL COLLECTION OF FREE GRAPHICS (Creative Commons)!

Photography by Heather Katsoulis

One of our Squidoo members has generously offered an ENORMOUS 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 600 (and growing!) photos:

curated content from Flickr

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.

AllPosters.Com: Free Pictures That Pay You

How About Some Affiliate Marketing?

After seeing a lot of Squidoo members using this service, I've signed up.

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:

Buy at AllPosters.com

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hirephp Feb 14, 2012 @ 6:06 pm | delete

thanks for sharing such a nice tips

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hirephp Feb 14, 2012 @ 6:04 pm | delete

thanks for sharing such a nice tips

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intermarks Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:00 am | delete

Thank you. This is really useful for every lensmaster.

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eilval Feb 12, 2012 @ 5:29 pm | delete

Very useful , thanks for sharing

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sellhousefastusa Feb 12, 2012 @ 5:19 pm | delete

Placed a post on the forum, and some how I got here. Thanks for this valuable information, it was well structured, this resource on free web graphics is exactly what I and many other newbies need. thank you ...:>)
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