Where do I get my royalty free images from?
Posted on August 26, 2017 • 4 min read • 661 words
Images are important for the appearance of your website. You may have seen that I do my best to use matching images with my blogs, without them being very obvious.
You may wonder: ‘Where do you get your pictures from?’.
Well, that has been quite a search.
Aren’t pictures on the internet free?
Um, no. Not everything on the internet is free. You can of course simply use Google images to find images and photos and then use them. The people or companies whose pictures often don’t like this very much: After all, they have done their best to make beautiful pictures. Very often they have hired illustrators or photographers for this. And you simply grab those images to use on your own website, without paying for them. I can imagine that they are not happy about this. When they find out, in most cases you will quickly receive an email or letter from a lawyer ordering you to stop using the materials in question.
Even if you want to pay for your photos and illustrations, this is not always possible. Sometimes you are not allowed to use the photos or illustrations on your own website for personal or commercial purposes. And sometimes you might not have the money for it.
The solution: Royalty-free images
Of course, you can then take photos of everything you see and encounter and use them. Or you can try to make a nice illustration in a drawing package. If you are so creative: Definitely do it! Original and unique content, and we are also talking about illustrations and the like, are always better for your reader than the umpteenth repetition.
In a number of cases you can use completely free illustrations and figures, for example under the Creative Commons form). Sometimes you have to cite your source, but you can use them for free.
My Royalty free images sites
The sites I use the most are:
Pixabay https://pixabay.com/nl/
Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright-free images and videos. All content is released under Creative Commons CC0, making it safe to use without asking permission or giving credit to the artist – even for commercial purposes.
Unsplash https://unsplash.com/
Unsplash is an English-language site, but it basically means that you can do whatever you want with the photos. Even without citing the source. Of course, the artists would like you to give them the credit they deserve by linking to their Unsplash profile.
Original text
All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.
More precisely, Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash. This license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service.
Even though credit isn’t required, Unsplash photographers appreciate a credit as it provides exposure to their work and encourages them to continue sharing. A credit can be as simple as adding their name with a link to their profile or photo:
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/KFIjzXYg1RM"
Pexels https://www.pexels.com/
At Pexels you can also use the photos under a CC0 license, which means that you can use the photos for your own or commercial use, without having to indicate who took the photo. The only condition is that the people in the photos are not shown in a bad light or used in a way that could offend them.
More?
Of course there are more sites where you can get these kinds of pictures. In any case, these are the places where I get my royalty free images from.
Do you have any nice suggestions? Let us know below.
