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There's been some questions lately about the proper use of photos and other imagery for illustrating articles on Newsvine. Just because you find an image on the web does not mean that it is legal for you to use. If you use a copyrighted image, Newsvine may get served with a "take-down" notice as prescribed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Newsvine will have to remove the image and notify you. You can contest the removal and Newsvine puts the image back up and then they wash their hands of the mess and you get to fight the copyright owner in court. But, I'll bet you anything, their lawyers -- or their lawyer funds -- are bigger than yours.
But don't despair and resign yourself to putting image-less articles on the 'Vine! There are plenty of sources of free and legal photos available on the Internet. I've collected a few of them here.
I've looked over the Terms of Use for all these sites, and they all permit personal and commercial use of their images for no fee. Most of the sites also specify some usage restrictions. They all prohibit use in pornographic or other scandalous material. You can't resell the images themselves or use them on products like postcards or t-shirts where the image itself creates the value of the product. You can use the images, however, as illustrations for articles, on websites, and for work you sell to clients. Many of the more professional sites have model releases for any images with a recognizable person in the photo, but this is a tricky area. Usually, you can't use an image of a person to endorse a product or service without explicit permission and there are different requirements for model releases in different states. Best to steer clear of people. Terms can change, so it's always wise to check the terms before you use a photo. Okay, enough caveats, here's a short, but verified list:
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MorgueFile.com
User-contributed material free to use for commercial and non-commercial projects. -
image*after
Non-polished images and textures, free for commercial and personal use. -
stock.xchng
Over 200,000 user-contributed photos, free for commercial and personal use. This one is my favorite. -
PixelPerfect Digital
Free images and textures for personal and commercial use. Good link section and photography blog. -
bigfoto.com
Free images of travel and other themes for personal and commercial use. Must include a link back to the site. (One of their photogs was in NY on 9/11, so they have some unique pix.) -
Cepolina Photos
Over 3,000 photos free for commercial and personal use. Some very nice travel photography.
And just in case that's not enough, here's a tip for you: Any photos created by the US Federal government (I'm not sure about other national governments) are by definition in the public domain and may be used freely. The main restrictions are that you can't imply that the government agency providing the photo is endorsing a product. Here's a bunch of US Government sites with good photos:
I hope that's enough for you. If not, there are plenty other sites offereing free photos on the web. The Creative Commons, an organization dedicated to bringing copyright into the 21st century, has got a searchable database of images people have put on the web for anyone's use. Each photo may have some restrictions, so make sure to check before using. Flickr allows photographers to post their photos with a Creative Commons license, and there are literally millions of photos available -- of varying quality and usefulness. Andy Lurig has a post similar to this which explains the Flickr process and the Creative Commons license more extensively.
There are also a bunch of sites offering photos for as little as US$1.00 a piece, subscription services which might be US$20.00 per week, as well as the professional (read: expensive) houses, like the Jupitermedia family, Corbis, and Getty Images. Have fun!
