An expensive lesson about copyright and photos in blogs
By Karen Post, on October 10, 2011
Internet photo police are a real thing. I learned this lesson the expensive way last year. I received a formal letter from Getty Images citing that an image on my blog from 2007 was copyrighted and the image company had no record I paid for use of the photo. Apparently, big photo houses now have teams of professionals watching the web and also use special image tracking software to find illegal photo usage.
I immediately looked into their claim and found that the blog article and photo in question was posted by an intern who had worked for me. I was not aware that there was a violation as I trusted that the intern knew the rules of copyright protected images and usage.
The Getty representative explained that ultimately the company that is using the photo is responsible for fees on any copyrighted image. While the representative believed that I was not aware of the violation and that one of my employees posted the image, the fee of $800.00 was due regardless.
So I paid the bill and removed the image.
If you are using images in your blog, make sure they are copyright free or in fact you have paid the source to use them.
The Wall Street Journal ran a good story called “A Guide to Happy (and Legal) Tumblr-ing” about blogging, images and content usage. It’s worth reading as they share some excellent places to source all.
Here are two sources I use often.
iStock.com -Low cost, quality images (most images for low res and blog usage are under $10.00).
Picasa.com – Owned by Google offers many images for free usage in blogs (this is good source but takes more time to find good quality and free images).
Plus, don’t forget to tap your own creative work and shoot original photos when you can, there’s no cost, other than the camera. And if you shoot a killer image, just give yourself a bonus!
For more information on photo copyrights and to get free stock photography, view:
Stock.Xchge – Free stock photography
Are You Looking for Free Stock Photos?
By Karen Post, on April 29, 2010
Have you ever designed a great looking brochure that desperately needs a particular picture? You don’t have to pay a site like iStock photo.
Freedigitalphotos.net is an excellent source for downloading FREE stock photos for corporate or personal use. There is no registration required to download photos; however, there is a small fee for high resolution images. Visitors are encouraged to sign-up and members are given access to lightboxes and can email photos to friends.
One interesting feature about this website is that both amateur and professional photographers are invited to share their pictures through the website. They are given their own portfolio page, so visitors can get to know the person behind the camera. High-resolution versions of their photographs are also available for sale.
Happy downloading!
Stock.Xchge – Free Stock Photography
By Karen Post, on March 4, 2009
The cleverly-named Stock.Xchge claims to be the largest free stock photography site on the internet. It backs that claim up with a library of over 350,000 free-use photographs. The high resolution photographs are professionally done, and can be used free of charge on your website, presentation, or business card. The site was created as an alternative to expensive stock photo sources, and has grown into a large library and community. Describing themselves as a community of photography-addicts, the site is also home to photo blogs and forums for meeting like-minded individuals.
Cost: FREE
Oddpodz Review: This is a fantastic resource if you’re looking for pictures to add to your website, blog, printed promotion materials, etc. The image-use agreement doesn’t contain any trickery—these photographs really are free; even membership to the site is free—no need to buy subscriptions. Just search for what you’re looking for and download the image—it’s yours.
