I’ve always been a photographer. Since the age 12 I.ve been a hopeless sucker for pretty photos (which is part of the reason i am in this field). SInce I’ve been in business and decided to redo my office I’ve had a particular fondness for chic office spaces with colorful, curvy chairs, elegant white desks, and gleaming Macs.
Every time I spot them on Pinterest, I think about how ridiculously perfect they would be for my next blog post.
But, rest assured, you won’t see them here.
Why? Because those photos — which seem so casually and easily available — actually aren’t free to use.
At all.
They belong to somebody, somewhere, and that person or company has legal rights to the exclusive use of that photo.
It makes no difference whether they were taken by Jane Q. Smith for her hobbist blog about thumbtack art or were published on KateSpade.com…if you use them, you’d be breaking the law.
(And could easily be served a crippling $8,000 in copyright infringement fines.)
I know many of you have well to do businesses, but I don’t think you have large sums of money laying around to throw at random things like, oh, stiff copyright penalties. Do you?
(I need to state that just because you have worked with photographers on projects this does NOT give you expressed permission to pull images from their site for your portfolio. My best advise is to send an email so you have a documented trail of communication to cover your A$$ in any event)
IMAGE COPYRIGHT LAW IN SIMPLE TERMS
According to copyright law, you are financially liable for using copyrighted images on your website (or for other graphic art, such as the cover for your free e-book).
It doesn’t matter if:
- You link back to the photo source and give attribution to the photographer
- Your website isn’t for business use/you make no money from your blog
- You did it innocently
- You take the photo down after receiving a DMCA takedown notice
- The picture is licensed to your Web developer/designer
- You have a disclaimer on your site
- The photo is embedded instead of saved on your server
- The photo isn’t full-size
- You found it on Pinterest//Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/etc.
- Another business or blogger used the photo
Unless you’ve received express permission or have legitimately purchased usage rights, you can’t post copyrighted photos. Period.
Grabbing that perfect image for your next blog post may seem harmless, especially if you’ve seen it used all over the web, but it can hurt you in a big way. Don’t you dare do that to yourself or the business you love.
WHERE TO FIND BEAUTIFUL FREE STOCK PHOTOS
While the standard advice to avoid all this trouble is “just take your own photo,” that solution is unrealistic for many businesses. Taking photos is time-consuming! Plus, you can’t always capture exactly what you want.
(And you know that standard free stock images aren’t a good option either; they’re overwhelmingly cheesy and uninteresting.)
I realize what a hassle it is to find an excellent free stock photo, so below I’m sharing the “best of the best” in free CC0 image sources. They are my personal favorites: all have gorgeous photos, and yes, almost all are 100% free to use commercially.
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shay cochrane per newsletter signup you get one free stock image a month
