Where to Find Images for Your Blog

by Daniel Scocco

“Where do you find images for your blog?” That is a question that I get asked quite often, therefore I decided to write about it.

The interesting thing is that the quality and sophistication of the images that I use grew gradually with my blogging experience. When I started blogging, I would just use Google Image Search. Some of those images were really awful, and some were even copyrighted. I used them nevertheless, thinking that both my readers and the authors would not care that much…

Over the time I discovered better places to find images. Royalty-free ones, which is more important. Below you will find 3 sources that I use often.

iStockphoto

I started using iStockphoto (referral link) only recently because I was reluctant to pay for images. “There are free resources out there, why should I pay then?” That was my reasoning, but I changed my mind after taking a look at the quality and variety of their database.

For most blogs the small format will suffice, and they cost $1 a pop. I think that is a reasonable price, specially if you consider that the quality of the images can separate your blog from the pack.

Stock.Xchng

While I like iStockphoto, I also like to save money. Most of the times before going to their site I will check some free resources to see if I can find a suitable image. My favorite one is Stock.Xchng.

The site has a smaller database, but the quality of the images is good enough. Another benefit is that you don’t need to register up (unless you want special image formats), just right click and “Save image as.”

Yotophoto

Yotophoto is a search engine that will look for royaly-free images on several places around the Internet (including Stock.Xchng, Flickr, Wikipedia, Morguefile and others).

The quality of the images is not so good, but it can be useful if you are looking for something very specific.

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48 Responses to “Where to Find Images for Your Blog”

Frank on June 29, 2007 5:37 am

iStockPhoto is simply amazing. The only issue I’ve seen is that if you pick a popular one you will suddenly see it on 100′s (may 1000′s) of websites.

Their search tool is also very good for actually finding what you are looking for.
Daniel on June 29, 2007 5:43 am

Yeah, I wonder if it would be worth on their part to offer exclusive or semi-exclusive images for special circunstances.
Eli on June 29, 2007 5:52 am

iStockPhoto all the way! I’ve been using them for quite a while now, and I’ve spent quite a bit of money too – all in batches of $12 for 10 credits
Ramkarthik on June 29, 2007 6:15 am

I always use Google Search for images. Now that you have told me two more resources, Ill use them. The first one is a paid one. I don’t want to use it because I don’t have money for my host itself.
Thanks Daniel.
engtech @ internet duct tape on June 29, 2007 6:34 am

Here’s a greasemonkey script for flickr that will make you always search for Creative Commons images:

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/9227
Rhys on June 29, 2007 6:43 am

Be VERY careful with Stock Xchng. We had a few pictures on our company website that were taken from Stock Xchng, but they were originally from Corbis (professional stock image dudes), they found out and took us to court.

We said we had acted in good faith, but unfortunately we had no comeback, so they ruled in Corbis’ favour.
Mike Panic on June 29, 2007 6:48 am

I’ve been a shooter for iStockphoto since 2002, simply a great community and a great second income. A while back I started a series of articles called Make money selling digital photos which is now 4 parts deep. I bring this up for a good reason. As a blogger, I know what a pain it can be to find the right image to fit an article (even as a photographer I can’t shoot everything I need), and Stock.Xchng does offer a lot of great images, for free, but the site can be overloaded and very slow at times and the search function isn’t the best.

Nearly everyone has a digital camera these days, if you spend a few hours taking some quality stock photos and uploading them to iStockphoto and people in turn download them, you can turn your revenue into credits to purchase images from them. Essentially, put a little sweat equity into getting a better set of search features, a better community with a larger database of great images.

I know I sound like a poster board for them, but having worked for the company briefly, it is a great group of people and one of the best sites on the internet.

Lastly, if you value your freedom, stop using Google image search to find photos for your blog to hot-link and / or download to publish on your blog. It is a copyright infringement and a federal offense. Most bloggers get pissy enough when you quote a few lines or a paragraph of their original content without their approval (unless it’s CC licensed), photographers are the same way. Just because it shows up in the image search does not mean it is free for the taking.
Daniel on June 29, 2007 6:55 am

Rhys, thanks for sharing your experience with Stock Xchng. I guess they provide no guarantee on the terms of service that all the images are really royalty-free right?

Weird stuff.
Nicolargo on June 29, 2007 7:04 am

Anothers links for free images:
http://blog.nicolargo.com/2007/06/images-et-photos-gratuites-pour-votre-blog.html
Dean Taplin on June 29, 2007 11:24 am

Thanks for the links. I’ve always used Google Image search up to now, but I’m keen to explore alternatives.

The previous comments above also raise good points about copyright. I’ll have to bear that in mind in future.

iStockPhoto looks promising.
Jennifer on June 29, 2007 12:18 pm

Istockphoto only pays there photographers 20% of what they make. That is sad.

I sell photos, but they don’t pay enough percentage for me.

Try… http://www.bigstockphoto.com or http://www.fotolia.com

These both have equal quality photos to Istock and equal prices….however more of your money got to the photographers. Which is very much better in my opinion!
Brian Auer on June 29, 2007 3:12 pm

Gee… how about the Flickr creative commons photo pool? Go into the advanced search options and you’ll find some checkboxes for creative commons search and (if your blog is monetized) content to use commercially. I’ve actually found photos on Flickr that worked out better than purchased photos. Plus the photographer gets a little exposure.

I look there first, and if I can’t find anything I’ll look at Dreamstime. I’ve also noticed that Darren Rowse is a fan of the Flickr Creative Commons photos.
Daniel on June 29, 2007 3:28 pm

Yotophoto is supposed to search within Flickr images as well. Not sure if it looks for all of them, but still.
Beth at Morning Glories on June 30, 2007 2:15 am

Very helpful article and comments. Thanks!
Nicola Pedley on June 30, 2007 2:36 am

I’ve never used images on my blog before but am interested in doing so so thanks for all the tips. I have one question – when using a paid for photo does it have to be credited to the photographer? I ask because I write for a commercial blog that sometimes uses Getty Images and tehy are credited to Getty Images. Thanks.
Daniel on June 30, 2007 3:00 am

If you buy the image through iStockphoto you will not need to credit anyone.
Wilfredo on July 2, 2007 6:02 am

Great tip… thanks!
Greg on August 27, 2007 9:22 am

You can check free images listed under “Blog Use License” at
http://www.featurepics.com/image/BlogUseLicense.aspx
cozuni on September 2, 2007 8:20 am

thanks for the links..they are useful..
Paull on March 2, 2008 5:07 am

Great post! I thinks if you need free photos you could try:
http://www.freepictureclick.com
All photos are completely free.
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Bang Kritikus on February 3, 2009 1:11 am

Thanks for your tips
Farnoosh Brock on August 11, 2009 4:20 pm

Thanks for your excellent post. I want to know, if I purchase a photo from iStockphoto for $1 or so, can I use it as many times as possible? I love some of their illustrations and I want to resize it and then create a rating system for my yoga studio reviews etc.
Any thoughts much appreciated.
Thanks,
Farnoosh
Anne on October 10, 2009 12:34 am

Thanks for this post and comments! I’ve just started setting up my blog and I wanted to get off on the right foot.

What about if you want to use an old movie photo in a blog post? Is there someplace in particular to get those?
Andrew Bogart on March 2, 2010 11:00 am

THANK YOU! This question has been on my mind for months now, glad you could sum it up for me, thanks again!
Antoony on June 21, 2010 11:26 am

It has been almost 3 years after this reply. I am following your link suggestion now, unfortunately It had gone away. It left the message: “There are no images matching your criteria.”

I used to utilized images of google image, but I always worry about the copyright. I am glad to read your suggestion, but the link had gone with the wind

Thanks anyway.
Umesh on July 6, 2010 1:16 pm

I got this link from your newest post. Loved iStockPhoto. Thanks for posting.
Andy on November 30, 2010 12:24 pm

So where is the image in this post?
Andy on November 30, 2010 12:26 pm

Re my last comment: Oh, they show up when I disable Ad Block plus.
Amrish SIngh on June 22, 2011 8:19 am

You have mentioned here about different sources bout instead of these you can use Flickr creative common images also
Giuseppe on July 8, 2011 8:25 am

Please note that Royalty Free does not mean free. It means that you have to pay for a licence to use them and, within that licence, you are free to use it for any commercial or non commercial applications as opposite to RM (Rights Managed) where licence price depends on declared usage. So, again, those photos are not free to use and you are not allowed to borrow them from othr sites which licenced them.