It is so easy to take pics from a variety of devices today and upload instantly to Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. When it comes to using images for your business, consideration should be given to the quality of your image. There's a time and a place for off the cuff imagery but let's not forget a picture paints a 1000 words and you don't want any of them to be – what the smorgasbord is that.
We have a limited timespan to create a first impression so wherever possible use the best quality images. I recently saw some food pictures promoting cookery classes on social media. The picture used did not do the promotion any favours. Food photography can be a tricky one to master. If in doubt get a series of professional photos taken or find and use images that can be sourced for free.
There is never any need to lift images from google or anyone's site, for a start it is not good web etiquette and quite frankly can land you in a spot of financial bother, if you infringe upon copyright laws associated with images. Google recently shifted from making images viewable by removing the View Image from its search along with making the copyright notice on copyrighted photos more “prominent”. For more information on the use of images from google visit here.
Companies like Getty Images use sophisticated systems to detect and track use or part use of their images and that the correct license use is applied. Always remember that an image started somewhere, someone took that photo, placed it somewhere with protection and is entitled for it to be used in a lawful way. The internet has become a swamp of image sharing, lifted, saved to people's devices without much thought to implications involved. Don't let your business be one of them.
Here are 4 useful sites that you can access free stock images that you can use on your website and/or social media activity.
There's a maze to navigate when marketing your business single handedly, please don't get caught doing something you shouldn't. If in doubt don't do it. You want a picture to paint a thousand words not trouble.
Yours socially
Micala
We have a limited timespan to create a first impression so wherever possible use the best quality images. I recently saw some food pictures promoting cookery classes on social media. The picture used did not do the promotion any favours. Food photography can be a tricky one to master. If in doubt get a series of professional photos taken or find and use images that can be sourced for free.
There is never any need to lift images from google or anyone's site, for a start it is not good web etiquette and quite frankly can land you in a spot of financial bother, if you infringe upon copyright laws associated with images. Google recently shifted from making images viewable by removing the View Image from its search along with making the copyright notice on copyrighted photos more “prominent”. For more information on the use of images from google visit here.
Companies like Getty Images use sophisticated systems to detect and track use or part use of their images and that the correct license use is applied. Always remember that an image started somewhere, someone took that photo, placed it somewhere with protection and is entitled for it to be used in a lawful way. The internet has become a swamp of image sharing, lifted, saved to people's devices without much thought to implications involved. Don't let your business be one of them.
Here are 4 useful sites that you can access free stock images that you can use on your website and/or social media activity.
- pixabay.com – images and videos are released free of copyrights. Available to download and use without attribution.
- pexels.com – pictures are completely free to be used for any legal purpose.
- unsplash.com - photos are licensed under Creative commons zero – which means you can copy, modify and distribute and use photos for free incl commercial purposes without asking for permission or provide attribution to photographer
- morguefile.com - offers photographs free for use in creative projects. You are required to credit the photographer or artist when using their free stock images.
There's a maze to navigate when marketing your business single handedly, please don't get caught doing something you shouldn't. If in doubt don't do it. You want a picture to paint a thousand words not trouble.
Yours socially
Micala
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