Use Flickr to Find Images Free and Easy

Photo by Sidelong

Dozens of Web sites offer royalty- and copyright-free photographs and other images. I can’t imagine having to buy stock photos and art these days, although I have many times before. I use stock.xchng and Big Stock Photo often. The photos are generic, one-size-fits-all but they get the job done with no money up or down.

Lately, I’ve been using photos posted on Flickr Creative Commons. There’s an astounding variety of photos to choose from–many of them are quite good and hardly generic. The photos are free to use although there are a conditions. I’ll let Flickr explain them:

Attribution means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work–and derivative works based upon it–but only if they give you credit.

Noncommercial means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work–and derivative works based upon it–but for noncommercial purposes only.

No Derivative Works means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

Share Alike means:
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

These are the four primary symbols and their requirements. There are other options based on a combination of these symbols and requirements. Here’s where to go to get more details about using images from Flickr.

The photo above is by SideLong. His or her image for Attribution, meaning you must credit the source.  My preference is always to put the attribution immediately under the photo. Flickr, however, does not stipulate where the attribution must go.