How can I obtain inexpensive, legal-to-use images?

How can I obtain inexpensive, legal-to-use images?

Legal Images

Quick Overview

Images are not cheap. Obtaining "free" images is really not realistic. The very best way of obtaining inexpensive, legal images is to take the pictures yourself. In order, the best sources for legal images are:

Photos taken by you.
Royalty-free CDs, or Clip-Art Package, etc.
Photos purchased directly from a local photographer.
Campus resources.
Photos purchased via Corbis.com, PhotoDisc.com. (Expensive!).

Useful Terms

Here are a few terms you'll need to understand.

"Rights-managed"

Generally these are expensive. People use rights-managed products when the image, film clip or audio file will be used for a high-profile project -- such usage often connects a brand or a corporation's identity to that particular image, clip or sound bite. Higher licensing fees prevent these products from 'saturating' the marketplace.

"Royalty-free"

"Royalty-free" means that you pay only once for an image, film clip or audio file that can be used for multiple projects over an unlimited period of time.

Resolution & Size

Image resolution and size greatly affects the price one will pay for an image. Royalty-free images at 72 dpi might cost $15-$50 a piece, while that same image at 300 dpi might cost $150-$500 each.

1. Pictures taken by you

This is by far the best way to go. It involves a little time, creativity, and knowledge; however, it's much less time-consuming than the other avenues and the rights to the image are all yours.

Recommendation:

Get an idea of the kind of shot you want using Google's Advanced Image Search. Try to find an image that suits your needs. The search engine is fast and you get a good return on your time in terms of images viewed without hassle. This is a major consideration. Sites that sell images make tedious and cumbersome the process of viewing images. Once you find a photo you like, get your camera (preferably a decent digital camera, 2 megapixels or more) and go find that shot on your own. If you need a shot of a man jumping over a dog. Go find a stranger walking his dog and offer him $20 to jump over his dog a few times. Have fun with it. In a couple hours you'll have your shot. Of course it doesn't hurt to know a little about photography. Lighting and composition are the two biggest concerns. Photos taken when the sun is near the horizon are often very nice. Also, backlighted photos can be very cool. Digital cameras work great because you can take 50 pictures with the knowledge that only one or two might actually come out well.

2. Royalty-Free CDs & Clip-art

This is probably one of the least painful methods of obtaining legal, high-resolution images. Prices vary as do the number of images per CD. Mostly it's a matter of finding the right CD. Doing an online search for "Royalty-free CD" is one solution. From there, it's a matter of fine-tuning the search. Image CDs cost anywhere from $80 to $500 and may contain thousands of images or less than 100. Packages vary greatly so it's best to have a very good idea of exactly what kind of image you're looking for. Of course, there are a few drawbacks. Images are used by many people. Also image CDs can be fairly expensive (~$400) and may only contain a very limited variation on subject matter. Clip art CDs are also very common.

3. Private Photographers

The School of Journalism provided a good tip. They generally take all their own photographs, opting to send reporters out with a digital camera. Every once in a while if they need a photo they can't acquire themselves they will call a few local photographers. Photographers generally have loads of images that they're not using. You can inquire as to whether they might have any existing images similar to what you're looking for. They will often sell such images with no time or use restrictions, and at a very reasonable price, say $50/photo.

4. Campus Resources

There are really no good free resources. I phoned various departments on campus trying to discover what resources are available on campus. The disclaimers are fairly restrictive and the images are generally either historic in nature, or taxonomic. Some campus digital libraries are:

Disclaimers/License Agreements vary:

"Most of the photographs in the Digital Library Project collection are available for personal, academic, and nonprofit use. However, a variety of organizations and individuals have contributed photographs to CalPhotos. Please be aware that these various contributors maintain copyright and follow the usage guidelines provided with each image…. However, please include a citation that credits the photographer and contributing organization on any photos you use, and notify the contributing organization or individual of your use. Citation and contact information can be found on the "Photo Details" page for each photograph."

"Because the photographs from which the digital surrogates were made are copyrighted, please do not download or otherwise use any images in WebSPIRO without permission of the copyright holder."

5. Corbis.com, Photodisc.com, Comstock.com, Intuitivmedia.net, etc.

Images from these sites are somewhat organized, however legal rights require lots of cash. Although they state that there are some "Royalty free images" these are generally not very good in quality nor do they offer very much variety.

Searching for images is somewhat of a pain as one generally has to create a user account on the site to be able to view their showcases of images. For this reason alone it's almost too much of a hassle.

Prices vary and so do licensing agreements. It's generally very expensive if you plan on purchasing an image to use on something other than a personal web page. Images for personal pages might cost anywhere from $15 to $50/image. They say that nonprofit organizations may fit under this category, however upon inquiring further the really had a very narrow definition of nonprofit. Unless it's truly a very small and personal page your site will not apply for this category

Once you're into the corporate page category images become extraordinarily expensive. Corbis.com, for instance, charges $1,100/image for a two-year license on internal web page and $1,600/image for a two-year license on a main page.

Most of these image suppliers also sell Royalty-free CD's.

For more such stock images you can do a web search for "royalty-free image".

Here is a brief list of some of these:

Microsoft also has its own online resource; however the disclaimer is fairly constrictive:

MS - Design Gallery Live - some photographs, not easy to find the right one. Acquiring these images requires an odd Ms-based interface, not fun.

MS Disclaimer:

"PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE LIMITATION.
Unless otherwise specified, the Services are for your personal and non-commercial use. You may not modify copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, software, products or services obtained from the Services."

Conclusion:

The most time-efficient, least expensive, and hassle-free way to obtain legal images is to take them yourself.