Monday, March 24, 2008

Where to find photos and illustrations for your blog

Of course, your own photos are the best because they are 100% original, but sometimes you'll want to illustrate your posts with something else. Here are a few suggestions:

Flickr's Creative Commons section brings up literally millions of photos you can use, usually as long as you attribute them. Use the advanced search and click "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed photos." Here are some I found by searching for "blueberries":



Blueberry burst
Originally uploaded by Bibliona


Fresh blueberries
Originally uploaded by Kiki the Cat


Blueberries close up
Originally uploaded by Martin LaBar


Another great source is the Wikimedia Commons. And don't miss the Wikipedia list of Public domain image resources, which can lead you to wonderful sites like Karen's Whimsy.

The Open Clip Art Library is a promising concept, but not very user-friendly yet.

Pixel-Perfect has a Free Stock Photos section; just avoid the ads for ones from Dreamstime at the top of every page, which are not free.

3 comments:

Martin LaBar said...

I don't see any attributions . . .

Hilary said...

Sorry, Martin, you were right (fixed now)--I put names/titles in the photo names so I could go back and credit (I was in a hurry!) and did not follow up. Sorry about that and thanks for pointing it out!

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks.