This guide outlines tips for finding and making the best use of stock images.
Finding Stock Images
There are many ways to find images online. While you may be tempted to pull them from a search engine, this can result in inferior quality images and run afoul of creators’ copyrights. If you wish to avoid copyright disputes, you need to find websites that explicitly define the license terms for their stock images.
Here is a list of free stock photo websites that you can use for your personal and commercial projects:
Trademarks in Images
Brand names, logos, and even a few famous buildings have trademark protections. Ensure your image does not include a trademark that could confuse visitors about the trademark owner endorsing or sponsoring you, your website, or your products.
Copyrights in Images
Ensure your image does not include copyrighted materials which you do not have permission to use. Even if you own a license for the image itself, parts of the image may have their own separate copyrights.
Photos of People
If you need an image of a person or people and did not take your own photo, try to see if you can use something different. For example, to show employees in your office, it is better to take photos of your real staff with their permission. Alternatively, you could use images of your office that exclude people or stock images related to your industry.
Identifiable people in images may have rights to prevent their image from being published. Before you publish the image, ensure that everyone in the image has given consent to having their image used publicly. You can contact the photographer to ask if the people in the photo have signed releases.
Choosing Compelling Images
Even if you are not using your own images, it still helps to use images that match your website’s tone and brand. Images that look more authentic will make your website more welcoming to your visitors.
Similarly, it helps to choose images that are more unique. While it is common to show smiling people in business suits to represent closing a deal, going deeper with your search will help you find less common images.
Giving Credit
You can add a credit to the artist using an image caption or a text block with the proper wording. Note that some stock imagery is covered by terms that might require attribution.