A New Picture Bank

Here at the Keystone Blog, we spend lots of time and thought when picking out a picture to go along with a particular article. The right picture can make all the difference in a blog post. We use photos.com for a large range of photographs, which requires a paid subscription to ensure that we aren’t stepping on anyone’s toes by stealing their photos. For other bloggers who cannot afford the $450 a year (which is kind of ridiculous), Google has come up with a solution.

The Google Image Search now allows a user to narrow the search results to pictures labeled for commercial reuse. Google is striving to give easier access to free pictures and help photographers get their pictures seen by the masses. A Creative Commons license allows the photographer to decide how they want other people to use their work. Photographers are given the option of letting users reuse photos for commercial or noncommercial use, or letting users modify the original pictures. Google Images simply allows people to locate the kind of picture they want. They also promote pictures with GNU Free Documentation licenses.

To start looking for free pictures, you can go to Google Images and click on the Advanced Image Search link. After you type in exactly what you are looking for, you can then indicate at the bottom what usage rights you want in your image results. It allows you to choose pictures labeled for reuse, labeled for commercial reuse, labeled for reuse with modification, or labeled with commercial reuse with modification. Hit search and you are set to use any of the images found.

Google does warn, however, that they are not responsible for images with an incorrect listing. They say it is up to the searcher looking for photos to make sure the image desired is available under the license listed. Therefore, there is a little room for error in the advanced search, so be careful. But other than that, the new advanced search feature is a great tool that should be utilized by any bloggers or online journalists. Happy searching!