If it’s “Royalty Free,” be Certain to Check the Fine Print.

I am on a constant search for good, free stock photos – or “very very cheap” like fotolia.  I happen to love ImageAfter. Do you have any favorite stock sites? Please comment. However, one problem I run into is the proliferation of tricky “royalty free” wording.

First, I’ll tackle the wording in sxc.hu. Their photos are “royalty free” in that you don’t have to pay the photographer.  Most of the time, that’s the end of the story. Sometimes I’ll run across ” ______ must be notified and credited when using the photo for any public work.” This is when I cringe. Where does the credit go? There usually isn’t a “credits” page on a website. On the “About Us” page that is so common? Well, the photographer isn’t an “us” so it shouldn’t go on “About Us.” Frankly, the usual response I receive from clients is “Uh, no, we don’t want someone else’s link/name on our website.”

Now, we can look at it from the photographer’s perspective: “I went to the trouble of taking this picture so that you could use it for free, why won’t you give me credit?” While I can understand this perspective, sometimes it can cause the emphasis to shift from the website’s content to the photographer. For instance, I recently designed a (gratis) website for a small non-profit company. I needed images of happy, smiling children and teens. Most of the images I wanted had “___ must be notified and credited.” From the non-profit’s website to the photographer’s commercial one? No, I don’t think so. Hey, I don’t get to put my name on the site, either and I built it. I ALWAYS keep track of where I get photos from, so if someone does indeed ask me “hey, where’d you get that photo?” I can tell them. It’s simple: when you save them, put “by blahdeblah” in the file name.

Excuse me. I seem to have stepped in some rant. Moving on.

So let’s take this one at a time, with regards to sxc.

1. Royalty free, “standard restrictions apply.” Meaning: You can use for profit, just don’t use it for pr0nz, to defame, etc. Excellent.
2. Royalty free, “standard restrictions apply and ____ must be notified.” That’s ok.  They usually just want to be certain their works aren’t being used in an untoward way (this is especially important with images of children and teens).
3. Royalty free, “standard restrictions apply and ____ must be notified AND credited.” Bzzzzt. Unless you have specifically asked the client “is it OK to credit other people on your website,” do NOT use the image. Don’t even make a mockup with it. The client will LOVE the image but still not want to have a link to someone else’s site. Trust me.
4. On occasion, someone will have a list of things that you can and cannot use the image for. Move on by, friend, or be forever locked into what you should and shouldn’t do with it.

DeviantArt has some of the same policies, but watch out for this:

1. Cannot be used for commercial works (what? Why post it at all? So much better to say “use it for what you want, just let me know” so you can put it on your portfolio.)
2. If you’re a part of the DevArt community, “Cannot be used for prints” is also a big no-no
3. One additional note: often, people who make textures want to be credited too. I think that works well for DevArt, but mind you not so much for commercial works.

Here’s how I view the big three sites:

DevArt has good stock photos of people in billowy attire. Perfect for your fantasy painting with elves.  Also good for nature stock. In all seriousness, I don’t want to scare you off from looking through their stock area – it’s really loaded with some jewels, especially people in poses or in themes (pirate, ninja, etc). The problem is sifting through the detritus, but that doesn’t take TOO long.

Sxc is excellent for objects, although they have a fair amount of people images. The problem is finding a specific one in a specific pose that doesn’t have restrictions.

ImageAfter is best for objects and random locations (such as weathered buildings) as well as textures. There are NO restrictions. Part of this is, I think, because the photographers are not credited in the site itself, therefore, there’s no sense of ownership and/or protectiveness.

Thoughts?

Keep Two Folders:

New to design (any design)? I tend to surf the Interwebz a lot between projects (….looking for inspiration…). I recommend keeping two very important folders.

1. An “Inspiration” folder. Do you like the shaded corner of that website? Screencap and save. What about that photograph of blueberries on a white background? Save it. Later, when you’re scratching your head for a design idea, look through your inspiration folder. (Admittedly, I call mine “flowers” because I would stab myself in the eye repeatedly if I made a folder and called it “Inspiration”…that brings to mind delightful motivational posters..I’m more of a Demotivater person, myself.) Note that the goal is NOT to steal ideas. The goal is to look at these images and think “OK, I like this corner/header/border/fruit/etc. so how can I make something that gives me that feel?” Any designer who tells you 100% of their ideas are original is lying. Period.

2. A “textures” or “stock photos” folder. Places like Deviantart and sxc.hu have stock photos and textures for you to use – the KEY, however, is to ONLY save the items you are free to use on any project. Do NOT save images that say “you have to do blah de blah in order to use my photo.” The reason for this is that it’s all too easy to be in a hurry and forget which photos are “safe” and which aren’t (unless you’re really organized and categorize them accordingly but then you’ll want to use the Restricted Stock and get really upset when you can’t). In reality, the likelihood of you getting caught using an unapproved stock photo isn’t high for a small project, but it DOES exist. Don’t be that person. You’ll earn a terrible reputation for yourself and/or your company and, in the worst scenarios, possible litigation. In another post, I’ll go over stock images/textures a bit more, such as what some of the terminology means and why I rarely use stock if it says “you must give credit.”