Where do you get the pictures for your blog?
A reader asked me this the other day and I thought it was worth not just sharing my answer but also asking all of you the same question. I’m very much a novice at this and it would be good to learn how you source your images.
This was my answer:
The photos come from a variety of sources. I often start at yotophoto because it searches a number of sites for free, usable photos. The mask for example came from flickr, with a picture posted with a creative commons license. You can search on flickr for pictures with those licenses – but yotophoto does the same thing and searches other sites too that I’ve used like stock.xchng and morguefile.
Sometimes if I can’t find what I want – especially for materials that are going to last like the coaching toolkit I’m working on or the authentic writing e-book I’ll buy photos from istockphoto (and I have an affiliate link to them, because I think their stuff is so good.)
Some of the the customised images (like the ‘kings of the writing road’ one from the other day) come from Imagechef. You can do some fun stuff there (and I think that’s where my seekers for information on bling writing come from!!)
What’s yours?
I have two primary blogs. For the one about gardening, all the pictures are ones I’ve taken with a digital camera and uploaded. For my grandmother’s diary, I actually created a companion blog where I post old family pictures that were scanned in.
Your sources look like good ones to use, especially if I run out of pictures of my own garden.
Hi Carol
I doubt you’ll ever run out of pictures of your own garden!
Thanks for mentioning your grandmother’s diaries – I hadn’t noticed it before. Just popped over and had a look – fascinating! I love family history too and every so often get seriously into it.
Have you had much reaction to it from local historians?
Joanna
I don’t (at this point) use photos for the Freelance Parent blog, because I think it might look too busy. I’m still mulling over that. I use them a lot on my Something Good blog, though; and I get 90% of them from Flickr. At the bottom of the main page is a link for “creative commons,” I click there and then search for a topic that fits my post. Occasionally I will use a digital photo that I took myself.
I always leave a comment on the picture thanking the photographer for adding the creative commons license and letting him or her know where I’m using the photo, and I always include a credit under the pic with a link back to his or her main Flickr page.
I mostly use Flickr. If it has a Creative Commons license I put that in the credit line. If it doesn’t I e-mail the owner and get permission and explicitly say I have permission to use it and the owner reserves all rights. That’s an important part of using Flickr–to give proper credit and to link back to the the Flickr photo. (I link back to the actual photo rather than the owner’s main page, but I don’t think it makes much difference.) It takes only a little extra time, and it’s an important part of the process.
Hi Jean
It’s interesting to learn from how other people do these things. I’ve only used the CC pictures up to now – hadn’t occurred to me to e-mail and ask the owner for pictures without the licence, but it seems obvious now you say it, and a good way to make contact with them too
Joanna
Hi Lorna
It’s good to hear from you here
Thanks for letting me know how you use flickr pictures – I love that you’re taking the time to thank the owners for the licence and to let them know how you’re using the photo.
I haven’t been doing this up to now but I think it’s something to make the time for.
Joanna
Joanna… Regarding my grandmother’s diaries, I haven’t had any reactions from local historians. They probably don’t know they are there, but I have considered contacting the local historical society. Thanks for noticing them!
Carol, I’m sure people would be interested – maybe try a local paper and a library too?
Best wishes
Joanna