Can you use any image?

Using images you find on Google Images, Flickr, Tumblr, Facebook, or any social media website for that matter is a huge no no. You can get into a ton of trouble, and maybe even lose your shoes for it.

It's not worth the risk, even if you cite the source.

If you're going to be putting up images on you website or blog, make sure you have the right to do so.

A stock photo directory would be your best bet.

And it's not a dumb question, btw.

Here's a free resource I've used many times. Just make sure you read the rights to the image you chose, as most will ask that you cite the source if you use the free version.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Oh just thought of another thing. Can you use screen shots? For example if you are making a site promoting an affiliate product that is a guide for a computer game you play. Can you use a screen shot of you playing say a certain Character you maybe talking about in a article or is that image owned by the creators of the game?

Sometime I use free images from google . Also In some case I use paid images.

There are a lot of wrinkles in copyright law. The basics are there are two types of copyrights Registered and Non Registered. Registered copyrights are registered with the U.S. Government and if you get caught using one of these your really screwed. The registered holder is entitled to damages regardless of actual economic loss, and you have to pay all their attorney's fees for them suing you.

Non Registered copyrights are created whenever anyone makes anything like a picture. Every picture is copyrighted by the person that created it. While they can't get attorney's fees from you and have to prove actual economic harm when suing you Non Registered copyright holders can still be extremely hurtful to your business by simply sending DMCA's to you, your host any service you may have uploaded the image to like You Tube. Often your host or the outside service you uploaded the image to will terminate your account for the hassle.

If you're using images from paid or free image sites you need to take into account the creative commons license agreement as well.

A lot of images are royalty-free but require that you attribute them to the owner. Here's a link to a page with a video that explains Creative Commons and a list of some sites that offer cc images - Creative Commons

Chow chow,
Kevin

You can go to the "Advanced Search" and there is a license type drop box (I don't quite remember the name, because I'm using Google in my native language). There you can find for "free use with modification, also commercial" or something like that. These pics are free to use anywhere. Just be sure to check the licensing, since they may require attribution by CC license.