How do you niche site builders get images

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I recently wrote an article on why it is effective to work out at home. I then googled home gym sets. I saved the picture to my desk top then uploaded that to my article.

Google claims their pictures are copy righted or that the website has a copy right. but i cant imagine all you IM'ers picking a niche, building a site, then spending hours with your own camera taking niche/article related photos.

Am I following the wrong path with google images?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #builders #images #niche #site
  • Fortunately, they ARE copyrighted.... and yes, you are on the wrong path. I get my images from wikicommons or from one of the photo sales sites like dreamstime.
  • I don't know about anyone else but I use mostly photos I have taken myself.
    This way I know who has the copyright and cannot be chased by lawyers.
    If I use other photos they are clearly free to use or I ask permission.

    It doesn't take hours if you are organised.

    Of course it helps if you are IN your niches and not trying to make money in a niche you know nothing about

    Kenj
    • [1] reply
    • Yes, using images from Google is copyright infringement. There is a chance you can get in trouble for using these images, especially if you're using them for commercial purposes. Try to eliminate the risks as much as possible.

      Instead, there are a variety of websites where you can buy stock photos for a small fee such as Istockphoto.com, Dreamstime.com, Shutterstock.com, Gettyimages.com.
      • [1] reply
  • Google Pics are not free for your use. In fact you should consider any photo you find online as copyrighted and belonging to someone else.

    To answer your question:

    1) You can take your own photos.
    2) You can get permission to use an existing photo.
    3) You can go to free download sites if you want little choice and a gauntlet of pop up ads and polls.
    4) You can go to many of the sites online that offer professional grade pictures usually starting at about a buck each.

    I hope this helps - Winlin
    Personally I take a bout 25% of my own pics Purchase about 50% of them from fotolia.com and get the remainder from various legitimate sources.
  • Don't do that, taking from image search, you'll eventually run into trouble.

    Instead, purchase a stock photos and clipart DVD set, making sure that the collection in question has web usage rights (some do, some don't).
  • Legally you cannot use a photo you find on the web with out the photographer's permission.

    Stock photography websites contain thousands of existing photographs that can be licensed for specific uses. A customer who uses stock photography instead of hiring a photographer can save time, effort and money. Typically publishers can either purchase exclusive rights to a single image or they can purchase a subscription of sorts. The subscriptions allow publishers to download a limited number of photos over a specified period of time.

    Stock photo websites allow webmasters, marketers and publishers to locate pictures for their marketing and promotional materials without the hassle of organizing a photo shoot. With copyright laws businesses must be very careful in using unlicensed photos.

    There are also risks to using "free" photographs. Many of the free websites contain collaborative works from multiple photographers and artists. While the websites attempt to monitor the images in their collections in violation of copyright laws, there are no guarantees. If you opt to use photographs or images from a free portal, it is important to keep this in mind.


    My favorite stock photo website is Royalty Free Stock Photos

    Here is where you can find some other inexpensive stock photo directories:

    Royalty Free Photos for Web Design

    Another site list can be found here:
    Microstock Photos

    Goodluck
  • If you want to do this right, you have to use royalty free photos. Yes, we all use them!

    Try dreamstime, they have a FREE IMAGES area where you can usually find some decent photos to find. There are times you will have to buy photos, chalk it up to a business expense.
  • The government has a vast amount of images that are in the public domain. For example, if you need a picture of stars, go to nasa.gov and look around. The CDC, oddly enough, has lots of useful images too. Each govt. site will have a link somewhere spelling out the usage rules but in general you can use what you want.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • That's really helpful Chris - thanks!
  • Banned
    I use istockphoto.com

    also

    The largest free stock photos search engine available on the Internet.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • I discovered long ago it was just easier to buy stock photos. You can sleep better at night knowing that you have the right to use them, you can find what you need in a flash and you get great quality photos. I use bigstockphoto for mine!

    Lee
  • Can someone recommend a place to buy stock photo dvds? I just want to buy different sets to use at my disposal. I've used istock and similar sites before but I just want to have a collection instead of buying one offs.
    • [2] replies
    • istockphoto and flickr are good places to find pics for your niche sites.
    • I've bought some from Amazon but you have to make sure that they have the licensing spelled out on the sales page or at least mentioned in the reviews. Also avoid those that require you download images rather than them providing the images on the discs.

      I also have some I purchased about 15 years ago for a flip catalog project that I still use although some, like those featuring cellphones, are woefully out of date.
  • When purchasing from stock image sites make sure you read the license - if you are planning on using the images for a niche site then the standard license will be fine. However if you plan on using the images to create a website template/wordpress theme and sell multiple copies of that template then the standard license may not cover this.
    • [1] reply
    • I sometimes use Flickr and do a advanced search for Creative Commons & Find content to use commercially.

      Some creators just ask for credit (add their name on your site) if you use their work.
  • im good now. im just taking my own. and blurring out company logos and images. such as my raw foods diet photos, ive blurred out companies i buy from. and ive used the google search tool for commercial use. im surpised this thread popped back up!!! i got my answer long ago
  • FYI:

    morgueFile free photos for creatives by creatives
  • I generally use most of the above mentioned sites. I also use Flickr and just credit the photographers name either in a credits section or as a caption with the pic.
  • istockphotos and shutterstock
    • [1] reply
    • Another option is to check the manufacturer's web site. Some of them have photos available in a media kit for use in articles.

      For example, when I was doing a site on Hawaiian cruises a couple of years ago, I got most of what I needed from Norwegian Cruise Lines' site - professional photos of the various ships, dining rooms, amenities, etc. At the time, their license restricted use to promoting NCL.
  • Wikimedia commons have a lot of user contributed photos that are either public domain or creative commons every photo has a license attached that explains the rights attached to them.
    • [1] reply
    • When I am doing work on Amazon sites, I have always thought I can use their photos. Anyone know if this is correct?
  • I take my own or use IStock.

    What about photobucket pics...anyone know? I thought it was just okay to say "photo from photobucket.com" but I'm not sure....
    • [1] reply
    • PhotoBucket.com images are uploaded by individuals. They could have taken them from anywhere. So no, you cannot safely use those photos.
  • Images on google are scraped from the sites they crawl, therefor there is no way they own any of them besides their own logo's. If you google my sites, my images come up - google does not own those images, I do. Therefore if you google "Gym Sets" the images you see belong to the sites that google scraped them from. If google claims they own them, they are clearly delusional.

    So...in a nutshell it is the site owner, not google that you need permission from.

    -DTM
  • If you are selling home gym I would assume you are promoting affiliate products from Amazon, or through another affiliate program. Why are you not using the promotional materials they have for you? You can also check with the manufacturer of the products, ask them if they have promotional photos use in articles and on blogs. Most likely they have photos you can use, most companies keep a stock of pictures for this purpose.

    Your other choice, head over to bodybuilding.com, start participating in the forum, and ask if anyone owns the equipment and would be willing to send you a photo. You may even be able to get a photo of them showing the product in use, get a real review, or testimonial for the product. Just be upfront with what you are doing when asking for the photo. (Great place for you to find guest blog posters, and JV partners for your niche.)

    Last choice.....Go to sporting goods stores, take your camera and snap some pictures. Look the equipment over in real life and you will be able to write with more authority.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I use stock.xchng - the leading free stock photography site, Dreamstime, or take my own. I also buy stock photos from places like BigStockPhoto and iStockPhoto...
  • (***Disclaimer This is not legal advice. Please see your attorney for details)

    Remember Google scrapes images from people's pages; so no it is not ok to use images from there, unless you want copyright infringment, which enables websites owners to come after you and sue you. It doesn't matter if you grab photos off someone's flickr page. That is still copyright infringement especially if you are using it for commercial use. sxc.hu is a good free site. Bigstockphoto.com is another good royalty free site as well. Either get your pics from royalty free sites, make your own; or buy rights to them. Don't risk using other people's pictures, because copyright infringements, each violation is expensive

    I've heard stories from lawyer friends of people using other people's images, and getting a bill in the mail for several thousand dollars. Some people don't send you a cease and desist, they just come after you and start litigating you.
    • [1] reply
    • As of my last reading of the affiliate agreement, you may use Amazon photos to promote Amazon products, via an associate link. You may not use them for any other purpose.

      Copy and paste from Photobucket's Terms of Use:

      This seems to be another one of those myths that land people in hot water, like the one that says you can copy any article and use it as long as you give credit.

      A lot of these "is it OK to use" questions could be answered by spending a few minutes reading the terms of use or license on the site in question.

      On a general note, there's an old saying that it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. I'd add that in cases of copyright infringement, it could also be a lot more expensive...
  • riddle me this, i agree with attribution with flickr / no problem with meeting requirements, but as i hardly use images I probably am not up to speed with the rules in detail, can i add the attribution to my resources pages under say an images on this site tag or do they need to on the exact page with the image ?
    • [1] reply
    • Flickr could answer this more definitively, but I see a couple of ways you could do it.

      One way would be to include the attribution at the bottom of the page, in plain text. I don't remember reading anything about the credit having to be a live link. Or you could use a "noindex" tag, I suppose.

      If you wanted all photo credits on a resource page, you could actually do yourself some SEO good by using keywords in the credit to actually link to the page with the photo.

      Personally, I'm not that worried about a single link out from a page to a site like flickr, so I just put a link someplace on the page. Sometimes it's in the photo caption, but mostly under the article along with the author credit.

      For example, it might look like this:

      For more information on getting the most from your new whatchamajiggie, go to and download your free briefing.

      Photo credit:
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Don't overlook BigStockPhoto. They allow use in templates for resale. At least last I checked. They've recently been taken over by Shutterstock, so you'll need to double check their terms.

    Morguefile is a good free source.

    Lots of public domain sources here.

    Hope this helps

    Craig
  • Free for commercial use!

    Free Photos and Wallpapers
  • You can find hundred of images with private label rights
    at Image-Reseller >> Home

    Not sure if they have gym pictures you you can check it out and see
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    How do you niche site builders get images

    I recently wrote an article on why it is effective to work out at home. I then googled home gym sets. I saved the picture to my desk top then uploaded that to my article. Google claims their pictures are copy righted or that the website has a copy right. but i cant imagine all you IM'ers picking a niche, building a site, then spending hours with your own camera taking niche/article related photos.