How to Use Free Photos and Free Clip Art on Your Hub or Website

There’s no doubt that adding pictures to your Hub or website will make it more visually appealing. While using your own original photographs is often your first choice for illustrating your Hubs, sometimes it just isn’t possible. You may not have a suitable photograph in your personal photo library, or you may be under time constraints to publish and not have time to set up a photograph or scout for a photo op. Rather than publish your hub without visuals, you can use some of the wide selection of resources on the internet to find free photographs and clip art to enhance your hub. Here are a few that I’ve used in my hubs that are searchable and easy to use:

• Government and Public Domain Websites. Public domain sites have a wealth of free pictures - everything from scenery to spaceships. Any pictures that were taken when working for the U.S. government or any pictures that can be downloaded from a government website are automatically public domain. For example, try the NASA image galleries for fantastic pictures of the sky, earth, moon, stars and space ships.The picture shown is from the NASA multimedia gallery.
  
  
  
  

• Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia. If you don’t have the exact picture you need, go on an internet hunt. Here you’ll have to use both your imagination and your creativity to tie the picture to your hub. For example, when I wrote my hub Playing Card Games Promotes Senior Brain Fitness, I did not have a picture of people playing cards. I was ready to publish, but felt that I needed a good graphic in my hub. My solution was to find a photograph of the Paul Cezanne painting, Les joueurs de carte, which pictures two old men playing cards.This is a Creative Commons picture that was available through Wikimedia Creative Commons and is a perfect illustration for my topic.
  
  If you do find a photograph on Wikipedia that you’d like to use, click on it to bring up the picture. You will find information about licensing. If it is a picture under Wikimedia Creative Commons licensing, you are free to use it in your hub as long as you follow instructions for attributing the photograph.Continue to download it to your computer or import directly into your hub. When I use a picture from Wikimedia Creative Commons, I always cite the source, even if it’s not required as I do not want to take credit for someone else’s photographs.

• Free Clip Art. If you’re looking for cute, check out the clip art that came with your world processing program or one of the free clip art sites (search for “free clip art”) on the web. I sometimes like to use vintage pictures, which are just perfect for something like a romantic Valentine Hub (Romantic Valentine Idea-A Horse Drawn Sleigh Ride ). When using free pictures, be sure to follow the instructions on how to use the clip art and cite the source if you are asked to do so. One of the free clip art sites that I use is here: http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/free-clip-art/ This is a sample of one of the Victorian images that can be used:Victorian Seed packet http://wordplay.hubpages.com/hub/vintage-flowers
  

• Free Digital Photos.Net. Here you can download royalty free images for use on websites and blogs.You have free use of the images for personal or commercial purposes. However, all free images must include attribution according to terms stated on website. High resolution versions of these images are available for sale for those who wish to use high quality images in printed materials. The sample photo is Natural Apples by DigitalArt .
  
  
• Flickr.com This is a great place to find free photographs as many Flickr users have made their photographs available under Creative Commons licenses. Be sure to check the terms of the licenses before using the picture as there are several different versions of the copyright. You can search the Flickr site for Creative Commons licensed photographs. If you use one of these photos, don’t forget to give credit to the owner of the copyright.

It is important to cite the source of your free photograph or clip art, not only because it keeps everything legal, but because the creator of the image deserves recognition - little enough reward for making his/her art freely available.

When you are in the Photo Capsule Edit mode, there are three fields to type into:

1. The Name of Source: Here you should type in just the name of the source, like "Flickr". If you add more words than just the name of the source, the URL won't work as a link.
2. Source URL: This is where you should paste the URL to link to the source's website when asked to do so. By doing it this way, readers will be able to click on the "Source" name and it will backlink to the source's site.
3. Caption: Here you can type in the title of the photograph if it has one, or you can add your own short comment.

Anyone who uses photographs of others that are licensed by Creative Commons should read this explanation of the Creative Commons copyright symbols. You may be surprised to learn that not all Creative Commons licenses are alike. Different symbols associated with an image indicate different restrictions on its use.

Creative Commons license symbols may be used together to indicate specific restrictions. For example, the Attribution symbol may be used together with the Non-Derivative symbol to indicate that the work must be attributed, but it cannot be altered in any way.

• Creative Commons Licenses can differ. While some photos with CC licenses are free and unrestricted, others can't be used commercially, nor can they be altered in any way. Be sure you know the terms of the license on the photo you are using.
  
  
• Always give credit. Giving credit to the photographer or the website that gave you the free clip art is a small price to pay for professional quality images that you use to enhance your writing. Learn the terms of the licensing and give appropriate credit as directed.
  
  
• Royalty Free does Not Mean Free. There are numerous websites advertising free photographs and free clip art. You've probably already discovered that not everything that looks free is actually free. Some sites offer Royalty Free images. This means that you must purchase the image, but after the one-time fee, you can use it as much as you want without paying royalties.

There's no Excuse for Boring!

So there you have it. There is no excuse for long unbroken text when you can spice up your Hub with colorful images, beautiful photographs and cute clip art without paying a cent. Play by the rules, but have fun with it!

If you own a digital camera or a cell phone camera, why not use original photographs on your website or Hub? Check out my Hub on using your own photographs to illustrate your articles: Quick and Creative Tips for Using Original Photos on your Hub