Where do I find royalty free images? and no, i dont like the googling idea.?

Question

i want something like a site or a database where i can get royalty free picutures for the stuff i make. thanks!

Answer 1

A few I haven't seen listed yet are:

http://www.morguefile.com (don't let the name creep you out, it's my personal favorite free stock photo site)

http://www.imageafter.com (you can filter your search results by color, which is handy sometimes)

http://www.sxc.hu/ ("Stock.XCHNG" -here you have to sign up for a free membership to download its free images, and you need artist permission to use some of its photos, but you have the option of filtering those out of your search results)

http://mayang.com/textures/ (texture images - you can download 20 per day for free or order them all on CD)

http://www.geekphilosopher.com/MainPage/photos.htm (haven't used this one yet - found it recently, looks okay)

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml (a list of links to government photos, some good public domain historic stuff)

Also, http://www.yotophoto.com searches multiple free stock photo sites at once.

Just read any disclaimers or TOS on each site before using their photos. Pretty much all the sites at least encourage attribution of the photographer and/or the photo-supplying website, and they may require it. In a few cases images are free for use both commercially and non-commercially with no strings attached, like on morguefile. Other sites have varying licensing levels for use of different photos, or some require commercial use to be online only with attribution of the source and a linkback. On some you might be required to email the artist for permission to use their photo for a commercial project. It takes close attention on your part to obtain and use the web's free images legally, but the trade-off for the bit of initial hassle is certainly the FREE part.

Answer 2

Dover Publications has the largest grouping that's copyright free.

Google is one way to get it quicker, however. It doesn't take all that much time unless you have a slow system.

Answer 3

flickr - cuz people like you and me post pics/images so there's no copyright law stuff, plus hi-res ^_^

getty images used to be free... but it's not anymore.

Answer 4

Try these sites
http://www.fotosearch.com/
http://www.istockphoto.com/
http://www.freeimages.com/
http://flickr.com/photos/royalty-free-images/
http://www.fg-a.com/gifs.html

Answer 5

www.gettyimages.com
www.comstock.com
www.corbis.com