My all-time favorite image search tool is Compfight. This is a simple Ajax utility that searches Flickr images by tag or keyword. It returns a page of thumbnail images based on your criteria. Check a box to return only images with Creative Commons licensing. Choose from original images only and turn on safe search for the highest quality images. This is my favorite tool, bar none, for finding images for my blog posts.
When I strike out with Flickr, my next choice is Stock.XCHNG for free downloadable images. They also have premium images available for $1.
Another option is iStockphoto. Images on this site tend to be higher quality than on Stock.XCHNG, and prices start at $1 and work up. They offer a beautiful assortment of vector illustrations in the $10 range. This is my site of choice for images to use in web site layouts and for print-based work.
Regardless of where you find images for use on your blog, make sure you read their licensing agreement. Many Creative Commons photos on Flickr only require attribution to the photographer and a link back to their Flickr page, but some add additional restrictions. Likewise, some images on Stock.XCHNG require attribution, and all photographers appreciate a link.
Photo Credit: FelipeArte (Creative Commons)
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Thanks for sharing about Compfight. New to me. I too am a fan of Stock.XCHANG – I always do attribution for their pics, although I pass on some where the photographer wants to know in advance where you are using it: bloggers don’t work that way.I have found it a time-consuming and ultimately frustrating exercise to discover Creative Commons enabled pics on Flickr, although I am told there is a WordPress plugin that deals with that effectively.
I am a huge fan of the creative commons photos available on Flickr. I have to try out the Compfight, since the Flickr search seem a bit odd at times.
Des, how do you search Flickr? I suggest going to flickr.com/creativecommons. The page has the photos sorted by licensing standards…so finding the creative commons photos is usually very easy.
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