Craig's World: Using Photos The Right Way

Deep down inside, I know that it's just wrong to grab a picture off of Google Images and use it in a blog post, document, or presentation. To be completely honest with you, it's just way too easy to do it that way, though. And, who really wants to be the picture police? It's kind of like the grammar nazi who points out the bad use of the word "and" at the beginning of the previous sentence. Still, it's best to teach our students the correct, unconfusing, and completely legal way to finding usable pictures online. I put together this list for my students to use, and I'll happily share it with you.

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Perhaps the easiest way to find pictures for projects and personal use is to do a Google Image search for your topic. Save it and use it, and all is good...except one little thing. It could very well be illegal. By snagging a picture off Google Images (or Bing Images, for that matter), you could violate the original photographer's copyright privileges. For this reason, it's much more acceptable to use Creative Commons for your picture needs.

Creative Commons is a fancy term to describe sites that post pictures that can be used for free. It is desirable that you use Creative Commons sites for your pictures while at school. The sites below may be helpful for you.

photopin.com -- Free pictures. (Beware the first dozen or so pictures are "sponsored photos" meaning they cost money.
thenounproject.com - Free icons.
pixabay.com - Free pics
openclipart.org - Free clip art.
canva.com - Spruce up your pictures with special filters and words.
easel.ly - Create your own infographics
recitethis - Spice up your quotes with fancy backgrounds
aviary - Use this free app to create your own memes and do other fun things with your pictures.