Church tech staff and volunteers have SO MANY different areas where they have to use visual media, including worship lyric backgrounds, blog posts, social media updates, promotional postcards, banners, bulletins, newsletters, and whatever other project you have taken on. The question is, where do you get your free stock photos for all of these goodies?
Unless you have a full-time staff or an iStockPhoto subscription, you are probably always scrambling for some kind of stock photography to use. Flickr seems like a great place to get free photos, right? What can be the harm in grabbing a couple of those images for use? Hmmm… well the common issues are lawsuits, loss of your website, and even legal troubles.
Best Practices for Getting Social Media
The above post is how I live by media use now. I do not recommend you using ANY images until you know the fair use of it. Just know that nothing is free anymore.
Here are eight quick and easy ways to get great visual media for your church. Know that it will cost you time/energy, but it is better than a $10,000 lawsuit against you. Here are some places to check out for both paid and free stock photos:
- Shoot your own images. Become an expert in stock photography with your own pictures.
- iStockPhoto. This is probably the cheapest option out there if you are using images every day. The quality could be so much higher, but it is still a great resource as is.
- Lightstock. Perfect for churches as all of the photos are specifically for you.
- Death to Stock Photos. A limited set and only available free through future emails, but GREAT quality.
- Flickr. (With proper Creative Commons usage.)
- WorshipHouseMedia. Great photos for all sorts of events and sermon illustrations.
- CreationSwap. I hate to mention this because many of the free stuff is POOR quality, but a lot of the paid stuff is worth it.
- SXC.hu Occasionally their is a diamond in the rough here…
Where do you get your stock photography?
Kevin at SiteWizard LLC says
Hi Jeremy,
You make a very good point – if you don’t know the license for an image, don’t use it on your website. Today, there are sophisticated tools that help content authors identify unauthorized usage of their images. The risk of being sued over copyright infringement has never been greater.
I wrote an article which lists several websites that offer free photos that allow commercial usage (i.e. “public domain” or “creative commons”). http://support.sitewizard.net/KB/a21/where-can-i-find-photos-for-my-website.aspx The article also includes links to get free photos, video and audio from iStockphoto and Lightstock. I hope you and your readers find it useful.
Blessings,
Kevin
Jeremy Smith says
It should be noted Kevin that getting “free images” still assumes that they fall under the proper Creative Commons licensing, so it does not mean copy/paste as is.
Kevin at SiteWizard LLC says
Hi Jeremy,
Yes, I completely agree. Users need to understand the different types of Creative Commons licenses and follow the rules of that license. They should only download images that allow “commercial use.”
They also need to be aware that most authors (photographers) require “attribution” meaning “a hyperlink to the author’s web page.” An attribution link can be small and tastefully done so that it doesn’t make your website look messy. “Best Practices for Attribution” gives several examples: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Best_practices_for_attribution
However, there are some images available for commercial use without attribution. Some websites offer “public domain” images or a similar commercial-friendly license. Also, some websites (like iStockphoto and Lightstock) give away royalty-free images to registered users. You can use royalty-free images without any kind of attribution.
Thanks for covering this topic. I know a lot of people who aren’t aware that they’re “playing with fire.” Grabbing images off the web seems so harmless and innocent, right up until you get a “cease and desist” letter from an attorney. 🙂
Blessings,
Kevin
Janelle says
I work with all the media for my church and finding free quality images is easily what takes up most of my time each time there is a new series etc.
Creationswap.com can be brilliant if you use it sparingly. SXC and Microsoft Images often hold gold nuggets. I’m yet to find success with MorgueFile but thanks for the freerangestock.com suggestion.
Also on my go-to list are the the free sections of resources.elevationchurch.org, vintagechurchresources.com, gracewaymedia.com and muddyrivermedia.org.
Thanks for covering this important topic. It really would be much easier to just “steal” the perfect image but there is something to be said for keeping it all above the board and tapping into the creativity the Creator has given us!
Jeremy Butler says
Jeremy,
Good afternoon! GREAT READ and amazing resources! I buy and sell off of a couple of those sites. I wanted to reach out to you b/c I have a site that focuses on high quality video and photo: http://www.kingdomlifemedia.com
Regards,
Jeremy B.
Jeremy Smith says
Thanks for sharing.