Four great sources of free images for bloggers

Yes, it's a listicle, but I hope it will be of use to my fellow bloggers.

And if you know of any other good sources, please share them in the comments.

Getty Images

View image | gettyimages.com

Getty used to be famous for coming down heavily on anyone who infringed their copyright. But last year everything changed.

Now bloggers can embed most of Getty's images without charge - an article on the British Journal of Photography site takes you through he small print,

You do have to use them at the size Getty specify and with the link to their site that is automatically generated, but if the image is good enough (and many of theirs are) that does not matter.

Getty have reserved the right to revoke this move, so it is possible that all their lovely images will disappear from your blog one day.

But in the mean time there is little reason not to fill your boots with some wondeful photographs.

Go to the Getty Images site.

Morgue File

Subscribing to commercial image libraries is expensive, but there is a free alternative.

The Morgue File (named after the heap of old photographs that printed publications used to keep) is a free image library.

The photographs it contains are taken by amateurs, and it sometimes shows, but there is a lot of good stuff in there.

You should check the conditions for any photo you want to use, but most can be used without attribution.

Importantly too, they can be cropped and otherwise altered as you wish. That can make an otherwise ordinary photo just what you need,

Go to Morgue File.

Geograph

Crusher house with chimney, Snailbeach © Espresso Addict 

Want a photo of a place in Britain? Odds are you will find it on Geograph.

You can search by place name, postcode or grid reference to help find the location you are looking for.

Note that the images have to be credited,

Go to Geograph.

Take your own

One thing blogging has done for me is to reawaken my interest in photography and given me a new interest in architecture.

I carry a digital camera with me on most days, though I suspect my phone is a better camera than my camera is these days.

As well as taking a photo specially to go with a blog post, you can build up a library of stock photos - vehicles, road signs, that sort of thing.

So get out and take your own photos.