Hello to all of my fellow web designers out there. I’ve been designing websites for over a year now and wondering where do you get images you’re using to your designs and what are the proper actions to use copyrighted images. Because Im only getting images from google which I will use for my designs and never came to my mind the “Copyright” thing until one of our clients asked how to acquire copyright images.
One thing I know how to get copyright images is to buy from stock photos but I don’t have enough budget to get any of those. Do anyone of you guys know an alternative for this?
Yes, stock photo websites can be quite expensive. I would recommend searching Flickr for a photo. Most of the time, if you ask nicely, people will allow you to use their photos.
Why don’t you mention this to your client and include the payment in the cost of the website. Stock photo gives the best copy right images so far! Other wise I would recommend to simply click pictures using a camera and buy the copy rights to those images.
Good questions here. I would be very careful if I were you with pulling images right from Google. I would also go back through any images you have pulled and make sure you know exactly who owns them. For instance Getty Images, one of the largest providers of images on the web has been known to threaten people with lawsuits for using their images without permission. I’m not sure of the validity of their claims or if they have actually sued anyone but you don’t want that on your mind.
Where you get imagery depends on what you need as well as what you are using it for. I make a lot of my own images in photoshop. These would be things like background images for menus or what not. Most of the time though, if a client wants images on their site, they must provide them. For instance the images they provide may be related to their product or service.
You just have to make sure you discuss it with your client and include it in your quoting for a project. For example I will have clients fill out a standard questionnaire that includes questions related to what elements they require for their site. If they want to have stock images, they will have to pay extra for that.
Keep in mind that you can’t just pull things off the web and expect them to be used for free. Pretty much everything is copyrighted even if it doesn’t say so. You might go for a year or more but eventually, someone could notice that you are using their stuff without permission and come knocking to collect a check from you.