If you own a blog or you publish online, you probably know how important it is to have good images and photos on your site. You are likely to attract more traffic by using good and authentic images. On the other hand, getting free and quality celebrity images can be hard. Many image stock websites such as pixabay, pixes, and Morguefile have free photos, but seldom include the celebrity and high profile images. This means that you have to visit other sites such as Getty images to get the celebrity photos legally.
It is important to note that using celebrity or other unauthorized photos for free without legal permission or purchase is an offense. Accordingly, always be sure to check the disclaimer information on any image before using it. For a blogger, however, you probably need to use these images continuously and buying them can be expensive for you.
To solve this, always look out for the embedding provision in these celebrity stock images websites. Some websites such as Getty images allow visitors to use the images therein as long as you embed on the image information that acknowledges the source of the image. Once you visit the site and identify an image you want to use, all you need to do is export it to your website and embed the source link on the photo. This way, you will use the image for free, and it will be legal.
That said, what are some of the ways that you are not allowed to use the free images from these stock websites?
1. You are not allowed to use the photo un-embedded
You risk a severe lawsuit by using a free image without acknowledging the source, especially for the celebrity photos. Always make sure that you acknowledge the celebrity stock images site that you have obtained the image from.
2. For advertising purposes
You are not allowed to lift pictures for free and use them for advertising, campaigns or any other promotions whether online or in print form. You must purchase the image or obtain legal permission to be able to do that.
3. For defamatory purposes
You cannot use the free photos for any defamatory purpose such as pornographic use or erroneous gossip about the celebrities as this would lead to a lawsuit.
Bottom-line
It is wonderful that most of the sites such as Getty images offer free version of using celebrity stock photos. However, do not abuse the privilege by using the images illegally. This causes a breach of trust and goodwill and may lead to a lawsuit as well. Always be careful.
