Blogging With Photographs - Ways To Find Pictures That Complement Your Blog Post

The purpose of a blog is to bring in readers that will find your information beneficial, and choose to follow you and possibly connect with you to do business. For most of us, a blog wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t have photographs.

As a photographer, it may seem as if I have it easy to find pictures - just look through my own files, right?

But it really can be a lot more complicated than that. What if I’m creating a storyline, and I want to show a photograph of an orange?

photo source audreyjm529

Sure I can stop what I’m doing and run to photograph an orange, process it, and use it - after 15-20 minutes of work. Instead, why not use the resources right in front of you?

I use two sources on a regular basis.

iStockphoto allows you to buy images at affordable prices. You can either buy credits and use them when you need them, or purchase a one year plan that allows you to download a certain number of credits per day.

The other source is Flickr creative commons. As a photographer, you have the ability to place your photos online for the purpose of allowing others to use them for free, with certain restrictions.

Attribution means you let others copy, distribute, display and perform your copyrighted work - including derivative works - only if you give credit to the photographer.

Noncommercial means you let others copy, distribute, display and perform your work - and derivatives - only in noncommercial settings.

No derivative works means others can copy, distribute, display only exact copies of your work.

Share Alike means you allow others to distribute derivative works only under the license that governs your work.

As a blogger, the source that I use is Flickr creative commons - Attribution. This gives you the flexibility to choose the photographs you want to accent your blog post, allow you to crop the photo, add words, edit it, and then use it in your blog post. You must give proper credit to the photographer, but it also gives you freedom to find exactly what you want.

The great thing about Flickr creative commons is you can also search based on attributes.