Is it ethical to use free photos !!

Hello,
Well I have been doing SEO from a long time but during these vacations i tried my hands on adobe photoshop and banner designing, I have a little query --- Can I use the free stock photos available on the net for designing my banners and selling them ?? Please share your views on best resources available for designing banners and tips related to designing.
Thanks,
Harsh

 

Depends on the license under which the images are distributed

 

Some give you full rights, others are limited. Just know that others might be using the same photos on similar projects, so it might end up looking like you copied someone else or vice versa.

 

Depends, most images give you limited rights. So you can't make any money from them. But there are some which will let you.

 

Just pay the $1 or $2 per image at istockphoto and use it in your commercial works. You can buy credits in bulk and use promo codes to save even more too.

They give away some cool free images to members as well.

 

Thanks euler, davewashere, twistedspikes and josh_coffman. Gr8 comments guys !! Will remember these things !!

 

You can reedit them by changing color, look and then can use it for your personal use but check for their license and rights.

 

To use the photos for commercial work usually is necessary and extended licence.

 

Hello,

In order to promote my photos, I am donating everyday, one high resolution photo from my private collection, which you are entitled to use without ANY restriction. Yes, both for personal or business purposes.

Have a look at http://photo4u.awardspace.com/ .

Photos are automatically renew at mid-night, US time.

Your comments are more than welcom.

 

Most stock photos are free to use, try morguefile and sxc.hu - those are the ones I keep going back to.

 

thats real good

I like.

 

sxc.hu is a great site. I use that as well as istockphoto

 

Why wouldn't it be ethical to use free photos? If they're free for use, isn't that the point? For them to be used?

 

In general (famous last words) if the person who created the photo doesn't mind, and neither does the subject when it would matter, then ethics has nothing to do with it. But I have a gut feeling this is a "I don't want to get sued" question more than an "Is it moral?" one.

Read the fine print from each stock house, and use some common sense ... you'll be fine. They're granting you certain rights to use an image, wrapped up in a license. Stock houses don't cater to individuals who want a purdy picha to hang over their couch; it's understood that you need republish rights. If you go to Getty, or any high-end place, you're likely to pay per impression. This wouldn't be the case at, say, ZemoStock; like most internet microstock houses, they grant almost full rights to any image you want, and don't charge for it. Some will have different prices for commercial versus non-profit versus hobby use. But they'll make this all clear - places smaller than Getty or Corbis don't have legal departments sitting around waiting to deploy.

Don't buy or use anything with an identifiable person ( or piece of art ) without a release.

If it's an ethics question, and not a legal one, paying $1 more or less doesn't change the equation much.

What type of photo are you looking for, out of interest?

 

Good advice from Forrest !! Well it was basically an ethics question but also i had to know the legal aspects as well, thanks for sharing info Forrest. Thanks to all the contributors. This thread really helped, I also searched some nice free stock photo providing sites/blogs (i will try to post their url), however I think these days photography blogs offer great photos for professional and commercial use.

 

I have a question..is it illegal if we are using photos from Flickr?And attach it at our banner design or web?

 

If you edit it according to ur style then i don't think it will be a problem but if ur using as it is then i think there would be problem...... i mean u will be accused of lifting material, not by the flickr admin. (they dont have time to look who's doing what) but ur competitors will cause problems 4 u. If ur competing in a contest then they will probably amke every effort to prove ur work a copy of some other work so my advise would be ---- "It doesn't matter whether it is legal or not but if ur making ur work origianl then its a good thing". Even if u take some Clipart or stock photos try to edit them a little bit.