With the onboarding of so many newcomers to HIVE, learning where to grab images without copyrights can be a challenge.
Because of services like Cheetah Bot, as well as a self regulating community, newcomers usually find out fast that using copyrighted images is a no no.
For those new to the platform and blogging in general, original content is key. It's what makes the blogging world go round.
That doesn't mean you have to go out and take all your own photographs.
Pixabay.com
First and foremost, Pixabay.com has a consortium of photographers who share their pictures with a public domain license.
Public domain is a copyright term that means those images are free to use. Furthermore, Pixabay goes beyond what other public domain providers offer.
Some public domain images require attribution to the photographer. Others insist the image not be altered in any way. It's important to understand the specifics of each copyright before use.
You don't have to worry about that when you find images on Pixabay.com. Feel free to alter them as you see fit for use in your blog.
Here on HIVE (as before on Steem) all we ask is that you give notification in your blog as to where your images came from. If you like to add the name of the photographer, it's not a bad practice.
You can also buy them a cup of coffee (tip them) over on Pixabay.
Wiki Commons
Another place bloggers often go to avoid having to pay for stock photos is Wiki Commons. Do be careful to check the copyrights here, as some images have the stipulations I mentioned above.
Many photos here are dated past the 100 year copyright law in the USA. It's still worth a check if Pixabay is missing what you need.
Google Search Tool
Another option is to use the Google Search tools on your phone or computer. The problem with these images is that they often do have copyrights that Google missed.
Poor quality images and limited options are other issues with G search tools.
What About A HIVE Repository?
As of this morning, I wasn't aware of one but that's all changed.
@solar stopped by a recent post of some backyard moon photos I shared a couple days back. I had designated them as free to use.
https://peakd.com/photography/@inalittlewhile/cool-free-to-use-moon-images-from-my-own-backyard
He cross posted them to a new community here on HIVE called Beyond Copyright. Please click and subscribe.
It's aim is to become your source for "Free To Use Images, Videos, GIF's, etc." here on HIVE!!!
There are a few other sources for images on the internet, like Unsplash and Pexels. The article below offers some additional sources. Just be sure they are, indeed, copyright free images before you use them.
Hope you found the info helpful and Happy Hiveing!!
Thanks for the shout out! I hope we can make thriving community here on HIVE.