If you're after images for your own blogging Flickr can be a great source. I've written previously on how to find the images that are available to use for free.

Now here is a step by step guide to finding photos on Flickr that are free to use. This is complete with screenshots to help guide you through the whole process of finding great free photos!

How to find free photos on Flickr

If you haven't already done so you might like to read the previous post on Creative Commons licenses. CC licenses are the things that make it possible to find photos and images to use for free on Flickr, but there are usually still terms and restrictions, so it is important to understand what is being offered. Usually attribution is required; so you need to credit the photographer as author of the work.

The whole of Flickr is not a source of free photos! While Flickr is the Internets biggest photo sharing site the term 'showing' would really be more accurate. Photo sharing on Flickr does not mean any image can be downloaded and used for free. It depends on the license a Flickr user has chosen to publish an image with and if they have gone with traditional copyright "all rights reserved" then the image may not be used without first seeking permission to do so.

However Flickr is a great source for free photos and images if you know where to look! To find photos for free we need to filter Flickr's collection to show us only images available under Creative Commons licenses. Before starting a specific search you should be clear about what you need the photo for in order to look for the applicable CC license that will allow this.

To search for CC photos
Go to the advanced search page on Flickr. This page gives you various options for fine tuning a search on Flickr. The last of these at the bottom of the page is an option to show only content with a creative commons license. This is what you want to find images, and videos, available to use for free. If you want photos etc to use commercially or to adapt yuo can further filter the results to allow for this.

To browse for CC photos
Or to use Flickr terminology, Explore! Go to the Creative Commons page on Flickr. Here you'll find brief definitions of the different license options and links to explore content available under each diferent set of options.

Flickr can be a gold mine for creative photos and a lot of great content is available to use for free. Just remember to credit authors and abide by any other CC terms and if you find an image that is just what you need but isn't Creative Commons licensed then be sure to contact the photographer to seek permission to use their work.

What is a creative commons license?

Creative Commons (cc) is a non-profit organisation founded by Lawrence Lessig with the aim of facilitating the easy sharing and use of creative works. The premise being that traditional copyright laws are too restrictive in this regard by preventing creatives who would like to make their work more freely available from easily doing so.

It should be noted that an image, photo or an other creative work made available under a creative commons license may be free in that payment for its use isn't required but it is not usually entirely free from restrictions and conditions on the use of the work. The nature of these depends on the particluar CC license the creator of the work chooses to use; there is no single creative commons license but many versions depending on the combination of permissions and restrictions set. The copyright of CC works does still remain with the original creator.

Photos and images offered under Creative Commons Licenses will usually come with the attribution condition. This means the author is happy for the image to be used as long as credit is given, so for instance if the image is used on a blog a credit line and link back to the photographer's own site or Flickr stream for example is required. Often sources offering CC images will provide the details of what is required and any necessary code.

Other common terms used in CC licenses concern the further sharing and distribution of works, the use of works in derivative work and the use of works for commercial purposes. An image made available under a CC license may, therefore, still have rights retained by its author that prevent some uses. It is important to understand the particular license that is being offered in order to avoid infringing an author's copyright; remember CC images are still the copyright of the author and are only free to use within the terms of the CC license they are offering!

Here's a nice video presentation that explains the ideas and benefits of using CC licensing.


So, with that understanding of creative commons licensing, where do you find photos and images to use for free under a CC license?