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I need help finding images with the right licensing for my application.

I need to find images with a license that will allow me to:

  • Have the users of my web application change the stock photo (unlimited # of users)
  • Allow users of my application to share their version of the stock photo on Facebook

What licensing should I be looking for, and what sites are a good source for these types of photos with this licensing? I'm willing to pay to get what I need.

I also do not want to have to provide attribution to the original photographer/owner on the derivative works.

Licensing is so confusing on the stock photo sites, that I'm considering just taking the photos myself...

Thanks much!

Jon

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7 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

No easy options here. If you want professional stock photos, Fotolia and iStockPhoto are great choices - BUT they won't let you modify / reuse the images. Since you don't want to provide attribution to the original photographer, using Creative Commons sources (such as Flickr where many photos are licensed this way) is out of the question, too. You may want to change your thinking here.

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This is right on from what I'm seeing. Since the major stock photo players will not let me create derivatives, maybe using creative commons with attribution is going to be my "safest" bet. I guess I would need to overlay some kind of "original photo by" verbiage. – Jon Kragh Feb 23 '10 at 11:27
Tomas, do you use creative commons images? I've never seen a site that actually uses attribution via creative commons. Can you do it without distracting from your site? – Scott Feb 18 '11 at 13:58
up vote 4 down vote

It might be best to contact photographers whose work you find and like who have Creative Commons sources such as Flickr and see if you can negotiate something them with them directly. If you are willing to pay and explain your needs they may be flexible about the attribution if you are willing to compensate them a small amount. This way you can work with photos you have already selected, also they may have many more similar photos than they have displayed so contacting photographers directly can have other benefits.

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up vote 3 down vote

istock.com is the site that many agencies I've worked with have used. Free images plus cheap images.

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I'll second the vote for iStock they have a great set of images with very clear licensing terms. – davidcrow Feb 23 '10 at 4:00
up vote 1 down vote

Maybe you should checkout www.sxc.hu

They have high quality free pictures that have no restriction on usage.

Hope that helps.

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up vote 1 down vote

Some Low-cost sources: istockphoto.com, dreamstime.com, fotolia.com, japanesestreets.com, shutterstock.com, shuttermap.com

For free Images: morguefile.com, flickr.com/creativecommons, imageafter.com, sxc.hu, everystockphoto.com, istock.com

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up vote 0 down vote

I have recently also included Fotolia in my stock searches. They are smaller but have very similar portfolios of images and a good base of creators.

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up vote 0 down vote

I use depositphotos.com as they have really competitive prices and two different kinds of license. They offer a free trial (35 pictures in any resolution), however not on the extended license. Depending on what exactly you want to do with the pictures (there are five different types of extended license), you will pay from 20 to 60 USD per picture.

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