It is always so often that we need a stock photo to enhance our graphic piece. Beware, not many people are aware that Google search images are not free by default. You might face some legal issues in using these images.
Please help yourself in finding a “Free” image using Google.
The content below is part of the Google Help Page concerning usage rights about the image search.
Features: Usage rights
Take advantage of the usage rights filters on the Advanced Search and Advanced Image Search pages to find web content (such as text, videos, or images) you can reuse, share, or modify.
Anyone can browse the Web, but usage rights come into play if you’re looking for content that you can take and use above and beyondfair use. Site owners can use licenses to indicate if and how content on their sites can be reused.
Find all types of reusable content using the Advanced Search page
The usage rights filter on the Advanced Search page shows you pages that are either labeled with a Creative Commons license or labeled as being in the public domain. Here are the different usage rights options available:
Free to use or share
Your results will only include pages that are either labeled as public domain or carry a license that allows you to copy or redistribute its content, as long as the content remains unchanged.
Free to use, share, or modify
Your results will only include pages that are labeled with a license that allows you to copy, modify, or redistribute in ways specified in the license.
- If you want content for commercial use, be sure to select the appropriate option containing the term commercially.
Find reusable images using Advanced Image Search
If you’re looking for reusable images, use the Advanced Image Search page. In addition to images labeled as being under the Creative Commons license or in the public domain, the usage rights filter on this page also shows you images labeled with the GNU Free Documentation license.
In the Usage Rights drop-down, select one of the following options:
Labeled for reuse
Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and/or modify the image in ways specified in the license.
Labeled for commercial reuse
Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes, in ways specified in the license.
Labeled for reuse with modification
Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and modify the image in ways specified in the license.
Labeled for commercial reuse with modification
Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes andmodify it in ways specified in the license.
If you find images with the wrong usage rights in the search results, let us know by reporting them in the help forum.
Before reusing content that you’ve found, you should verify that its license is legitimate and check the exact terms of reuse stated in the license. For example, most licenses require that you give credit to the image creator when reusing an image. Google has no way of knowing whether the license is legitimate, so we aren’t making any representation that the content is actually or lawfully licensed.
