Hey guys, i am currently adding images to my tutorials as they look rather bland and i was wanting to make sure if it is ok to take an image from google images and put it on my own website? Thanks Will.
No, it is not ok. It is copyright infringement to use any picture or illustration without permission.
So how would i go about adding images to my own website, as i cannot make every single image? I would not know where to start firstly. Do i need to edit each image so that it is my own work?
Go to Flickr and search for images with Creative Commons license: This is the search form: http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/ Check Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content" at the bottom of the form. You don't have to buy those image, you can use them commercially and you can modify some of them. Just make sure to clearly attribute who's the author.
The golden rule is "Assume everything is copyrighted unless it's explicitly stated otherwise" Try using http://www.sxc.hu for royalty-free photos.
There are also several places where you can buy images very inexpensively. I spent a lot of time looking for free images for a personal website and then found that after all the hours I spent looking for the "right" images, I was able to buy non-exclusive rights to several photos for less than $10, total.
SXC.hu is a great site and you can also try www.istockphoto.com or www.dreamstime.com Dreamstime.com is my current favorite and it is safer to invest in your own stock photos than risking copyright issues. When you are using Flckr I recommend trying to contact the owner of the photos before using them just to cover yourself. There are some people on Flckr that upload photos to their accounts that they do not own and then make them available for Creative Commons use
I wouldn't. In agreement with RandomWoman, SXC.hu is my favorite site for stock images. Most are in the public domain or have very liberal user rights. Good luck. -User