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  • Free Getty Images Now Available
Technology Articles > Software > Audio & Multimedia > Free Getty Images Now Available

If there’s one spot on the Internet that you don’t want to take an image from, it’s Getty Images. This company has been known to sue the smallest offenders for copyright infringement. It’s also where serious photographers go to sell photographs to the highest bidder.

So, when Getty Images announced that the company would be making most images available for free, photographers staged a protest.

Why would Getty make such a drastic change? The company has to keep up with other images sites that aren’t charging lots of cash for photos.

Getty Embed Images

Getty’s new embedded images are easy to embed in any blog or on any social network. All you have to do is click on the image you want to use, select the code, and paste the image. You can’t use any of the images for commercial purposes, but you can slap as many photos on your blog or social media page as you like.

There’s motivation behind this move, too. Sure, Getty has to compete with other photo sites, but the company has also been in talks with a few commercially minded startups like Kiosked – a company that will turn any image into an ad. Picture this: you choose to embed an image from Getty, copy and paste the company’s code, and your image suddenly becomes an ad. How? Like that photo of a lush apple?

The photo may soon lead clickers directly to a Whole Foods page, for example. Getty hasn’t implemented these features yet, but the idea is simple enough.

The Code Story

Here’s the thing about copying and pasting another company’s code: you never know what that code might do. If you are going to use Getty’s embedded images (or any other code from any other site), make sure to read the fine print. You aren’t getting images for free for nothing. It’s not necessarily bad, though. You do get to use some of the best images on the web for free, and that’s positive.

Just be aware that the images do come with a code that you do have to place on your website (and stick to the embedded images section only – the other images are still not available for free).

Remember to choose images that directly relate to what you’re writing about, if you plan to post these pictures on your blog. This way, any future advertising endeavours by Getty will also pertain to what your blog is all about, hopefully. You can’t make any money off of these images, either, and that’s something to keep in mind.

Getty might eventually link one of the images that you embed to a company, but you won’t get any dollars for those ads. So, it’s a toss-up. If you want free images, expect to provide Getty with free advertising on your site. If you want to pay, cough up the money and pay to have an image that you can keep control over. See how that works?

Needless to say, Getty photographers now finding images in the embed section aren’t happy about this arrangement at all. But, the other option is to find another site to showcase your photos.