Stock photography is an essential tool for small and medium businesses, creatives, and marketers who need high-quality images without the hassle and expense of custom shoots. It offers a quick and cost-effective way to meet the visual expectations of today’s consumers. Understanding how to work with free pictures for commercial use is crucial to avoiding legal issues and maintaining a professional brand image.
This guide explores the intricacies and benefits of stock photos, how they can be used commercially, and key steps to ensuring legal compliance with licensing. Read on to learn more!
Browse Depositphotos stock photo to source high-quality, professional visuals for commercial use
What exactly is Stock Photography?
Stock photography is the term for pre-shot, high-quality images that are licensed for use in various creative commercial projects, including advertisements, websites, social media, blogs, and other visual content. Usually, these pictures are taken by professional photographers and made available through special stock content marketplaces like Depositphotos.
Currently, you can find 2.3 billion stock photos on the web, including 210 million editorial images and 20 million free-to-use stock photos. Online images are available for download and purchase. However, they often come with specific licensing terms, which define how the images can be used, e.g., commercially or editorially.
Why Might Businesses Need Stock Photos?
Visual content is an important part of marketing strategy. In fact, it’s 40 times more likely to be shared on social media compared to other content types. However, it might take time and a significant budget to outsource such content creation to professional photographers, illustrators, or designers.
That’s where stock photosstep in. They can be a solid alternative to freelance professionals and allow businesses, marketers, and creators to quickly produce visual materials.
Using stock photos for commercial projects has several benefits, including:
- Cost-effectiveness.You download free-to-use stock photoswithout spending any money on them. And even if you decide to purchase stock visuals, this would usually be much cheaper than hiring a photographer for a custom shoot. That’s why it’s an affordable option for businesses of all sizes.
- Time saving. You can discover and download free commercial stock photos in a matter of minutes, saving the time it would take to plan, execute, and edit a photo shoot. This is highly beneficial in situations where you need to create content as quickly as possible.
- High quality and variety. Stock photo libraries have thousands of professionally taken images from various categories, including lifestyle, business, nature, and abstract art. This wide selection makes it easier to find specific images to match your brand’s tone or message.
- Consistency. Many stock photo sites allow you to search by style, color, or series, helping you keep visual consistency across projects. This is useful for brand-building and maintaining a uniform look of your marketing campaigns.
- Flexible licensing. Stock visuals have various licensing options, allowing you to easily pick the one that best suits your needs. Commercial licenses are designed for advertisements, websites, and marketing materials.
What Exactly is Commercial Use, and How Can Free Pictures be Used Legally?
Today, there are a plethora of platforms that offer free-to-use stock pictures. However, many of them specifically state that such visuals are intended for personal projects only, not commercial ones.
Commercial use, in turn, refers to using images or content in any project that is intended to generate profit or promote a brand, product, or service. For instance, using a stock photo in advertisements, websites, marketing materials, or product packaging is considered commercial use. So, if you want to use such visuals legally, you need to understand the type of license and restrictions associated with each image. Of course, you can encounter copyright-free stock imageson the web, but it’s essential to confirm their licensing terms to ensure they are truly unrestricted for commercial use.
Here’s how to choose commercially safe visuals and understand their licensing terms.
Choose trustworthy sources
Use well-known websites that specialize in free images for commercial use, such as Depositphotos, Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels. These sites offer images that can be used commercially, but it’s essential to review each platform’s terms, as restrictions can vary.
Check the License Type
There are several types of licenses used by stock platforms, each with different usage rights. For instance, a Royalty-Free license allows you to pay a one-time fee (or no fee if it’s free) to use the image multiple times across different projects without additional charges. Depending on the platform, you may also be required to credit the source by providing a link or mentioning the creator’s name.
Another example is the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, which lets you use, modify, and distribute images freely, even for commercial purposes, without crediting the creator. However, verifying each image’s terms on the source website is good practice, as some platforms may add specific conditions.
Non-CC0 licenses, such as the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, require you to credit the creator for commercial use by simply mentioning the creator and platform, for example, ‘Photo by [Photographer Name] on [Platform].’
Understand platform-specific terms
Although many platforms use the most widespread licenses as described above, they are still allowed to develop their own set of additional restrictions and requirements. For instance, some websites can restrict the use of images in certain ways, like using them in logos or reselling them as posters or stock visuals.
Avoid risky modifications
While stock images can often be modified, it’s important to consider their modification level. You should avoid making edits that could portray people or subjects in a potentially offensive or misleading way. Respectful, minimal modifications are usually safest with free images.
Save documentation
It’s important to save a license copy or a screenshot of the image’s terms when you download a certain visual. This can help you prove verification if any questions arise later.
To sum up
Stock photography is a great opportunity for businesses and creatives to obtain professional visuals quickly and affordably. However, to legally utilize such visuals for professional purposes, you need to understand licensing terms and choose free pictures from reputable sources for commercial use. Careful selection and responsible usage can make stock photography a powerful asset in any marketing strategy.