Tip for Adding Images to Your Blog Entries

The oldest known photograph in the world was taken by Nicéphore Niépce in 1825.

I’m not normally one to give blogging tips because I’m still a newbie blogger and don’t really know what I’m doing, but I have figured one thing out that has been really helpful for me. Maybe you’re all already doing this, and if you are, please let me live in my delusional world thinking I’m clever to figure out this little cheat.

I like to include pictures with most of my posts, but sometimes I don’t have or can’t take a photo of what I want to go with the post. In that case, Wikipedia has been a wonderful resource for copy write-free, open source pictures. And because Wikipedia has entries on just about everything, chances are, you can find a picture of what you need without violating any intellectual property laws.

Of course there’s a catch, and that is that most of the people who post the pictures on Wikipedia entries (i.e. the people who own that image) specify that the picture be used for non-commercial purposes only. So if you make money off your blog through advertisements, sponsors, etc. you probably would still have to get permission from the artist to use the image.

To make sure you’re not infringing on anyone’s rights, when you click on the image you want, it will enlarge it. Below the image there’s a summary with a description, date, artist information and permissions. The permissions will tell you where and how you can use it in plain language. For most of them, you’re able to use them willy-nilly for non-commercial purposes or you may be asked to credit the source. Either way though, it’s not a big deal.

Nearly un-fettered access to millions of pictures to use on my blog works for me.