World’s Largest Photo Service Makes Pictures “Free to Use”

Using an image on your website, articles, or social platform post can be a very effective way to capture the reader’s attention. Finding just the right image can be difficult. Finding just the right image that you have legal rights to use can be even more difficult.

Getty Images is one of the largest stock photo firms and has a vast storehouse of images that can be used in websites and publications for a fee. The company announced earlier this year that they have opened up a library of more than 35 million images for noncommercial use.

The Getty Embedded Viewer tool allows users to search the Getty library online for just the right picture. You can choose from sports events, fashion shows, stock images, and celebrity gatherings like the Oscars. It also has made available parts of its prestigious historical and vintage image archives. There are some exceptions—primarily editorial photos of events such as the September 11th terrorist attacks and the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Rules for Using Images

This move by Getty is an acknowledgment that it can no longer effectively police the use of its images across the Internet. Several agents have told us that they received demand letters from Getty because of pictures on the agency website that were not properly licensed.

The new Embedded Viewer tool allows users to cut and paste links to images on to any website. This tool is similar to the tool YouTube provides for sharing its videos. You can select three different image sizes. The image that is embedded into the website will incorporate a Getty Images logo, as well as a credit for the photographer. The company also reserves the right to add or remove images from its Embedded Viewer library at any time.

It is important to note that Getty may use this new tool to collect data on how its content is being used. Like YouTube, the company may use the code to serve advertisements in the future, allowing it to make revenue by sharing its catalog.

It is also important that you pay attention to the terms of use.

“You may only use embedded Getty Images Content for editorial purposes (meaning relating to events that are newsworthy or of public interest). Embedded Getty Images Content may not be used: (a) for any commercial purpose (for example, in advertising, promotions or merchandising).”

How to Use Images

To see whether an image is embeddable—not all are—search for an image using keywords. Once you find an image, hover your mouse over it and look for an embed symbol underneath the image that looks like this:  </>.

Click the embed symbol and a new window will open with the embed code. Select the size of the image you want to be displayed. Now simply copy and paste the code and drop it into your post’s HTML (like you would with a YouTube video or Twitter embed code) and you are done.

Properly used, the Getty images library can be an excellent resource.

What other stock photo sites have you found to be effective when searching for images to use in articles and social media post? Let me know in the Comments Section below.