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Photography Culture

The Most Ethical Place to Get Free Photography for Your Needs

Chris Gampat
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08/07/2021
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Mitakon 50mm f0.95 Review product images 1.81-200s200 3

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This article isn’t for photographers: it’s for the people who want images and end up ripping off photographers. They know it’s wrong; they know they’re using images without consent or permission. Should photographers be paid? Yes. Absolutely. I think it’s essential for photographers to make money and support their families the same way someone doing business does. Consistently ripping off photographers isn’t the key. And there’s a huge difference between fair use and commercial use. Here are the most ethical places to get free photography.

First Off, Try Shooting Your Own Photos or Hire a Photographer

You probably need images to promote your product. So honestly, hire a photographer. Do a bunch of looks, and invest in yourself. When I say hire you can flat out, you know, just pay them, or you can make a fair trade if possible. Once you’ve paid for the images, you can recycle them as much as you need to. Of course, you’re paying in this case.

First and foremost, I will always recommend paying a photographer. Lots of our staff are paid photographers, and I’m a former professional. Trust me, not just anyone can do what they do. It’s not about the camera. These days, there’s a lot of work involved with photography. We can tell when images posted on Etsy, Instagram, or Amazon, are awfully photoshopped. You pay for what you get. 

The Flickr Creative Commons

Photo by Jordan Antunes

By far, the best thing to do is to search the Flickr Creative Commons. It is probably the largest and most ethical database of free photography on the web. Whatever you do, do not use Unsplash, Pexels, or similar services. They more or less make new photographers feel like their images aren’t going to go anywhere and trick them into giving away their work for free.

So what’s different about the Flickr Creative Commons? Awful people (like a few I used to know on the board of American Photographic Artists NY, unfortunately) will say Unsplash is fine. They’ll argue that photographers uploading to Unsplash will totally understand it, but they’re wrong. How many times have you ever read the terms and conditions? Probably never. What is different about Flickr is photographers upload images and then specifically set them to be Creative Commons or something else. Photographers also specifically set the type of usage that’s allowed.

You, as someone looking for free photography, should look for photos for commercial usage.

Behance

Behance is owned by Adobe and is also a fantastic place for free photography. Lots of the photos there are under Creative Commons usage. And we’ve featured plenty of photographers using those rights. (These days though, we reach out and do full interviews.) But on Behance, you can also reach out to artists (not just photographers) and ask to collaborate. If you really want to use the images, you can ask. 

Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated

In the end, just remember that photographers are business people and artists too. The best thing to do in life is to treat others the way you want to be treated. That applies to being a business owner or an employee. The more people you step on, the worse it will become for you.

behance Cameras ethics flickr free images free photography images Photography Unsplash
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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