Getty Images is opening up its library of more than 35 million free images! Getty’s new Embedded Viewer tool lets you search for and share Getty photos on websites, blogs, and social media.
To Use the Tool
Just click any photo’s embed icon on the search results or image detail page, and copy the embed code provided. Paste that into the source code of your website (for WordPress users this means go to the “Text” button on your post screen).
You’ll see here we grabbed a photo of the Library of Congress. If we didn’t want the embed code on it, we could also have purchased the image for $20, or more if we wanted to use it in other ways besides this blog post!
You can also use the embedded images in Facebook, Pinterest, etc. social media accounts.
Yes, there are a few rules. The images are meant for non-commercial use. That means you can’t grab ’em willy-nilly to make up ads, posters, promotions, merchandise, etc. You can BUY them for that (which is fair, eh?!) You also can’t use them for free for your actual website art/design; the images are meant for editorial use. Which isn’t to say you can’t buy them, we’re only talking about the free aspect here.
According to Time Magazine’s report on the breaking news, “The move is meant to address widespread online photo theft, where people copy pictures without paying for them. While Getty’s new system doesn’t allow you to download pictures, it provides internet users with an easy way to share them.”
What’s the Catch?
Not every Getty image can be embedded — only 35,000,000 of the 80,000,000 images in Getty’s archive. And, while Getty made the move to stop flagrant piracy, some photographers aren’t pleased, even if the access does link back to Getty and more info about the photo.
So, tell us what you think! Will this be useful to dress up your own blog? And, as an author artist, should people have free access to your words just because they’re on the ‘net? This move is sure to spark some controversy!
Hi Shari,
Thanks for sharing this amazing news. I’m glad to see Getty loosening up a bit, but I’m still nervous about using their images for free based on their history of going after offenders.
Like David, I’m not clear on the instances which they consider commercial. I’ll have to read their guidelines,but for now I feel safer buying images, especially since I may want to use an image for a book cover or as a poster on pinterest.
And you absolutely must buy an image if using for a cover, etc… Here’s the difference: As you’ll see from our blog post with the image in it (and again on today’s post so I could show folks examples) you’re not grabbing the image from the site — you’re grabbing the CODE – the embedded image – that includes that snippet you see of Getty’s name and the share buttons just under the photo.
You wouldn’t/couldn’t use that (obviously) on a book cover or poster – it DOES let you share it on Pinterest, etc… the code will still appear. If you liked that image, you could also choose to buy it in the size you needed, for the price they asked, and only THEN would you get the high-res image w/out those snippets of code…
Hope that helps and it confused me a bit, too ’til I messed with it and realized what they were doing. A smart move on their part, and still nice for us if we’re looking for a photo of Miley’s latest antics, ha ha! Write on…
You and your team do some amazing research! It would have taken me forever to even find Getty. So thank you for that. We’ll give it a try and let you know how it is. Good to have another option for images (my family was getting tired of me taking pictures of them). Ha-ha.
Aw, thanks Deb! The other one I like is freedigitalphotos.net – have at ’em!!!
Great to know. Many thanks.
You’re welcome, Pattie – lots of great pics there!
I’m glad to see Getty’s solution, but I’m not clear on what constitutes “Commercial Use”. Does putting these images on a COMPANY blog count as editorial or commercial? What if I include them in an email newsletter from my company? Is the rule “Editorial” if used to support content? Or it is “Commercial if it comes from a Company”??
No, they accept that it’ll be used in newsletters/blogs/social media postings of related content, etc. What they mean by “commercial” is you can’t use one of their free images to build an ad, or use it as, for example, the background art of your site, or on a poster, etc. Because they don’t just want you scraping the images – they’re imbedded, meaning they come with that bit of snippet you’ll see on our site (and many others now!) that credits Getty Images, links the image back to their website, allows you to share on Twitter, etc. as a “Getty Image”… Does that help?