Favorite sources for free and cheap images
July 21, 2008
A caveat right off the bat: If you want great photography that perfectly illustrates your website or publication, you should expect to pay for it. I'm not trying to run photographers out of business -- it's a profession that doesn't get the respect it deserves, IMHO.
But that said, sometimes you don't have something specific to illustrate. Or you don't have a budget. Or you need something random/generic that likely already exists.
So what do you do?
In most cases, if you're a commercial enterprise, you purchase some stock art. Stock art is a lot less expensive than setting up a photo shoot, and it suits well for many purposes.
What if you LITERALLY have no budget?
Well, that's when you have to get creative. Despite a still-common belief to the contrary, images you see online are NOT free for the taking. Unless you're notified otherwise, you should assume that any image you see on a website is owned by someone. And they'll either have to grant you permission to use it for free, or they can charge you to do so.
Here are three choices to consider for finding great free images:
- Take the photo yourself. This is simpler than ever, with point-and-shoot digital cameras creating great images at a low price. If you have a digital SLR and know how to use it, even better. Follow these tips for a great photo.
- Check Flickr. Whatever you want a picture of, rest assured, it's already on Flickr. The pages for individual images on Flickr will display the rights available for the image, so that's helpful. Even more helpful: Search images available for use, if you attribute the photo, from this URL: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-2.0/. Be sure you're properly attributing any image you find on Flickr, of course!
- Try Stock Exchange. Created specifically for photographers to share their work for free, Stock Exchange is another great resource. As always, make sure you're meeting the requirements of the photographer before using a shot.
Quick pic from the wedding
July 1, 2008
From left to right: My new husband, Ashby Barnes; me; my son Jake; my mom Nancy Creekmore; my daughter Ellis Aaron; and my dad Larry Creekmore.
My name and all contact info remain the same.
Out til July 1
June 25, 2008
I'm out of the office until July 1. For once, I won't be checking email or voice mail the whole time I'm gone -- I'm getting married!
I'll be back on Tuesday and I'll share a photo from the fun event.
In the meantime, please contact someone else on your Hammock team for immediate help.
Planning Content for a Blog
June 17, 2008
Blog applications allow us to share our thoughts in a particular style -- with conventions like:
- Reverse-chronological entries
- Comments from readers
- Tags and/or categories
- Archives
These conventions make blogs different from previous forms of writing. Yet, many aspects of blogging are similar to other writing that we might do. And I'll highlight one here: Good planning results in good writing.
You can probably tell through my sporadic posting on this page that I haven't been planning what to put here. So far, I haven't intended for this page to serve a particular function for me or for Hammock. But when you have a goal in mind, laying out the steps will help ensure your success.
We've been creating editorial calendars here at Hammock as long as we've been in existence. Printed publications demand lots of advance planning, and the longer the edit well in a particular book, the more planning you must do.
When I first started blogging regularly in 2005, it was difficult for me to think of something to write about regularly. The more you blog, the better you get at spotting topics all around you.
But I also found that one key to regular posting is to plan your blog.
Tips for Planning Blog Content
- Sit down and think about it. Seems obvious, but it's not. Blogging allows you to write on the spur of the moment, but don't just write that way. Think about what your blog is saying, and write down your goals.
- List any regular features. The crutch of any recurring publication, regular features let you provide helpful information in a restricted format -- which makes it easier for you to figure out what goes there.
- List events or irregular topics you can count on. If you blog about your business, there are likely events or topics that come up the same time every year -- industry conferences, research, tax season. If your blog is personal, you'll choose different topics, of course.
- Keep your eyes open. Regular bloggers start to think about the world in terms of how they can express it on their blogs.
Photoshop Express Mini-Review
May 16, 2008
I'm just now getting around to really playing with Photoshop Express, but I'm already a fan.
Let me qualify my statements by saying -- I've used Photoshop daily for about 12 years, and I use about 10 menu items with any regularity. I learn new things all the time, but I basically know how to do what I need to do, and that's it. I need something a little more than a basic image editor, but I rarely scratch the surface of the massive arsenal that Photoshop provides.
I used to have a copy of Photoshop Elements on my home computer, but over time, its updates overwhelmed my several-year-old Mac, and it took more than 15 minutes to start up, if it didn't freeze the computer. So I got rid of it. Magically, right about the time iPhoto came out.
iPhoto offers limited photo editing capabilities, but with easy access to Photoshop, I've used it more for cataloging my photos and making those fun photo books and Christmas cards.
Oh, and--I'm a huge fan of Skitch. I use this almost daily now, as well -- it's great for marking up photos and screen grabs to share comments back and forth. Lots faster than cracking open Photoshop for the same thing.
With at least three photo editing tools at my disposal, do I really need a new one?
Photoshop Express is going to make the cut.
It's easy and quick to add photos, and the editing is intuitive for someone who's used any image editor before. And fear not--if you're a novice, they're providing some really great Photoshop Express tutorial screencasts that take you step by step through any editing job.
See how the red pops out?
Even the basic editing tools are great. I can see a lot of bloggers using this, and I would think it's a great, helpful program for anyone who just needs to crop and downsize an image to email it to a friend.
Downsides: Express is slower than I wish it were, even on my massive broadband connection at work. It does require Flash, which may still be a downside for some users.
And here's my big one...that will keep me using Photoshop. You can't size images to any size you want. When you share an image, you're given three options on size, all proportionate to the original. Need to crop to exactly 300x420 pixels, 72 resolution? Crack that Photoshop back open, my friend.
Staying Tied to the Outside World
May 5, 2008
The older I get, the more I want to stay connected to the rhythm of the earth around me. In many ways, this feels like a return to childhood. I remember being 5 years old, lying in bed, angry at my mother -- because it was mid-summer and still light out. I could hear the older children on my street playing outside, but my early bedtime meant I was supposed to be going to sleep. I felt out of rhythm.
When I was a student, especially in college, there was no escaping the natural world in my day-to-day life. I was in the weather every day, walking to class, to meetings, to the college newspaper office where I spent most of my free time. My schedule was based on the time of year -- certain classes in the spring, different ones in the fall, a break in summer and another in winter.
For almost 14 years now, though, I've worked in an 11-story office building. My work is sometimes cyclical, but never seasonal. I sit by a huge window, but it doesn't open to the outside. I park under a carport at home, and in an underground garage at work. Maybe I need a jacket during part of the year, but my daily life has little to do with the natural world.
But even as I feel more disconnected from the outside world, I've felt the need to purposefully re-create some of those ties. I think it helps me function better as a human being. Here are some of the ways I'm trying to do that:
- Eating seasonally -- Enjoying the fresh fruits and vegetables of the season
- Getting outside -- With a busy family that needs shuttling around, I can't do this as much as I'd like. Even in the winter, I think it's important to spend some time outside each day. And especially this time of year, when it's so beautiful!
- Gardening -- I live right smack in the middle of the city, and my back yard is pretty small. Still, I find that even small-scale gardening ties you inextricably to the rhythms of the season.
Out of the office
April 30, 2008
I'm out of the office Thursday, May 1 and Friday, May 2. I won't be checking voicemail, and likely won't have much time for email -- my sister is getting married! Please let another Hammock staff member know how they can help you in my absence. See you Monday, May 5!
Culling the Email Inbox
March 26, 2008
I'm going to admit right up front that I'm a recovering email overflow junkie. And I'm therefore one of the most rigid people you'll meet about email management. I'm not perfect, but I'm striving every day.
[Current inbox count: 37.]
I used to let nearly 2,000 emails pile up in my inbox. And I know why that was so easy -- a quick search shows that over the past month, I've sent and received more than 2,300 emails. Wow. In the scheme of things, 1,800 or so messages in my inbox wasn't that much.
And yet.
When I'm sorting through nearly 2,000 messages, it's so easy to forget that one important item. So -- after a lot of false starts -- I cleaned up my act, and now, I [mostly] use my email inbox as a place to see messages coming in -- but NOT as my to-do list.
So I have to say, I do still take some perverse pleasure from reading about people who are still stuck in email hell.
Back at work!
March 11, 2008
I'm back from SXSW....what a great conference! I say every time I go that it's just like drinking from the firehose, cliche though that may be. You walk in the door of the Austin Convention Center and you are so overwhelmed. Adding to that feeling the past two years: The conference has -- I heard -- doubled in size in both 2007 and 2008. Thousands and thousands of web people all in one place at one time.
I've got my conference notes in our SXSW blog. I also attended a panel moderated by uber-connected Guy Kawasaki, but I found it hard to take notes on it. Billed as "True Stories from Social Media," the panel brought together six people who have diverse experience building, selling, using and running social media sites. It really was fascinating.
I'm at SXSW
March 8, 2008
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