How to Find Stock Images!

How to Find and Credit Stock

I know that most people do know great places to find stock and how to credit it, but I still feel like this is a topic that should be addressed, as we're always getting new users. And hey, even the experienced artists and manipulators could use a refresher!

Having your own personalized pictures is a privilege that our players are able to have as long as they are properly crediting the original owners or photographers of said pictures being manipulated. It is understood that all things on the pictures must be identified, ex: where the horse came from, where the background came from, etc, etc. Failure to do so could put the whole site at risk to lose these rights.

Finding Stock
To start with, there are a lot of pictures to find on the internet, but the majority of them are copyrighted. This means you CANNOT use them without EXPRESS, WRITTEN permission of the owner. Now, you can certainly go to the trouble, but why do so when there's a whole world of images you can use for whatever purpose you want as long as you credit the photographer!? In this post I'll list some websites you can go to to find good stock images as well as tell you about the places you shouldn't be looking.

One of my favorite places to go "stock hunting" is on www.deviantart.com. There are literally thousands of people here with accounts full of images just to use as stock! But here comes the tricky part, searching for it! Not just any photo is stock, you know! The first thing you'll want to do is type what you're searching for in the search bar! So, I'm going to look for "chestnut horse stock." First, though, I want to get to the right section, the stock images section! DeviantArt is pretty easy to narrow down, before typing in your search item, go to the left side of the screen and about halfway down the "Category" list is "Resources & Stock Images". You'll notice that the page changes, right? That's a good thing! Now, go back to the "Category" list on the left. It's a little different too! The 5th link from the bottom will be "Stock Images" click on that! Now, finally, you're ready to type in that tempting little search bar! Now you've got a whole host of images in front of you that are "stock". But wait! Make sure you check the photographers "stock rules." You MUST be able to use them off-site (as in off deviantArt). If it says that, then go ahead and use it! Most dA providers like you to go ahead and make an account for yourself there. It is alot easier to upload your images this way and let them know that you've used it :)

Some other good sites that are all stock images are www.sxc.hu and www.morguefile.com

Crediting Your Image
Crediting your image is the key here. The credit must be readable and informative. That means you shouldn't have to pull out a magnifying glass to see them well! Here is an example of proper credits. You'll notice that they list the artist's website, not just the name, and not just "deviantart.com". The whole address; "larfsalot.deviantart.com". You can go this route or you can say "larfsalot @ deviantArt". You'll also see that you can READ them. They're big enough, and they don't detract from the image in any way (an issue some people have with making their credits readable; they don't want it to look ugly). Just remember that it IS possible to make your credits both readable and subtle at the same time.

Hope this has helped some people! Also, if any other members have good stock advice feel free to share it here!


Last edited on 2018-01-12 at 10:05:34 by Sabriel

A big issue that I see is contradictory rules. Some stock providers will have on old stock that it's acceptable to use off site/on sims/with animals/etc. However, their journals will say otherwise.

So, it's always good to check for journals that might supersede the rules on stock images.

I also wanted to provide a friendly reminder of our Terms and Conditions regarding images that don't belong to you (ie. not stock images, things you found on an internet search, etc.)

Copyright Infringement
1. We have a zero-tolerance policy with regards to copyright infringement. If a member does not own a piece of work that they are posting, or otherwise does not have the correct permissions to use the piece of work, they should not use it anywhere on the game. If a member uses a piece of work on the game with permission, it must have references or citations explaining where it is from. "Piece of work" refers to any photographs, artworks, literary works, etc.
If you just found an image on Google or somewhere else on the web and it is not a stock image, you are not allowed to use it whether by itself or edited. If you get permission from the owner to use it, you must annotate on the image where you got it from.

2. Works that state clearly they do not require references ON the work itself should still be referenced somewhere public alongside the work, whether it's in a topic selling the modified work, or similar.
All pieces of art (manipulations, large art, characters, tags, etc.) need credits to the rightful owners of any stock used unless the stock artist doesn't require on-image crediting (though it's still a nice gesture). Tags, generally, should always have proper credit on them.

3. Equiverse will not be held responsible for any user content that infringes copyright; however we will do our utmost to aid any persons who contact us with a complaint about the copyright infringement of their work. Members are expected to respect these terms.

If and when found, any images violating these terms will be promptly removed and the player notified. This is to protect both the site and staff as well as the players from legal trouble from the original owners of copyright images and works.

@Kuk

In the case of contradiction on the stock artists' pages themselves, you can go with whatever is the most up to date set of rules or simply send them a message to ask about which one you should follow.

Oh, I know about that. I'm more meaning for others. Contradictory rules is something that I see people get hit for, a lot on other games.

I just wanted to say that since this posting sxc.hu has since become freeimages.com

They have the same TOS for images but some are now paid.





Their Terms of Use

How to credit Artists from here
1. Keep the image Number (will save with the photo name)
- For example I recently used this image: click in a manip, the number is 1557910
-Keeping the number allows you a direct search back to the image quicker than adding a bookmark for it
2. Credit the photographers name
- The photographer whom I used above, is "Henrique Schaefer"
- He uses their Content License
3. They Request Attribution. (below from their website)
-You do not need to include a photo credit for commercial use, but if you are using content for editorial purposes, you must include the following credit adjacent to the content or in audio/visual production credits: “FreeImages.com/Artist’s Member Name.”
4. So the credit I used: Henrique Schaefer // freeimages.com #1557910

Please double check their usage license with EACH image you intend to use, not every image has the same license, not every image has the same rules. If in doubt ask the photographer! Usually you will get a very kind response within a day or two!

Another great free stock site is pexels.com it's all stock and 100% free, and has wonderful image quality!