What about your pictures?

Where do you get all those beautiful photos? we have been asked frequently.  It is often not easy for (fashion) bloggers to obtain copyright-free photos. We have some tips & tricks for you.

Our own pictures and archive
More than half of our photos are in our own possession. This is mainly because Marga van der Vet is a 50+ model and has been doing TFP shoots for years. TFP shoots are  so called 'free' photoshoots. As a model, you make agreements with the photographer about the usage-rights of the pictures. This applies to both parties and always in consultation.

There are also many pictures on the website taken by ourselves.  This is actually the best thing you can do for blogs and websites: use your own pictures which are unique and cannot be found anywhere else on the Internet. Google loves this and rewards its efforts by indexing the website higher.

The latter is important because a website likes to be found and people rarely look further than two pages back on Google.

Just kidding: where is the best place to hide a corpse? On the third page of Google, no one will notice...

Common creatives
If you are looking for pictures (IMAGES) on Google, you can click under settings (small letters under the bar) our ADVANCED SEARCH at the very bottom of the USAGE RIGHTS category:

• All
  
• Creative Commons licenses
  
• Commercial Commons licenses
  

Creative Commons licenses means  you can use and even edit the photos. See the website for a more detailed explanation of the symbols that indicate how these copyrights work.

We also share many of our photos under Common Creatives. As long as they are not used commercially, we don't mind sharing photos.

Free picture-databases
We also often use databases with free photos. We really like Pixabay, Pexels, Unplash and PicJumbo for searching and finding beautiful pictures to download. There are of course many more free databases, but the above websites are our favorites. If you need a picture for commercial use, please read the conditions carefully. Sometimes it is better to buy a picture, or the copyrights of a pictures, to avoid problems.

Sewing patterns and book covers
For sewing patterns and book covers, you may use these if they serve to support a review or review. We cannot legally substantiate this, but we assume  it is permitted. If you want to know more about this, take a look some lawer's website and search on Google under the copyright to use pictures for your website or blog.

It is often argued that it is wise to contact the owner of the photos. We often do this ourselves when it comes to new products such as the blog: LOOOP, the new recycling system from H&M and Mylo, the new Vegan leather. Companies often have a press package with photos that may be used and informative additional information.

Summarized:
Finding beautiful (copyright free) pictures for a website or blog is always difficult. You would like to support your blog with accompanying pictures and make it visually appealing, but you should be careful not to just use all the photos that come across by on the Internet.

Fortunately, there are pictures that you can use; free photo databases, Common Creatives and there are pictures you can request by the owner and use for informative blogs.

But the very best is to use your own unique photos. They don't have to be fantastic pictures, because especially in the sewing world, pictures are often appreciated which are loud & clear or just good visual information.