you do not have to use generative ai "art" in your blogs because there are websites where you can get real, nice images for free
too many people are doing a great disservice to their writing by garnishing it with generative-ai (artificial intelligence) - ethics and values aside (lol), it looks tacky and it cheapens the words around it. there are so many human-created, realistic, and beautiful images available for you to use on your blogs, websites and projects for free. the following is a list that i believe just scratches the surface of what's available out there.
- openverse is the successor to cc search by wordpress. relatedly:
- wordpress photo directory, h/t seth
- unsplash has stock images you can filter for license
photo of the jersey city skyline from liberty state park, free to download from unsplash
- pixabay has photos, illustrations and even 3d models
- pexels is like pexels, a community-contributed platform, with fun challenges!
- rawpixel is also a community providing free creative content, but they also have an editor for remixing and premium pricing for fewer limits
- openclipart is full of svgs that you can remix too
clipart of a black cat, free to download from openclipart
museums and libraries are great resources for open content, here are a few that i know of that have search engines for primarily public domain or CC0 content:
- getty open content program
- national gallery of art free images and open access
- library of congress free to use and reuse sets
auguste renoir's painting 'woman with a cat', free to download from the national gallery of art
when it comes to editing images, often what your computer comes with gets the job done. for me, personally, my imac comes with Preview which i use for resizing. for more advanced editing, i use photopea.com (a free in-browser alternative to various products like photoshop) and sometimes i'm even brave and patient enough to open up inkscape.
see, there are lots of options, and i'm sure there are even more which i'll add as you tell me. in fact, i have already published this and people immediately started giving good suggestions. here they are:
- molly white suggested wikimedia commons, a very good one! as well as
- flickr, the classic. it has a filter by license feature, and you'll find that it's referenced in a lot of free image search engines.
- picryl is a public domain collection search engine, h/t mr. hands
- clipart etc, suggested by tom macwright, has a "friendly license" allowing educators and students to use free clipart, subsidized by their pro license.
- public domain image archive is a hand-picked collection of out-of-copyright works, h/t brian jones from the public domain review
if you photograph, create illustrations or remix any of the free images available, i recommend that you contribute to the above resources as well to keep the content flowing. happy (responsible and intentional) blogging!
xoxo jenn
ps. if you have suggestions to add here, let me know on bluesky, on mastodon, or you can email [email protected]. please do not spam or try to sell me things!