Images now "free" from Getty Images?

Getty Images has announced a new way of using their photos. (article here:  https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26463886) They have taken the “youtube” approach and are now letting web developers embed certain images for sale on their website on websites around the world.  What does this mean for you?

This does not mean you now have a ton of free images for your site that look great!

Let’s not get too excited.  Almost every image I purchase for a client needs to be cropped to fit into the space allotted so the site looks great.  If you notice in this article, Getty is not letting you crop the images (Excerpt from article below):

 Images cannot be resized and they will all incorporate a Getty Images logo, as well as a credit for the photographer.

So when might this be a good idea?

Maybe for your blog posts.  Those are quick news items and for the most part, don’t need a specially sized photo.

When won’t this work?

When we create websites for our clients, we use images to enhance the site and make a visually appealing site as well as adding meaning to the content. We do this by adding a horizontal thin slider on the home page, header images which are also horizontal and thin, vertical images in sidebars and on pages which are tall and thin, etc.  Rarely ever do we use an image from Getty or some other stock photography site without cropping it.

So while this news is exciting for all those except photographers, it is really not that meaningful in the web world for your static page.  If you are blogging a lot, have a small jump for joy! Otherwise, we will continue to purchase photos and support photographers around the world!

For more details on the new embed feature from Getty Images, you may reference this page here.