Images are an important part of your graphic design business. You may create original images, take your own photographs, or create illustrations to use in your work. But you will always have the need to obtain fresh, new images for projects from other sources.

One important thing to remember – be sure you understand your image rights!

There are online resources that offer

(1) free images but with restricted usage,

(2) purchased images (but still with restrictions), and

(3) purchased images or photos with broad or unlimited usage.

Be sure to carefully read the licensing agreements and terms of use for all images you obtain. The last thing you want to do is lose credibility by using images inappropriately or illegally.

Restricted use of images?

Another useful tip – rights are usually different on postcards and templates than they are on book covers, brochures, or for other uses. The reason is based on the fact that images that are used on postcards are the primary content of the card. This is actually considered “reselling” the image when the image is the bulk of the product itself.

So exercise caution when creating this type of promotional piece with purchased images and don't misuse images.

When you use these same images for books, book covers, brochures, and other communications collateral, then it is not the bulk of the content and you can usually use the image. It is critical that you understand the rights you have from what you have obtained free or what you have purchased - before you reuse the image.

Free or purchased images?

There are many websites that offer free images and many more that sell images. Depending on what you are looking for, these are great resources. Free images are usually not the high quality image you are seeking for your design work. You also have to be very cautious of their copyright laws.

You can purchase images and stock photography from computer stores or you can purchase credits from websites that allow you to use the images and photographs for a multitude of purposes. Once you purchase images or photos, you usually have broad or unlimited usage for your future designs.

Check out istockphoto.com as an example of an excellent website that sells images and photos for unlimited usage. This website is one of the most highly valued resources for images by graphic designers. It includes a wide variety of images in a multitude of areas.

Vector images (illustrations)

You can also purchase vector images that allow you to alter them in any way needed for your design work. Vector images are illustrations and are typically high quality images, whether you're creating thumbnails or poster size images. You will always get high quality images with extreme clarity when using vector images.

Establish an image library

You'll find sites that appeal the most to you based on your type of graphic design work and you'll definitely want to bookmark them and use them often. Having a variety of websites from which you can secure photos and images is a good idea to ensure variety and interest.

Downloading an initial variety of images to create your personal file of images is advised. This will ensure that you have some stock images and photos to start with, and you can build on this image library as you grow your business.

Part of your business set-up process should include establishing a folder for all of your online resources for images and organizing them for future use. This will save you many hours of time when you get really busy with new clients in the future.

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