Best Practices in Instructional Design & Use of Learning Technologies

How do I find a free stock photo?

 

The Ultimate Free Stock Photo Search Tool ad-don for firefox (now also available for chrome) helps you to find any image you need for free. It has access to search over 200 free image sites, and in total helps you get quick and easy access to about half a billion images (yes, that’s billion with a B). The rest of this article discusses the reasons for, uses of and issues surrounding the use of free stock images for your project. If you just want to download it click the big logo and download the free stock photo search addon from mozilla addons or chrome extension gallery.

 

What exactly is a ‘free’ stock photo?

 

There are generally considered to be two types of ‘free’ on the internet, most often the distinction is found made by open-source projects and is commonly analogised by the following:

 

Free as in Beer Free as in Speech

This difference is known as Gratis versus Libre: If someone gave you free beer (Gratis), you would have the right to drink it, ie. to ‘use’ it, but not the right to setup a competing brewery producing that same beverage. By comparison free speech (Libre) is the fundamental freedom to share ideas or knowledge gained, so you can do pretty-much anything you like with it...

Via Martin Gysler

I love hiking and mountains, and fortunately, Oregon is one of the best places to experience both!

But sometimes, I truly wish I lived in Kansas. This sentiment was especially strong last weekend when my husband suggested we hike up Salmon Butte, which involved a 12-mile, 3,000-foot trek near Mt. Hood Oregon. I’m slow and steady on the trail, with 7-8 mile jaunts comfortably within my “do-able” zone, but this trip posed a new challenge – it was the longest and most elevation gain hike I’ve ever attempted.

 

Add on the fact that there was going to be snow involved at some point at the higher elevations, and I knew this was going to be one of those experiences that really tested who I am as a person.

 

We set out on a cold and frosty morning, spurred on by weather reports that at higher altitudes, the weather was clear and we would be guaranteed great views–provided that we made it to the top of Salmon Butte...

Via Martin Gysler