Article: Raiders of the Lost Photo Clip Art
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They're
not Indiana Jones, but they may as well be: simpering, bleary eyed webmasters
on a budget wearing themselves out on their hunt for free photo clip
art. At times, the very idea of free photo clip art seems like some
pipe dream. But believe it or not, it isn't. Don't believe me? Then check
out this article and learn where you can find perfectly legal free photo
clip art for the taking with no strings attached.
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NO-- IT'S NOT JUST A DREAM!
People have a hard time believing it, but it's true: there is perfectly
free, high quality photo clip art on the net to use. By the time
you'll have finished reading this article, you will have found enough free,
high quality photo art to choke a horse. And no, you won't be misled on
wild goose chases, only to be sent to Clip-art.com or some other irritating
site, and no, you won't be asked to go to "Google Image Search."
The photo clip art is out there. You just have to know where to look.
MICROSOFT CLIP ART
For instance, let's take Microsoft Office Clip Art and Media, formerly
Design
Gallery Live. Who knows why, but this site-- which offers hundreds of
high quality photos to the public-- constantly goes unnoticed or is
dismissed. Maybe it's because of people's undying hatred and avoidance
of all things Micro$oft. Maybe it's because people are intimidated by how
to download the clip art (by using Clip Art Gallery).
But for whatever reason they or you are avoiding the site or writing it off, don't. You are missing out on completely royalty free, no strings attached clip art available for both personal and commercial use. This is some pretty snazzy stuff, folks, as close to Comstock as you're gonna get, and has some incredible business and finance-related photo images. Okay, so what if you hate Micro$oft? Remember... it's free high quality photos at this site or $45 for one picture at a pay site!
ULEAD
And then there's that funny, little download at Ulead the one no one seems to know about, yet sits there like some buried treasure at the bottom of a long buried Egyptian tomb. Awhile ago, Ulead (maker of Photo Impact, among other things) offered up a huge freebie-- 769 pieces of mostly travel-related snapshots. It's still there.Now a few caveats before you hop, skip, and jump to the site. 1) The photographs are smaller than you might like (384x256); 2) it's a huge download (20MB); 3) the pieces are numbered (not named) and completely uncategorized. However, slight problems aside, there are some genuinely wonderful pieces in there for you to play with and use for your pet projects.
NSDDC/ NOAA
Next
up are government sites. Looking for some great environmental and
space related photographs? The NOAA
and NSDDC
are two sites that offer up scores of photographs from their library archives.
Aside from scenic and animal photographs, the NOAA has a terrific
section of scanned pages from old engravings. NSDDC has classic
astronomy pics, including the famous one of the planet earth, as seen from
the moon. These images are completely free to use. However, you have to
give credit to the original photographer where noted.
