Adding Photographs to Articles

Using your own photographs is a great option.  You should have all of the rights to use them.  If you do not create a photograph, make certain it is in public domain.  That alone is insufficient.  Some images are in public domain for a limited use, such as for educational purposes.  Make certain you conform to the limitations placed on usage. 

Just because it is on the web does not make it public domain.

Some photographs are available providing a fee is paid.  If so, you should find another source of images.

Remember, you are dealing with copyright issues, and different countries within the reach of your article may differ in the pertinent laws.

If a stranger is in your image, ask yourself if the person is identifiable.  If so, it is best not to use the image.  The same is true for vehicles.  I recommend not showing a license plate in an image.

A high resolution camera may produce high quality images.  But, the more pixels in an image, the longer it takes to upload.  Readers are often impatient.  If an article takes too long uploading the audience shrinks because people move on before reading the first word.  Then, the beautiful images do more harm than good.  It is most important to bring the reader in to the article.  Does this mean you cannot use that high resolution image?  No, but resize it to a reasonable number of pixels.

Also, limit the number of photographs.  Too many images slow uploads.

Some sites require square images.  Crop the image if necessary.  Of course cropping an image should never compromise the subject matter.  If there is an important element of the image, it should remain.

I find using Paint easy to work with for cropping and resizing.

Do not take the attitude the reader could buy a better internet service, or a better computer.  Older computers are often slower, and some services offer less speed.  You want the reader to come to your site.  It is incumbent upon you to make things better for the reader.

(The introduction photograph is my own, and was cropped to be square, and resized to 500 by 500 pixels using Paint.)

An affiliate image can help sell a product while enhancing an article.  This is especially true of Zazzle, but any affiliate image can do the job.  I have occasionally made new Zazzle products from images that I plan to use on an article, then uploaded a product with that image.  What is nice is Zazzle allows you to promote products from others even if you do not own the image.

Keep your articles legal, avoid slowing your readers uploads, and enhance your revenue.

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