Use any image off the Web and make it Unique

Hey there guys,

Lately I have been putting a few websites together and to make them look better not only visually but for SEO purposes you need at least one image per post/page. There are a bunch of resources such as Shutterstock, iStock etc.. but we all know that they charge a shit ton of money for a few images. I am not saying they are wrong but when you're working on a tight budget paying for images just seems .. you know what!

I'm sure there are others who have been in the same position as me. The easiest way is to go on google images and change the settings to where you can download pictures that are free to use. But we all know that returns shitty search results with hardly anything worthy. So pretty much the only resort is to leech pictures from other websites. I mean there are many websites using the same stock photos so if you were to just leech some then who gives a shit?

I use two methods to make my images unique. Maybe they've been discussed here before but I just recently learned them and I am sure this post will at least prove to be helpful to other newbies like me.

1. Clean the Metadata
Download the image off google images and clean it up. By cleaning it up I mean clear the metadata. Metadata is basically info on the type of camera used to take the image and some other details ( keywords, tags etc..) that might be added by whoever uploaded that image.

I use this website http://www.verexif.com/en/ It's free and gets the job done within a few seconds. You can actually view the metadata before you erase it. Pretty cool!

Clean up the image, if the image has no metadata then it means that the uploader did not put anything on it this doesn't mean that you're done you still have to make your image unique.

2. Resize and apply effects
Go to http://picresize.com ( again a free resource ) and upload your image. Throw in some bullshit like sharpen your image, make it black and white etc... If you don't want any effects then simply just proceed with resizing the image. It's always good to resize, I believe it makes a huge difference in making your image unique.

That's it you're done.

Use this at your own discretion, do not start an image sharing website or something coz you will probably get in trouble. Enjoy the eggs don't kill the f'n chicken!

Again if this has already been discussed or sounds basic, I'm posting it for new comers like myself. I am sure someone around here will make use of it!

Cheers!

P.S. You need to get your head out of your ass If you think I am affiliated with any of the websites mentioned above. They appear on the first page of google when you search clean image metadata online and resize pic.

Thanks DeadJoe, this is pretty useful.

I sometimes use copyrighted images, but for clients I always pay the stupid stockphoto websties their extortionate rates

Hmmm, so how does your method work against image hashing? The hash should still be the same and you will be exposed nevertheless, at least in those cases where potential plaintiffs have sufficient resources or where ISPs are picking up illegal hashes.

Or, you could find the image you want and take a screenshot, and edit the size in paint. Or use the snipping tool that comes with Win7, resize in paint. All original images then.

This seems like allot of effort. I love stealing other people stuff, it gives me a sense of empowerment but this just takes all the fun out of ripping other people off.

Infoasian, that's a really good point. Honestly I had no clue there was such a thing as image hashing. Considering the images are stock, wouldn't the hash be same for every image anyway? since it's uploaded once and downloaded multiple times from the same stock site.

Useful post, appreciate the effort.

sidenetwoo you can take screenshots but you will lose on quality. If you open a stock image to it's full size it usually does not fit your computer screen. But whatever works for you is good!

I had tried all kind of methods before to make an Image unique, even take a screen shot from a 4m px monitor and then resize & add effect .

Still google search by image tends to find the original source of the image.. so it doesn't make it unique, and I think the same goes for your method ! you tell me !

Thanks for sharing though

blackhaterzz it's okay for google to find copies of your image. Stock images are always used by multiple websites. The trick is to strip the image off data that a specific website owner might have added. This keeps you in the clear, makes it look like you purchased the stock image rather than leeching it.