Many people don’t think much about sourcing images for their presentations.  Typically what happens is they go to Google, type in what they’re looking for, see their search results and grab any ole image that comes up in their search results.  That’s fine for small internal meetings where you are just trying to explain your concepts.  But what about when you will be presenting in front of a large audience or a client?  Is it still a good idea to grab any ole image willy nilly?  In a word: NO.

Why not?

  • Many images are rights reserved or need a royalty, meaning that someone should be getting paid for their public use.  Just like you get paid to give your presentation, photographers get paid to take high quality images
  • Random images are frequently pixilated, especially when you stretch them.  Not so professional looking
So what should you do instead?
  • Search for images under Creative Commons (Google and Flickr have filters for this), these are images that some kind souls says anyone can use for free
  • Search for stock photography on sites like iStockphoto.com
  • Commission a photographer, costly but helpful if you have very specific needs