Lots of writers use images as part of the writing process. Sometimes they search for pictures of a setting they want to use but are not able to visit, sometimes they look to the images to reveal details about how people dressed during a certain time, and sometimes they just use them to stimulate their imagination.
Of course if you plan to integrate the image itself into a book, you have to purchase it or get permission or make sure it's in the public domain.
Is it OK to use images that are under copyright protection on your blog? Technically, not without permission. Will someone come after you? It's doubtful but not impossible. However, if you have a blog with many followers and are using it to make money, that might catch their attention.
There was a case not long ago in which a company was formed specifically to force bloggers to pay if they used images or news articles without permission. The company collaborated with some newspapers and went after bloggers, threatening to take them to court.
Their tactics were heavy-handed and a few brave bloggers stood up to them. The court found that the company didn't have the rights in a meaningful way and that in many cases the bloggers were protected under the "fair use" provisions of copyright. The court ordered the company to pay the defendents' legal costs. At last word, the company was about to go bankrupt.
OK, back to images! Most people use Google search to find images. In case you haven't used it, you go to google.com/images, type in a word or phrase that describes what you're looking for, and click on the search button.
Again, many of these images will be under copyright, so a better option is oSkope.com. It calls itself your visual search assistant. You start by specifying where you want to look for the image--for instance, Flickr.com. Then you type in what you're looking for. The resulting images show up as rows of thumbnails. There's a control bar on the right that allows you to make the images bigger or smaller.
I typed in "Great Dane" and up came 28 pages of images, each with 28 pictures (how many images per page depends on what size you choose to view them).
When you rollover on an image, it expands and reveals some basic information, including under what circumstances you can use it.
The photo above is of a charming chap named Dio, by Mrina Godancal. It said that the copyright is "Attribution-NonCommercial license." So I am allowed to use it here as long as I tell you its origin.
I couldn't use it as an image on a t-shirt, for example, because that would be a commercial use. Yes, I do have links on this site to a few products so at a very long stretch somebody might say any image on the site supports a commercial function, but as selling is a minimal part of the site I don't think that would hold.
You'll find a huge variety of images at Oskope.com, but I have to warn you that browsing there may result in the mysterious disappearance of several hours of your time.
If somewhere else you come across an image you want to use but you don't know where it originally came from, Tineye.com will help you. It does a reverse image search. Instead of typing in words, you upload the image and Tineye tells you its origin.
(There are several suggestions in my book, "Your Writing Coach," for how to use images to help you develop your characters and plot. You can get the book from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)
