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Find Creative Commons Licenced Photos from Flickr via Your WP Blog

Posted By Darren Rowse 23rd of February 2008 Blogging Tools and Services 0 Comments

This WP plugin looks amazing – it finds Flickr Creative Commons licenced images all from within WP.

“With the Photo Dropper plugin, you can now search millions of Flickr photos and add them to your WordPress posts with just 1 click, all without leaving your WordPress dashboard. Attribution links are automatically added underneath the images to comply with the Creative Commons license rules. It’s the easiest way to add photos to your blog. Period. And best of all – it’s Free!”

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Oooooh, that sounds awesome!! I use Flickr’s Creative Commons now for my Blog images. But, to people able to do it directly via my WordPress Blog sounds great. Off to check it out now. :)

    Thanks.

  2. This is GREAT! I have finally got it into my thick head that there is a real mine of photos out there on Flickr just waiting to be used on my blog(s), covered by the Creative Commons license. And the quality of so many of them is just amazing.

    Just one thing concerns me, that a blog that is making any money at all might be construed a commercial enterprise, and thus one might be breaching the CC terms by using it..?

  3. Wow! That looks like one of the best plugins for a long time. It will save so much effort.

    I will certainly be trying it out – Flickr is s superb resource for any website or blog.

  4. great tool which I can use for my wedding blog.

    the slower way is to load it through FTP and put it in a nice folder.

    Of course, we will still the credit back to the photographers.

    this makes it so easy for me and cut down on my processes and save so much on my time…

    kudos to PhotoDropper =)

  5. WHAT! darren nice find! this is a great plugin – now I do not have to kill my bandwidth and now get nice pictures with out all the hassle of any issues of copywriting etc

    thanks!

  6. Amazing plugin. I just installed it and I can easily search for any image I want! Love it! Thanks for the tip! :)

  7. It is an interesting and useful plugin, but I think everyone should at least be made aware that each time you use it, you are supplying a link back to the PhotoDropper site. I’m not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but in light of the issues surrounding links and nofollows, etc., I think it should at least be something everyone is aware of.

  8. The only problem is that you really should check out the photographer’s profile page. Even if they share it under a Creative Commons License, many photographers ask that you notify them if you are using the photograph, and they will put that and other requests in their profile. I ran into some problems with that when I start using Flickr pictures on my blog. I don’t agree with it, but I try to respect the photographers’ wishes.

  9. @markowe: You can set the plugin to exclude photos which have a non-commercial license (in the plugin’s options panel).

    @dazzlindonna: you are welcome to modify the code to exclude any links (as long as you leave the Flickr credit link in there for attribution to the photo source). The links back to photodropper are meant to be an unintrusive way to help others find out about the plugin as well as spread the word about creative commons.

  10. Wow! I will definitely be trying this out. Thanks!

  11. Great plugin, just what i need! Thx!

  12. A big THANK YOU to you Darren for bringing this Word Press plugin to our attention. And a HUUUGE thanks to the people at Photo Dropper. This plugin is just what I needed.

    While I’m at it. Thanks to Word Press. How else can a person build such an awesome site for free?

  13. THANK YOU for this awesome find!

    My site wouldn’t be what it is without flickr so this plugin is a very valuable find for me. Itll save me a nice amount of time! YAY!!! :-D

  14. Just a plugin as I where looking for. Thanks for sharing this Darren!

  15. This is great. Thanks Darren. :D

  16. markowe,
    As for your concerns about using the plugin on a commercial website, here’s what the Photo Dropper site says on the subject:

    “If you run a commercial blog, please be sure to go to Options > Photo Dropper and check the box that says “Show only photos that can be used commercially” which will exclude photos marked non-commercial. You should always check the specific CC license on the source page before posting since you’re ultimately responsible for adhering to the license. Yeah, it can be a little confusing. See this article [http://www.skelliewag.org/a-complete-guide-to-finding-and-using-incredible-flickr-images-162.htm] for a better explanation.”

    So they have the feature you’re looking for, just with the added disclaimer that if it doesn’t work right it’s your problem. Seems fair enough.

  17. After you sent the link via Twitter, it gave me the idea to write an article about Creative Commons licensing.

    For those interested:
    http://www.rehuel.com/2008/02/21/understanding-the-creative-commons-license/

    Oh, thanks for both the link and the idea!

  18. This is cool. Thanks for the heads up! It will same me a bit of time I think.

  19. What a brilliant plug-in. Thanks a lot Darren for posting about this. Its going to make my life a lot easier when blogging!!

  20. OMG OMG OMG *hyperventilates and closes istockphoto account* :-D

  21. If you don’t want to use a plugin, here’s a greasemonkey script for the Firefox web browser that will let you easily cut-and-paste photos into wordpress/blogger with an attribution link:

    http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/12118

  22. Nice find, Darren. Thanks for sharing! One of the more challenging things about blogging is finding graphics that line up with, and compliment, your blog articles. This tool should definitely make that easier!

  23. This sounds like such a great tool, I just wish someone would build something like this that would work with Joomla the other massive open source CMS system.

  24. Ill try it now on my blog :) thanks was looking for something like that.

  25. Brilliant plugin. Does it handle resizing issues?

  26. Currently, hosting on google blogger. Will be making a change to WordPress soon. Helpful gadget for WordPress. It is such a cool and extensible platform. I find blogger to be more restrictive after using wordpress in other blogs….

  27. My only issue with this is that it simply embed the picture from Flickr. It would be nice to host the picture myself.

    Other than that it’s a great idea. Very useful!

  28. Shoot i thought i discovered this groovy wordpress plugin, then i come here, and smack dabbit, here it is.

    I covered it 4 hours ago, you covered it 7 hours ago. Bummers. Anywho, below is my take on PhotoDropper.

    http://www.g34media.com/2008/02/22/photodropper-new-wordpress-plugin/

    Missy.

  29. Thank you thank you thank you. Finding good images for every post is a time consuming chore, and this plugin not only makes it baby simple and fast, it helps spread good linking and attribution practices, both of which need to be shored up if this blogging thing is ever going to survive beyond the novelty appeal. Thinking like this is what is going to bring legitimacy to the entire community, 3 cheers for it!

  30. Thanks for the heads up. I have been searching for something like this. I’m very excited!

  31. That’s fabulous! Though I love istockphoto.com and just learned about lucky oliver, I would like to expand my pool of good quality and affordable images for my website and WP blog design business. I love WordPress!

  32. You made by day by passing this along.. thats why I love this site!!!!

  33. Bloggers,

    Make sure you can use the images on Flickr as many of them (even if marked for commercial use) are not usable.

    Why?

    Read my take on the dangers of this plugin here:

    http://www.thephotographybiz.com/comment/creative-commons-wordpress-plugin-could-spell-big-trouble-for-unwary-blog-publishers/

    PP

  34. Tried and loved it, wow that is awesome. Thank you

  35. I actually don’t like this plugin. I like using Flickr and I use WordPress. I like when other people use my photos in their blogs too. But I specify that I want credit to point to my personal site and not to Flickr. If someone likes and uses my photo (for instance, Consumerist has used four of mine if I remember correctly) I would far prefer that they send any traffic to my site than to Flickr.

    Perhaps I will need to change my licensing.

  36. That is a great plugin. So many people use flickr images that it is invaluable to them. So far I have always created custom images, but maybe at some point I shall delve into flickr.

  37. “just 1 click, all without leaving your WordPress dashboard. ”

    i like this..save our time and computer memory :P

  38. Thanks a lot for the information about this plugin, it will help me for sure :-)

  39. I could use some more pics on my blog, this could be a great tool to help me out.

  40. Great Feature. I loved it. Does it work with Blogger.com Can I put that on my blog: MoneyEarningblogs.com?

  41. This plug-in is absolutely a heaven sent piece! I’m always looking for photos and then everytime I use the same photo twice (from Flicker), I have go back to old posts to find out the name of the person who it could be credited back to.

    This has potential to save a lot of time.

    I just hope this plug-in will also allow me to find previously used photos that I want to use again. For instance, I have a weekly gratitude post and I like using a few of the images over and over again (ie gratitude photos).

  42. wow! Was the word that came out of my mouth. I wish we had this before. But thanks very much.
    http://www.henlay.com

  43. Now that is a really useful plugin.
    Pity I don’t use wordpress software, but maybe I’ll switch.

    I usually edit photos I find on the web after checking if they have clear copyright on them. This plugin is a way to ensure you only use legitimate photos. Awesome!

    http://necrofiles.blogspot.com

  44. I echo ProPhotographer – go to that link .. you will see why this plugin is going to place you at risk.

    The vast majority of flickr users have utterly NO idea what their CC rights are, what they are giving away and their responsibility in terms of releases. When YOU commercialize it with your on-blog money making activities… you become liable as well as the photographer.

    Also, MANY people who are doing this CC want linkage back to their own blog (you can understand that right?). They want their own pagerank to increase. Flickr directed linkages give all the juice to flickr, not the copyright owner.

    Repeat after me: Flicker is not a stock agency .. say it three times before hitting “post” on your blog while using this plugin.

    As a photographer who has 1000s of photos on flicker, all labeled “All Rights Reserved” and who find her photos used anyways by all sorts of bloggers I have one thing to say..

    Go to Darrens digital photography blog and learn how to use a camera and take your own much more interesting photos.

  45. i discovered this site the other day, problogger that is, and must say it’s a great resource
    keep it up. i have it bookmarked for life

  46. Great! Love It! And, easy to use,

    Thanks,

  47. It’s good to hear some of the warnings here. Thanks for those who responded to my question. I guess to be on the safe side, anyone with a remotely commercial blog should be using only pictures under the Attribution License category, and even then with care.

    I guess my question was, at what point is something classed as a commercial blog? Most people here make a few pennies from their blog, but relatively few actually make a living, so are they nevertheless technically misusing Flickr photos by claiming non-commercial use?

  48. The Masked Millionaire says: 02/25/2008 at 2:29 am

    Now we are talking!!

  49. Hi!
    You can use my photos for free at http://freeartisticphotos.com – all of them are taken by me and made Public Domain ; hope you enjoy them!

    Cheers, Husac!
    I hope that you found it interesting!

  50. Flickr is the best. I love there services.

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