We are all familiar with the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.â€Â This is certainly true when it comes to giving a powerful presentation. Visual imagery is a great way to connect with the audience by using attractive images that dramatize your speaking points. Evidence has shown that people have better recall for images than text, so the use of pictures significantly increases your efficiency as a speaker. That said picking images for a presentation is not always so simple. Many people are quick to search Google Images for inspiration, but they do not have legal rights to many of these images. The following are safe picture selection options that provide stunningly beautiful images without copyright restrictions.
- Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a fantastic resource that allows you to legally share photographs and images. All of the images that are featured on Creative Commons are permissible for public use. There are literally hundreds of images available which are compelling, beautiful, and innovative.  Best of all, you can rest easy knowing that you will not be violating any copyright laws or restrictions.
- Compfight
Compfight is an image search engine that enables users to easily locate images for blogs, research, and presentations. There are literally thousands of images to explore and you can easily see any licensing restrictions and are giving the opportunity to purchase the image if desired. While there might be a small fee involved, you can be assured that you are getting proper permission to use the image.
- Pexels
Pexels is another fantastic place to search for beautiful stock photos. All of the photos on Pexels are licensed under Creative Commons s they are completely free and can be used for any legal purpose. You can also modify, crop, or distribute the photos without asking for permission. With so many vibrant and colorful images to choose from, you are sure to find just the right picture for your presentation.
- New Old Stock
Have you ever wanted to use a black and white vintage photo in your presentation, but didn’t know where to look? New Old Stock is a fabulous resource where you can find vintage photos from public archives that are free of any known copyright restrictions. You can recapture history with pictures from this vintage photo collection.
- Wikimedia Commons
There are times in a presentation when a visual metaphor will not suffice and you need to find an image of something very specific or concrete. In this case, Wikimedia Commons is your best bet. All of the images are permissible for use and here you will find specific images of people, places, and events that might be relative to your presentation.
