Dreamstime Recognizes Latest Industry Shift From Print to Online Advertising with Its StockFreeImages Database

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Adding a few high quality photos is a great way to improve a website, blog or presentation. And while most search engines can quickly locate just about any shot you could ever want, using them could end up violating someone's copyright.

Marketers today need to be cautious when copying images from online sources---there can be numerous legal and financial implications, especially with regard to ownership and infringement. The bottom line: If you aren't sure who owns the copyright, or if a specific image is copyrighted, then just don't use it.

There are plenty of images that can be obtained for free. In response to the needs of today's digital advertisers, designers, webmasters and bloggers, royalty-free image database Stockfreeimages.com offers the largest collection of free images on the web. The photos span a wide range of topics, addressing whatever visual requirement creative users may have.

Owned by Dreamstime, a distinguished leader in stock photography worldwide, Stockfreeimages also serves as the next step in image copyright protection for both contributors and consumers. Stockfreeimages helps users protect themselves from the costly fines that often result from copyright violations. Image use is completely free of charge, but site terms do require users to provide attribution via a credit line.

According to Serban Enache, CEO and co-founder, Dreamstime, despite the costly consequences of copyright infringement, illegal downloads are still pretty regular occurrence.

"There's no doubt that there is a strong need for free content in today's advertising market," Enache said. "While some people can't afford to pay for content; others don't want to pay, even though they still need specific images. It has become an unfortunate habit for many consumers to use a search engine to download a free image, often infringing someone's copyright, and putting themselves in jeopardy. With Stockfreeimages.com, users can have peace of mind that any image they download is not only free and safe, but also is legal."

Launched in 2012, Stockfreeimages are licensed under the Royalty Free license, which means you license the image once and then you can use it as many times as you like, with just a few restrictions. In March 2012, the site had 7,200 registered members and around 352,200 free images from 16,110 photographers. In March 2013, the site had 179,035 registered members and will soon reach one million free images from 29,634 photographers. Approximately 2,000 new users join StockFreeImages each day.

For more information, visit www.stockfreeimages.com.

About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography, a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with almost 17 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with more than 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site, making it one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the almost one million free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site's 132,500-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: http://www.Dreamstime.com.

SOURCE Dreamstime