The short version
If you didn’t take the photo, make the illustration, or have a licence for it or 100% know it is free to use for business, don’t use it. Check where your images are coming from. Use a free site with clear terms, or invest in a stock library.
The long version
Let’s talk about something that makes lawyers quietly rub their hands together: using images you don’t have permission to use.
It’s not a niche problem. It’s a very common one. And the people doing it aren’t dodgy. They’re just not aware. You see a nice photo, you right-click, you paste it into your newsletter, and off you go. Job done.
Except it isn’t.
The bit that might make you slightly nervous
Here’s how copyright works with images: someone takes a photo (or creates an illustration, or generates an AI image), and they own it. Full stop. That ownership doesn’t disappear because the image is on the internet, or because you found it on Google Images, or because you didn’t notice the watermark.
Using an image without the right permission can result in:
- A very unpleasant letter from a stock image company (Getty Images are particularly enthusiastic about this)
- An invoice for backdated licensing fees, which can run into hundreds of pounds
In more serious cases, legal action
And yes, this happens to small businesses. Regularly. Automated image-tracking tools mean rights holders can find unauthorised uses at scale. You don’t need to be a big corporation to end up on their radar.
The bit that trips most people up
“But I found it on Google” is, unfortunately, not a defence. Google Images is a search engine, not a free image library. It shows you images from across the web, most of which are protected by copyright.
“But I saw someone else using it” is also not a defence. They might be in trouble too. Or they have a licence you don’t know about.
“But it’s tiny and I only used it once” is, similarly, not a defence.
Right. Now we’ve had the scary part, let’s fix it.
Where to get images you can actually use
There are three sensible routes:
1. Free stock sites
Sites like Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay offer images that creators have made available for free use, often with very few restrictions. The quality varies, but there’s plenty of decent stuff in there. Always check the licence on each image even on these sites, because terms differ.
2. A paid stock library
This is where the quality goes up and the “will I get a letter?” anxiety goes down. Paid stock libraries give you a clear licence for each image, so you know exactly what you’re allowed to do with it. Getty, Shutterstock, Adobe Photos are all great options. Photos start at about £1 each.
3. Your own brand photoshoot
Invest in your own set of photos that you 100% know are yours to use. I’ve used a few photographers for my business and have loved having photos that are perfectly ‘me’. Vanda Szabo took my latest photos and you can find her website here.
I’d rather you spend a small amount now than receive an unexpected invoice for considerably more later.
A quick note on AI-generated images
This area is still evolving legally, but the general rule is: if you generate an image yourself using a tool like Midjourney, Ideogram, or similar, you can typically use it in your content. Just check the platform’s terms, because they vary.
What you cannot do is take an AI-generated image someone else has created and use it as your own. That’s still their work, even if a machine helped make it.
It’s one of those small admin jobs that sits in the “I’ll sort it eventually” pile until it suddenly becomes urgent. Sort it now. Future you will be relieved.