Pixabay: Features, Tips and Care you need to Take into Account
Pixabay, we all know this impressive image bank. Suppose you can’t tell it to whom I will leave you all its information so that you know it. In that case, we love it because it is free and because its images are beautiful, but be careful there is some information that I leave you here so that you take into account and avoid serious problems. So before continuing using that need to know all its secrets that I reveal to you right away.
Also read: What is Twitter? How can I use it for Organization?
Table of Contents
What is Pixabay?
Pixabay is one of the furthermost popular free image platforms. Since, more or less, everyone needs images if they have a website, do any online advertising, or even for private use, media like this have become very popular and effective.
On Pixabay, you can find more than 1.6 million photos and videos. These remain communal by other members of Pixabay. The situation is straightforward to use the platform. Just go to the Pixabay.com website and then type you are looking for images, vectors, or videos.
Features
Pixabay is a free platform, and although they do not receive our income from photos, this platform has an excellent design and tools that help us and save us work and time when selecting the perfect image.
1) Search for Pixabay
It is easy to search for images and videos on Pixabay. You can choose if you only want to see all the photos or only snapshots, vectors, or illustrations. With the uncertainty you are looking for videos, you can also choose to get video results.
Once you have found the image/video that you want to download, click on it, and then you can see a little more information about the image. Here you can also see a download button.
2) Image Download Pixabay
Fair hit the download button to get the image or video. You don’t need to sign up for Pixabay to download files, making it very easy to use. You can go to the site and download it. Though you can register for free on the website, and it has some advantages actually to write which are:
Download images of different sizes. You cannot download the largest resolution/size unless you sign up.
As soon as you copy an image, you have to make a small captcha to download it. If you register, you can download wanting this.
Use Pixabay Images
More or less all stock photo raised areas have some terms and conditions on how you can use the images and videos you download from them, especially for free ones.
All images and videos remain published under Creative Commons CC0, which means that you can use them for almost any purpose without asking permission and without giving attribution. You can even use them for commercial determinations and in print.
Pixabay License
The images and videos on Pixabay remain published under the CC0 license. However, there are some important exceptions to keep in mind:
Identifiable People or Buildings
Pictures of identifiable people cannot remain used in a way that makes the person appear in low light or offensive without consent.
It means that you cannot only use a photo of a person to endorse your service in an advertisement. From what I’ve seen, it appears like a lot of questionable services are doing it online, but this doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. So be aware of how you use recognizable people.
A similar goes for buildings like, for example, the Eiffel Tower, the London Eye, the Statue of Liberty, etc. Here, the owner of the photo must permit to use of images of their belongings.
According to Pixabay, you should be especially careful with images representing Walt Disney and Lego products, whose rights only allow editorial use.
Warning on Pixabay
According to Pixabay, you should be especially careful with Disney or Lego images. Keep these exceptions in mind if you decide to use pictures or videos from Pixabay.
Don’t Suggest Backups
Another important exception to note is that you cannot use images of organizations or people to make it look like they are approving your services or products if they are not.
It means that, for example, you should not use images of big brands like Coca Cola, Facebook, etc., and put them right next to your brand to suggest that they recommend your product.
I regularly see people selling questionable products online using famous brand logos to make it look like they are endorsing the product when they are not.
Just because some people are doing it and getting away with it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Besides being risky, in my opinion, it is also unethical. So remain careful not to make it look like the big brands are backing you if they aren’t.
So is Pixabay Safe?
As you can see, you can use Pixabay images and videos for many things. It would help if you had a little common sense and be aware of the exceptions I mentioned above.
But does this mean that Pixabay is Completely Safe to Use?
Well, for a free platform, you’re pretty safe, and I know people who have used Pixabay for years without having a problem with copyright infringement, etc.
Are the Images free
You may be wondering if the images and videos on Pixabay are free.
They are entirely free. The way Pixabay makes money is, for example, through advertising. Whenever you do an image search, you’ll see some suggestions for images from Shutterstock at the top.
These are professional pictures and pictures that you need to pay for, so please keep this in mind. By having this advertising as an option for people who want more professional photos, Pixabay can make money.
Also, if you want to support the Pixabay team, there is a donation option.
Final Thoughts: Is it Worth it or not?
In many ways, I must say that I like Pixabay, and it is a legit platform. I think it’s an excellent option for getting decent images, even if you don’t have a budget for it.
However, I decided to switch to a paid platform quite some time ago for several reasons.
First of all, the paid platforms are often even more secure because of the security second because I spent too much time finding appropriate images on Pixabay.
In addition to this, I found that because Pixabay is free, many people use the same images, so I got tired of seeing the photos I was using on many other sites as well, and it makes it difficult to make your content unique on de the same way
On the other hand, it all depends on your budget and personal preferences. With the uncertainty you have a more significant account, Shutterstock is, in my opinion, one of the best stock platforms you can join.
The uncertainty you don’t have such a big budget but still want to go for a paid opportunity, StockUnlimited is, in my experience, a perfect option.
But if you prefer to use free images and videos, for now, Pixabay is a great option and one of the best open stock display places I’ve seen.