Public Domain Photos Are For Lazy People

Need a specific photo for your website or blog? Take a photograph or draw it yourself and publish it on your site. This is the only way to be sure that you are 100% sure that you are using an image legally. Sure, there are thousands of public domain pictures for use but some of those photos may contain trademarked objects or a model release required to be fully legit. Many of these free pictures also want a linkback. What good is that. It just cheapens your website. In my opinion, there are some exceptions especially if you want to use an image that is very difficult to obtain. For example, it could be an image of an exotic culture. That is fine and it is always good to give a link to the photographer or creator of the photo. Simple images such as fruits or everday objects can be created yourself using simple snapshots from your own camera or cellphone. That is why most public domain photos are for lazy people unless the photo is very unique, rare or hard to find. There are many terms and conditions to using free photos and these terms must be read carefully to keep you out of potential hot water. It is not even worth the small risk unless the image is more than a hundred years old. Even then, it is always best to read the terms just to be safe.
One can be legit by purchasing royalty free pictures from a stock photo site or private artist in their set terms. Royalty free means to pay one time only and use the image multiple times in many cases. Some of these images are very inexpensive while others are much higher in cost depending on where the image came from and is allowed usage. This also helps the artist or photographer put their bread and butter on the table when images are purchased direct from the artist.
It can be sometimes annoying when a search engine like Google that will give priority to these free photo sites. It is also obvious that these public domain and free images sites have heavy traffic for those too lazy to be creative themselves. Even so called paid stock photo sites obviously use free keyword search terms to describe their site to take rankings in the search engines. This can be somewhat frustrating for solo artists and photographers who wish to promote their work. There is a lot of competition out there in the art and photography world. No need to despair. Just keep creating unique artworks and keeping them exclusively for your own website. This can help offset the competition a little bit knowing that no third party site has use of your images on their site without some sort of recognition and or compensation.