Where can I find free stock photos online?
Here's a good article from the BBP Blog about how to find free images:

JUNE 4, 2008
Finding Clipart, Images and Visuals for Presentations
by Meryl Evans

Though the BBP method relies heavily on visuals to tell a story and make an impact, finding the right images doesn't come easy. You could take pictures yourself, but you can't always capture what you need or the way you need the photo.

Many freeware applications allow you to draw your own images, but who has the time? You have enough to do in creating and practicing your presentation.

Some images that come with a royalty-free destination aren't necessarily free. Royalty-free just means you can use it many times without pay every time you use the photo. Instead, they might have a one-time only fee. Pay once, use the photo as many times as you like.

Photos with a copyleft (symbol is backwards to copyright indicate the owner of the photo or clipart gives up some or all rights. Many use the Creative Commons licenses, which indicate you can use the image -- but with some restrictions, such as attributing the owner.

No fretting needed. Plenty of online resources exist for finding visuals free for your use and re-use. Free also means freely using the images without paying royalties or one-time publishing rights.

Beware the free photos and images site may contain ads and pop ups. But that's a small nuisance for finding the right images to tell your story without touching the pocketbook. Some might require attributing the owner by including a name and Web URL. Be sure to read the terms of use.

Microsoft has a gallery of clipart, drawings, and photographs available free. Some of the images in Microsoft's gallery are the same as the ones that come with Microsoft Office. However, the gallery provides more images and you may not want to load all of the pictures from the Office CD. And of course, they work well with Microsoft's software including PowerPoint.

The following sites contain a decent collection of good or high quality pictures. If you want more, Master New Media has a huge guide of places to find free images and visuals.

Stock.xchng (www.sxc.hu) is what many consider the resource for free stock photography.
morgueFile (www.morguefile.com) is an archive of public images for both and commercial use.
Flickr (www.flickr.com) has a Creative Commons page explaining how you can use their pictures. The page briefly describes the four Creative Commons licenses.
Image * After (www.imageafter.com) contains over 19,000 images and textures.

Where can I buy stock photography online?
There are many great sites for purchasing stock photos inexpensively, such as iStockphoto:

iStockphoto.com

For a complete list try googling with the search term "Stock photos"

What is the recommended image size for use in PowerPoint?
The actual size of a PowerPoint slide is 7.5" x 10", and you only need 72 DPI for computer screens.

Note: Most "small" images purchased from istockphoto will work in your presentation.
 

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