10) Ourmedia.org
http://www.ourmedia.org/

Ourmedia is a (still in alpha) non-commercial free clearinghouse for all rich-media content for sharing, re-use and enjoyed by as many people as possible.

In partnership with the Internet Archive, Ourmedia has unlimited storage space for hosting user submitted images, video and audio clips. There are no costs and the only requirement is that the material is not protected by copyright. This allows some re-use and republication as every image clearly indicates.

Ourmedia also provides a cross-platform software tool called Ourmedia Publisher, which facilitates the direct uploading and licensing of individual imagery and clips of any size under any preferred non-traditional copyright license (e.g. Creative Commons and public domain.).

Ourmedia is a grassroots initiative allowing individuals to post and share their personal rich-media recordings and it provides access to a fast-growing archive of interesting materials.

The available search and limited image display features in Ourmedia do not make the service interesting enough to be used as an alternative free image resource... yet. But if things proceed according to plans along with the great ideas that the team behind Ourmedia has shown so far, you should expect Ourmedia to become a worthy player in this field soon.

9) Flickr
http://ww.flickr.com/

Flickr.com, bought by Yahoo, is one of the best ways to store, search, sort and share your photos. This online software application and image resource has super features and a community of world contributors, plus it's s easy to use.

Not your typical photo archive, Flickr is more of a repository of personal shots and individual home photo collections as opposed to a public repository for images to be shared and re-used. But with the large amount of content available, it is difficult not to find something that could fit your visual needs.

Flickr is free, and only requires registration if you want to start uploading, editing and tagging your own digital images.

Note: Each person publishing images on Flickr can select and specify the type of licensing to be applied to those pictures &mdash from fully reserved copyright to any of the Creative Commons licenses. So look carefully for the explicit author permissions specified on each individual photo page. The Attribution License page lists the 100 most recently licensed photos.

If you haven't yet tried a very useful tool that's complementary to Flickr, check out the Related Tag Browser search interface by AirtightInteractive. This is an effective way to search for visual resources. A must use. Also available is a single and multi-keyword Flickr search interface.

Flickr lets you search for only Creative Commons-licensed images in the advanced search tool, so you don't have to go delving through thousands of images to find the ones free for re-use.

Two tips.

One. Don't discount the design and layout forcing the final image selected to never display in a straight position, but at an angle. It's done by design. The purpose is to have you click through to Flickr to see the selected image in its correct orientation.

Two. Don't get discouraged when you right-click on images in Flickr, you can't find the familiar selection to save them to your local hard disk. The reason is because they have been converted to Flash format. Rather look for a small lens icon with a plus sign inside, look on top of the image displayed inside Flickr — It should say "All sizes." Click it and you get choices in the size and resolution for downloading the image to your hard drive. If the lens icon doesn't show up and "All sizes" is not in view, then register and log in Flickr. That should do it.

8) Buzznet
http://www.Buzznet.com

Buzznet.com is an online photo-sharing community that allows its members (registration free) to upload images from mobile phones, and post, syndicate and republish digital photos in their blogs. For RSS feeds, look at the bottom of each user page, gallery, community gallery and friends listing.

Marc Brown and Anthony Batt, experts in software development who have also created a unique image publishing software called Photocommunication, founded this site in 2002. Images can be tagged with one or more "buzzwords," (similar to tags) to make it easier for others to search for the images. The site also has a search tool with different options.

The site has an active community thanks to the journals, people and photos. Most of the material is raw as the photos document a personal moment or sight. Therefore, many images have a less polished look, but a higher degree of realism and personalization.

7) 49PM Photo Search
http://server9.49pm.com/
http://www.49pm.com/photosearch.html#yahoo (mobile phone info)

49PM's Photo Search is a free online service that allows you to search the Internet for photos that can be immediately viewed and saved on your mobile phone.

With 49PM technology, it's also possible to view each photo summary and the Internet location. The technology works on almost any Java-enabled mobile phone with a color display — these include many models such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Siemens, LG, Samsung and others.

49PM's Photo Search uses Yahoo!'s image search, so you can search millions of photos on the Internet. Photos are downloaded through the 49PM MobileServer, which pre-formats photos before sending them to your phone. This optimizes download times and ensures the photos are formatted to fit your phone's display for your viewing enjoyment!

To download the free beta version, point your mobile phone's browser to www.49mobile.com, select your phone and download. Or, download the application to your PC, from which you can upload it to your phone.

49PM has a unique ability to search for images from blogs. When it finds images, you can see which blog and article they are in and easily add them to your personal online-based image archive. Alternatively, 49PM spits out a small snippet of code which allows you to immediately re-use the image (assuming the rights to do this are explicitly given) in your own site or blog (with automatic full credit to the original poster).

49PM searches all accessible blogs and indexes the newest off-beat photos, audio, podcasts and videos and makes them available and re-usable through its effective online-based interface.

6) StockVault
http://www.stockvault.net/

Stockvault is a stock photo resource which offers medium-sized images for personal and non-commercial use. Stockvault has evolved from stock.b-man.dk and features images from various photographers, both professional and amateur.

To view the free photos, go to the Stockgallery.Browse over 2,300 images by category or use the advanced search tool. When viewing a photo, you can rate it or click on the disk icon to save it. The details for each photo contains the number of views, file size and number of downloads. Click on Hitlist to see the Top 10 vote getters or check out the list of Photographers, which tells you what cameras they use and where they are from. The site offers an impressive array of impactful and awe-inspiring shots.