"The Photo" search

There’s one WordPress plugin that can benefit just about any blogger. How many times have you wanted an image, a legal-to-use image at least, and didn’t have it? I run into this situation all the time, and the plugin that usually yields a relevant photo is PhotoDropper.

Once installed, a click of the button will bring up images from Flickr that match the search phrase or word you enter. The image here is one I was given in a search on “the photo.” The credit information comes with it, including the Creative Commons license, which should remain in the post. I don’t leave it at the bottom of the photo though, moving it to the bottom of the post, as you see here.

Speaking of the CC license, you tell the plugin if you’re a commercial blog or not, in other words, for business. If so, it is supposed to pull only those images properly licensed for commercial use. If you are a personal blogger, you’ll get a larger selection, as the CC license is broader.

If you click on the credit link below, you go to the Flickr page for the image. There is a link on that page to the CC license. You’ll see that it allows this use, and doesn’t restrict it from a commercial blog.

photo credit: Michael MASSACRE (Ran out of Bandwidth)

Once installed, it places an icon in the toolbar that will give the application or page being viewed the entire screen, getting the use of the area usually taken by the top navigation, url bar and tabs.  It actually gives me a lot more room when I really need it.  I just go back to normal view with an item on the right-click toolbar when I’m finished.