Looking for images to use in any setting can be quite a challenge if you're at all concerned with following copyright law. You work hard to find a great image to use with something you've planned for a service, but then you look underneath the image and notice one of those pesky little ©'s.

But law-abiders have reason to take heart. Open-source websites have made it simple for users all over the world to give away their photographs and smashed open the walls for everyday Internet users to access high-quality stock photography—for free!

Here are some of the best free image sites that we've found here at PreachingToday.com:

• stock.xchng (www.sxc.hu; free registration required)—This site has over 240,000 photographs, all of them user-submitted. The search tool is fairly functional, and most users are pretty good about tagging their photos with commonly search-able words. The only downside to this site is that it's often difficult to find pictures of abstract concepts. Also, be sure to check the usage restrictions; some photos require you to contact the user before you can use the picture.

• Creative Commons search tool (search.creativecommons.org)—This search engine allows you to search images in Flickr that have been uploaded with Creative Commons licenses, many of which allow for free re-use (note that not all of these will work for commercial purposes; check the box that says "search for works I can use for commercial purposes" to search only those licenses).

• Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)—Yes, this is an open-source encyclopedia and technically not an image site. However, Wikipedia contains thousands of images designed to complement their encyclopedic entries. Be sure to read through the copyright notice at the bottom of each image to make sure that the image isn't protected.

A caveat: check to ensure you can use a photo in the manner you'd like. Many times that's a fairly straightforward process, but other times you might need to do a bit more digging. It's worth the time it takes if it means being ethically "above reproach."

And if your church has the budget, you might want to consider purchasing the rights for a given image from Getty Images, Corbis.com, or from a stock photo site like Clipart.com or Photos.com.