To find illustrations for your articles and hubs, you can search for public domain photos, free stock photos, or free clipart. There are many excellent hubpages articles which give good suggestions for finding usable images, but keep in mind that some of these have requirements that you give credit or give a link-back in exchange for the "free" use.

Here are three ways you can have unique images without worrying about copyright restrictions or giving correct credit. I have done it on several of my hubs, and I don't even have a camera.

No one will have the exact same image, it will be exclusive to your article.

You can give yourself credit in the caption if you wish, or you can use titles and captions that help reinforce the search terms you wish to promote. If you have a digital camera, this should be a snap.

Though I do not have a digital camera, I do have an iMac computer which has a teeny little camera right above the screen that looks back at me. With it , I can take photos of myself or of objects that I place on a little platform in front of it.

These are not the greatest shots in the world, but they do serve to demonstrate the possibilities. It might be something you want to experiment with.

My hub on power outages used this iMac photo where I am holding a flashlight and a butane lighter. I had to darken the room, position the flashlight, push the camera button (on a slight delay) click on the lighter, and not burn the house down.

The Funky Owl picture also used a flashlight while I held a bath towel behind it, clicked button (on delay) and spotlighted the mysterious and marvelous cement sculpture.

The Photo Booth program in the iMac also lets me do some fun things to the photos. I can twirl them into odd shapes like I did for the "Wringing My Hands" hub where I was describing my new mop.

The "Odd Things" hub begged for something twirled, as well.

Other options are to stretch, squish, dent, bulge and twist images.

Another set of enhancements gives images a sepia look a comic book style or an x-ray type effect. the thermal camera look seemed appropriate for my "Monitor Madness" hub, and the pencil drawing look is used for my profile image because it makes me look artistic and mysterious -- and, yes, it hides wrinkles.

The iMac camera take normal photos, but one thing I keep in mind is-- they are mirror image. If I try to put something in the shot which has writing on it-- a label or a poster, the text will be backward. I did this once with a drawing that had some punctuation marks on it. (The drawing was my own, so there was no copyright problem.) The backward question mark did look a little odd, but that wasn't too important. I could have just scanned it-- but that didn't occur to me at the time.

This is especially useful if you wish to use your own drawings or graphics. They don't have to be complex or detailed-- sometimes stick figures work just fine. Again you can use other images in the public domain. If you are using images of a trademarked product, you might want to blank out recognizable names and logos.

You can also scan small objects. I put a bunch of pencils and erasers in the scanner for a hub on school supplies, and some rulers and tape measures in for an article on "Measuring a Teacher's Authority". The ice pick-- though perhaps not one of the most successful images, was an actual scanned object, not a photo, for my "Credit Card Freeze" hub. I suppose I could have scanned my credit cards-- but I try to limit my stupidity.

Small objects like jewelry, toys, tools and other items can be scanned. You may want to put a clear plastic sheet over the glass if there is danger of the glass being scratched, or if you are trying to scan something gooey like a slice of pizza. You might need to throw a dark cloth over the scanner to eliminate light seepage when scanning something thick that does not allow the cover to close completely. You could also build a sturdy, lightproof cardboard box to fit on top of the scanner screen to keep light out.

If you are using a photo print of your own, you can scan it into a jpg or other compatible file. Be careful when scanning other images, to make sure they are public domain or otherwise uncopyrighted.

Maybe you have a friend who likes to take photos-- ask to use them and make sure to give a byline. My friend, Linda Gast, took the photos for our children's book and even used photoshop to make some composites like the owl by the shoe which gave us a chance to show the size of the bird compared to a familiar object.

My article about the "Trash Tidal-wave" referenced differences in shopping between now and a hundred years ago and mentioned an old general store. A photo of the exhibit in our local history museum seemed to fit. The photographer and the museum both got a mention.

It is helpful to know a photographer who is not afraid to put an expired rodent in her truck engine, if you are writing a hub about "Mice in the Motor".

4. USING OTHER CAPSULES

Remember that the Amazon and eBay capsules are also a way to give visual interest to your articles, especially if you can key in on specific items that relate to your subject.

The poll option, and using your own little sidebar boxes also help to break up the text and make it more readable.

If you are a true beginner you will find this hub by Shadesbreath to be helpful: