Copyright of Images

I have a question. Are the images I take from Google all copyrighted? And if so, how do I find out and where do I go to ask permission? I certainly don't want to be sued for infringing copyright on an image. Maybe I should make my own. I could draw something, take a picture of it, and post it to my blog. I sometimes, even often, use my own photographs.

I found a site with images that are public domain but they charge a few hundred dollars for subscribing every month.

I think a bit of searching on the internet might come up with free images.

If anyone can help I'd be grateful. And if I'm infringing on someone's copyright I apologize perniciously and will immediately remove the offending image.

For example, I used a space war image meant to promote my upcoming book The Jive Hive. I have a wonderful publisher who will supply me with a cover page and graphics (I presume) for my book cover and personal use. When that arrives I will be so elongated. Until then serrate head and puzzle. Perhaps be in deep doo doo yet again for ignorance and hitchhiking the galaxy without permission.

I found a site with free images but my computer detected malware when I tried to download the image. So I saved the image in Dropbox, not ideal, it has their logo on it.

Help, anyone?

Sucking the Joy out of Twitter

I started out my experiment with social media by alienating a family member on  her blog. Then I progressed to sucking the joy out of Twitter for her. I joined Facebook and was horrified at pictures of mutilated animals and bored by stories about grandchildren, so I quit. Then the powers of Light changed Facebook. I joined again. Twitter changed and I got the hang of it. .

LinkedIn was my first venture into the social media forest. At first I enjoyed the chats and tips, but found at one time there were more than 400 comments on how many words a novel should have. There were some fights and rude comments on other posts, which led to reports of abuse. That was a good thing, but the threads I found seemed frequented by authors who self publish and some refused to rewrite or edit, so I left. Not before I'd met some very nice authors, though.

I began to buy ebooks about how to create interest in one's blog and how to use social media, SEO, and Amazon to advantage. I didn't learn a thing.

I started to amuse myself and not care so much what others posted.

If I live long enough I might figure this all out.