Whenever I publish changes to my website, a dialogue box pops up asking me if I'm sure I own the rights to any images I'm using. To be honest, it's something of an annoyance, but I suppose its heart is in the right place.

I could point, for example, to two companies I know well who have both been stung with hefty fines for pulling images into their websites straight from a Google search. An image that would have cost perhaps £2 from an image library for web use ended in in a fine of well over £2000.

There are lots of image libraries around that offer stock images from £10 upwards at sizes suitable for full HD output, and video from around £10 for web use or £20 for HD output. Of course you could pay much more than that, but it's certainly possible to get outstanding results on a budget.

I was asked last week to produce a one minute video on a new product, building in some images and video suggestive of application areas. I used six stock images and 10 seconds of stock video, at a total cost of £85.

The software that the image companies have for trawling the web looking for uses of their images and footage is incredibly sophisticated. So when you can produce outstanding videos for a tiny fraction of the cost of the fine, why would you ever take the risk?