diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 637dc46ff..bd800bc11 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ For more information and examples, please visit the <a href="http://html2canvas.
 ### Changelog ###
 
 v0.33 -
-
+* Added support for CORS images and option to create canvas as tainted (<a href="#">niklasvh</a>)
 * Improved minification saved ~1K! (<a href="https://github.com/cobexer/html2canvas/commit/b82be022b2b9240bd503e078ac980bde2b953e43">cobexer</a>)
 * Added integrated support for Flashcanvas (<a href="https://github.com/niklasvh/html2canvas/commit/e9257191519f67d74fd5e364d8dee3c0963ba5fc">niklasvh</a>)
 * Fixed a variety of legacy IE bugs (<a href="https://github.com/niklasvh/html2canvas/commit/b65357c55d0701017bafcd357bc654b54d458f8f">niklasvh</a>)
diff --git a/src/Preload.js b/src/Preload.js
index d45558434..05d0a0972 100644
--- a/src/Preload.js
+++ b/src/Preload.js
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ html2canvas.Preload = function(element, opts){
     
     var options = {
         proxy: "http://html2canvas.appspot.com/",
-        timeout: 0    // no timeout
+        timeout: 0,    // no timeout
+        useCORS: false, // try to load images as CORS (where available), before falling back to proxy
+        allowTaint: false // whether to allow images to taint the canvas, won't need proxy if set to true
     },
     images = {
         numLoaded: 0,   // also failed are counted here
@@ -26,6 +28,9 @@ html2canvas.Preload = function(element, opts){
     domImages = doc.images, // TODO probably should limit it to images present in the element only
     imgLen = domImages.length,
     link = doc.createElement("a"),
+    supportCORS = (function( img ){
+        return (img.crossOrigin !== undefined);
+    })(new Image()),
     timeoutTimer;
     
     link.href = window.location.href;
@@ -41,7 +46,7 @@ html2canvas.Preload = function(element, opts){
     function isSameOrigin(url){
         link.href = url;
         var origin = link.protocol + link.host;
-        return ":" === origin || (origin === pageOrigin);
+        return (origin === pageOrigin);
     }
     
     function start(){
@@ -215,36 +220,78 @@ html2canvas.Preload = function(element, opts){
     
     function setImageLoadHandlers(img, imageObj) {
         img.onload = function() {
+            if ( imageObj.timer !== undefined ) {
+                // CORS succeeded
+                window.clearTimeout( imageObj.timer );
+            }
             images.numLoaded++;
             imageObj.succeeded = true;
             start();
         };
         img.onerror = function() {
+            
+            if (img.crossOrigin === "anonymous") {
+               // CORS failed
+                window.clearTimeout( imageObj.timer );
+
+                // let's try with proxy instead
+                if ( options.proxy ) {
+                    var src = img.src;
+                    img = new Image();
+                    imageObj.img = img;
+                    img.src = src;
+
+                    proxyGetImage( img.src, img, imageObj );
+                    return;
+                }
+            }
+            
+            
             images.numLoaded++;
             images.numFailed++;
             imageObj.succeeded = false;
             start();
+            
         };
     }
+    
+    // work around for https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=80028
+    function isComplete() {
+       if (!this.img.complete) { 
+           this.timer = window.setTimeout(this.img.customComplete, 100) 
+       } else { 
+           this.img.onerror();         
+       }
+    }
 
     methods = {
         loadImage: function( src ) {
-            var img, imageObj;
+            var img, imageObj;      
             if ( src && images[src] === undefined ) {
-                img = new Image();
+                img = new Image();                
                 if ( src.match(/data:image\/.*;base64,/i) ) {
                     img.src = src.replace(/url\(['"]{0,}|['"]{0,}\)$/ig, '');
                     imageObj = images[src] = { img: img };
                     images.numTotal++;
                     setImageLoadHandlers(img, imageObj);
-                }
-                else if ( isSameOrigin( src ) ) {
+                } else if ( isSameOrigin( src ) || options.allowTaint ===  true ) {
                     imageObj = images[src] = { img: img };
                     images.numTotal++;
                     setImageLoadHandlers(img, imageObj);
                     img.src = src;
-                }
-                else if ( options.proxy ) {
+                } else if ( supportCORS && !options.allowTaint && options.useCORS ) {
+                    // attempt to load with CORS
+                    
+                    img.crossOrigin = "anonymous";    
+                    imageObj = images[src] = { img: img };
+                    images.numTotal++;
+                    setImageLoadHandlers(img, imageObj);
+                    img.src = src;             
+                    
+                    img.customComplete = isComplete.bind(imageObj);  
+                    img.customComplete();
+                    
+                } else if ( options.proxy ) {
                     imageObj = images[src] = { img: img };
                     images.numTotal++;
                     proxyGetImage( src, img, imageObj );
diff --git a/src/Renderer.js b/src/Renderer.js
index bd0949362..7348bc37b 100644
--- a/src/Renderer.js
+++ b/src/Renderer.js
@@ -127,35 +127,16 @@ html2canvas.Renderer = function(parseQueue, opts){
                             if (renderItem.name === "fillRect") {
                                 
                                 if (!usingFlashcanvas || renderItem['arguments'][0] + renderItem['arguments'][2] < flashMaxSize  && renderItem['arguments'][1] + renderItem['arguments'][3] < flashMaxSize) {
-                                    ctx.fillRect(
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][0],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][1],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][2],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][3]
-                                        );
+                                    ctx.fillRect.apply( ctx, renderItem['arguments'] );
                                 }
                             }else if(renderItem.name === "fillText") {
                                 if (!usingFlashcanvas || renderItem['arguments'][1] < flashMaxSize  && renderItem['arguments'][2] < flashMaxSize) {
-                                    ctx.fillText(
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][0], 
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][1],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][2]
-                                        );
+                                    ctx.fillText.apply( ctx, renderItem['arguments'] );
                                 }
                             }else if(renderItem.name === "drawImage") {
  
                                 if (renderItem['arguments'][8] > 0 && renderItem['arguments'][7]){    
-                                    ctx.drawImage(
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][0],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][1],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][2],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][3],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][4],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][5],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][6],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][7],
-                                        renderItem['arguments'][8]
-                                        );                                   
+                                    ctx.drawImage.apply( ctx, renderItem['arguments'] );                                   
                                 }      
                             }
                        
diff --git a/tests/proxy.html b/tests/proxy.html
index c918e10ff..ca55b111e 100644
--- a/tests/proxy.html
+++ b/tests/proxy.html
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
         <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
         <script type="text/javascript" src="test.js"></script>
 
-<base href="http://www.google.com/" />
+        <base href="http://www.google.com/" />
     </head>
     <body>         
         <h1>External image</h1>
@@ -14,5 +14,8 @@ <h1>External image</h1>
         <h1>External image (using &lt;base&gt; href)</h1>
         <img src="/logos/2011/gregormendel11-res.jpg" />
         
+        <h1>External image (CORS)</h1>
+        <img src="http://publishmydata.com/assets/home/blue_bg.png" />
+        
     </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/tests/test.js b/tests/test.js
index 6de231e19..a7b265b38 100644
--- a/tests/test.js
+++ b/tests/test.js
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
     setTimeout(function() {
       $(document.body).html2canvas({
         logging: true,
-        profile: true
+        profile: true,
+        useCORS: true
       });
     }, 100);
   };