With more businesses using online platforms there is a growing need for accessible free stock photography, particularly free stock photography for blogs – which should always include more than just text.
Appropriately using great imagery will help enhance everything you do online and make your context 5x more attractive to your audience. But for those of us that regularly post online, forking out money every time we want to post something just to include an image, sometimes doesn’t seem like good financial sense.
So we turn to free stock photography. It’s finding half-decent and relevant free stock photography that then becomes the issue.
To help you in your search we’ve put together this blog with a list of free stock photography stocks you can browse through to find the perfect image for your needs – good luck! (these are in no particular order…)
RGB Stock
RSB Stock is a searchable free stock photography site with more than 100,000 images available. You are required to sign up, but from there you can download an unlimited number of images, all of which do not require attribution.
Google Search
Google Search offers great filtering tools to find copyright free images you can use for whatever purpose. All you need to do is start an image search on Google, click on Search Tools on the menu top right, select Usage Rights on the drop down menu, and then click “Labelled for reuse with modification,” as this give you the right to modify the photo (such as simply adding text). This video explains the process and how to download and attribute images from Wikipedia or other sites.
Pixabay
Pixabay is a great free stock photography site with over 440,000 free photos, vectors and art illustrations, all of which are searchable and most of which don’t require attribution.
Flickr
Flickr is a massive photo community. While not strictly a free stock photography site, you can change your search settings to find stock photography you’re allowed to use. This can be done by clicking the ‘Any License’ drop down menu and selectly the appropriate option (commercial use allowed – modification allowed etc.).
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons offers a database of more than 27 million “freely usable” media for anyone to use – but they do need to be attributed correctly. There are some restricted uses, depending on the licensing. However, all images have links to the correct attribution and any other requirements or restrictions for use.
Unsplash
Unsplash is known for their beautiful, high resolution landscapes. Every 10 days they upload 10 new royalty-free photos you can use. Great site to keep track of and save images that grab your attention. Attribution is required for all images.
Superfamous
Superfamous is a collection of mostly stunning, high quality landscape photos which you are allowed to use for your own purposes provided you attribute them correctly.
Picjumbo
Picjumbo is a searchable free stock photography site with an excellent variety of photos which you can browse by category. Pretty much all of the images don’t require attribution. You can also sign up to be notified when they upload new photos.
IM Free
IM Free is a curated collection of free web design resources available for commercial use. Attribution for the most part is required, but check each image.
Gratisography
Gratisography is hipster heaven. All pictures are photographed by Ryan McGuire and are some of the most evocative images on the web. They also require no attribution at all.
Morguefile
Morguefile contains free high resolution digital stock photographs and reference images for either corporate or public use. The purpose of the searchable site is to provide free image reference material for illustrators, comic book artist, designers, teachers and all creative pursuits.
FreeImages
FreeImages has over 390,000 free stock photography images you can use for almost anything. In some cases you may need to notify the artists about using the images and give credit to them. The site is searchable via a search bar via clickable categories.
New Old Stock
New Old Stock is a collection of antique photos, many taken by government agencies or discovered in estate sales. Photos are free of known copyright restrictions.
Picography
Picography is a scrollable site full of high resolution free stock photography by professional photographer. No attribution is required.
GetRefe
If you need architectural or landscape photos fast, GetRefe is ideal. There are no frills, no categories on this site, just beautiful, natural images taken by a series of photographers traveling throughout Europe.
Jay Mantri
Jay Mantri is a photographer who uploads new photos every Thursday. All photos are free for use under the creative commons license.
Public Domain Archive
Public Domain Archive is a repository archive of high quality public domain images. It’s not searchable but you can scroll through and find some amazing images.
StockSnap.io
StockSnap.io has a large selection of searachable beautiful free stock photos and high resolution images. StockSnap adds hundreds of images on a weekly basis and all photos are released under creative commons public domain – no attribution required.
Splitshire
Splitshire is a collection of free stock photos by web designer Daniel Nanescu. The photos are free for personal and commercial use with no attribution and you can browse images via category or a search bar.
Life of Pix
Life of Pix is a resource created by the LEEROY creative agency offering free high-resolution photos with no copyright restrictions. New pictures are added weekly and there is a search bar.
Death to Stock Photo
Death to Stock Photo emails you monthly with a photo pack of 10 photos within a certain category. The site is particularly targeted at bloggers and social media users. They use their own license which you can read on their webpage.
Lock & Stock Photos
Lock & Stock Photos are the works of AJ Montpetit, most of which are nature-based. All photos require an attribute via a link back to his website, but other than that you’re free to use as you wish.
Snapwire Snaps
Snapwire Snaps upload “7 beautiful photos every 7 days” by varying photographers. A bit of a mixed bag for you to browse through.
Travel Coffee Book
Travel Coffee Book is a site filled with travel photos from people all over the world. Images are free to use with no attribution.
DesignersPics
DesignersPics is a site filled with small collection of photos taken by Jeshu John from India. Photos are free to use for personal and commercial use. No attribution required.
Which is your favourite free stock photography site? Have we missed one?
*blog image by Benjamin Combs.