As a blogger, there are a few tools you need. One of those is great pictures, which often means stock photos.
If you are still using a point-and-shoot camera, and can’t for the life of you figure out the rule of thirds, chances are your pictures aren’t very good, and all those pins on pinterest are falling flat. And even if you have an artistic eye and a great camera you (mostly) know how to use, it doesn’t mean you can still take pictures that will be *just right* for that new killer blog post you wrote.
This seems especially true for me, a Parenting/Family/Lifestyle blogger. Sometimes I just don’t have a great image of my own to use for “getting kids to take their medicine when they don’t want to” because the reality is, my kids aren’t actors, and neither am I, and my house doesn’t always have great backgrounds (aka there is random crap all over the place) nor do we wear the cutest, matching, non-distracting, clothes.
The time involved in trying to get that Pinterest-perfect picture for a parenting post just seems like a very bad time investment. It is then that I am so thankful for stock photography.
Stock Photos
Stock photos are almost an essential element for any blog or website.
Pictures break up long posts, add to the story, illustrate a point, and are a must for getting shared on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other visual websites.
You need great pictures! Plain as that.
The problem is, where do you find those amazing pictures, and how do you not spend a fortune on them, because, no one wants to spend lots of money on images.
Because I want you to be successful, and on the cheap, I gathered together an amazing list of 42 websites where you can get free stock photos for blogs, as well as where you can get cheap stock photos for just $1.
I am also including a few low-cost paid options, because, honestly, free isn’t always the best when it comes to stock photos and getting exactly what you need.
I organized this according to restrictions on how and when you can use these stock images. Because, here’s the thing: someone took these pictures and they have the rights to them unless otherwise specified.
You must always, always, always, read the fine print and understand if what you want to do with it (put it on your website vs on a billboard), do to it (add text, change coloring, crop it), or whatever is allowed by the terms of use.
Sometimes you need to put a little link in the post about where you got the image and who took it, especially from free sites. This is called attribution.
Usually when you pay for an image you are waiving that obligation. But, just because you pay, it doesn’t always mean you can do anything with the image, like resell it yourself.
And then there is the commercial vs non-commerical use. I’m not 100% sure what constitutes a “commercial” use. A blog post might be considered commercial use if you make money from your blog. But, it also might not, as it could just refer to using it on printed materials like billboards, pamphlets, flyers, presentations, or business cards.
Again, it is up to you to read the fine print and use it according to the law. And, some websites that offer free stock photos may not actually have the model releases for the people pictures, so you have to use in your best judgment. So, just check the terms every time you grab an image to use on your site.
Traditional Paid Stock Photo Sites that Offer Freebies!
BigStockPhoto
You can try BigStock for free for 7 days and download up to 35 royalty free stock photos.
Their regular plans are more affordable, starting at just $29/month for 10 images or 150 images for $79/month. That’s actually a very good deal, and much more reasonable for a smaller blogger. You could stock up on 150 stock images for a month, and be set for a while.
Fotolia
Every week Fotolia offers 3 free images. You can grab an “on demand” package of 10 credits for $14 or a subscription
FREE STOCK PHOTOS (No Attribution Required):
Royalty Free
A lot of the following websites curate stock photos from images they find online from Creative Commons and sites like flickr. They simply choose the best images that have no restrictions or copyright attached to them. It can save you a lot of time looking through the thousands of images yourself looking for the very best.
You have permission to use these completely free, high-resolution, extra large images however you want. They upload 10 new photos every 10 days. They are gorgeous photos. The subject matter various, but they include lots of beautiful scenery, city skylines, silhouetted people, roads, tools, technology, cities, seas, buildings, and more. I suggest scrolling through and saving your favorites to your computer so you won’t have to find them again, as there is no search function, just a continuous scroll (so also no page jumping to help you find “that” photo again). I have used images from UnSplash multiple times and love it!
SnapwireSnaps.tumblr.com –
This website is set up almost exactly like UnSplash, featuring 7 new snaps/photos each week that are high res and free to use however. The images are very much like UnSplash, as well, with a great mix of images that are all pretty fantastic.
This site is just like UnSplash, but gives you the option of downloading a zip file with that week’s 7 hi-res images (however, they are no longer updating). The photos found here are very pretty. They include landscape images, animals, buildings, machines, lights, cameras, and more. Thankfully they have page numbers to help you navigate through the images easier too.
Similar to the previous two websites, Gratisography, however, specializes in things that are a bit, shall we say, unique. Some are humorous, some edgy, but all interesting and great royalty and copyright free high-resolution images.
Startupstockphotos.com/archive
If you are tech blogger, you should definitely check out these free images. They include people, laptops, office space, phones, notebooks, and all things technology-related. They don’t currenly have a huge selection of free images, but if this is your niche, I’d download these and use them for future posts.
Another great site that puts up new photos each week that are hi-res with no copyright restrictions. They do have the option in their gallery tab to break the photos down into categories, which are Beach, Black and White, City, Construction, Desk, Food, Industrial, Nature, Object, Sea, and Textures. They also pages if you just want to scroll through.
Awesome, high quality stock photos that are “totally free photos for your commerical and personal works.” And they are categorized with a search option and beautiful.
Here you find over 290,000 free photos, vectors, and art illustrations. There are some very nice photos (stunning as they say), most of which even allow for commercial use. The images are hand-picked by their curating team. You can browse by category or by using the search feature. Just know that when using the search box, the results will show sponsored images from shutterstock on the first row. I recently grabbed this photo for a post of mine on Ways to be a Fun, Playful Mom.
There are some great images here, though there isn’t a huge variety or a ton of images. It’s mostly background images or landscapes though they have a few other images.
This is one of those tricky stock photo sites that wants you to click on their banners’ search box instead of their site’s actual search bar. The search bar you want to use is at the top right, in the dark gray portion of the site. They don’t have a very large selection, mostly of objects.
I have used this website several times for various stock images over the years (or at least while searching). They have a fairly good selection, though not the most amazing images. Some are downright bad. But, you could luck out.
To use their site you have to register for a free account. Just be aware then when you are searching, the first row of pictures are actually images from ShutterStock (listed above as a high cost paid option), so ignore that row if you want to download FREE images from their site. The selection here also isn’t huge, but they do offer a search feature. Some of the images aren’t great, but there are some gems on there! I personally really like this photographer’s images of people/objects.
Free Photos Bank
Here you find a limited number of free stock photos in the categories Abstract, Architecture, Computers/Tech, Food, Nature, Objects, Transportation, and Life. The hard thing to me about browsing on their site is that all the picture previews are tiny and I don’t even know what they are unless I click on them. But, there are some great photos in here.
This is only textures/backgrounds which are great for memes or simple graphics you may want to do. Small selection, but free.
At ImageBase.net you will find free stock images in the categories: People, Objects, Nature, PowerPoint Slides, City, and Holy Land. The images are actually very nice, though maybe not amazing. Better than some of the other free sites like it.
The photos here are broken up into the following categories: Activities, Animals, Cities, Food, Landscapes, Objects, People, Plants, Transportation, and Bonus. It is a small collection of free images, and pictures aren’t the greatest. More available on their main site Turbophoto, but you can only use the small/medium for free, but without attribution (otherwise $5).
Blog Chicka Blog {affiliate}
I have to tell you that this is my friend Jill’s personal blog and she has amazing stock photos (she’s a professional photographer). She’s offering them up for just $1 a piece with no contracts, credits, or commitments of any kind. Plus, each download comes with two different sized photos and resolutions. If you sign up for her email list, you’ll receive a free stock photo credit. And, she even occasionally offers a free image on her blog’s Facebook page (which you should be following as a blogger – she shares some awesome blogging-related articles and photography tips too). She’s totally generous like that, and sometimes even takes requests of what to photograph next.
FreeImages.com (Formerly stock.xchng)
On FreeImages.com you will find very nice images and a pretty wide selection. However, be aware that the first row of images are sponsored images from iStockPhoto.com (a paid website I mentioned above). So don’t click on them if you want the free images. I do wish they had a category feature though.
They boast 51,000 stock images that are free for Non-Commerical/Personal use. And again, be aware that when you do a search, the first two rows, and the last two rows, are sponsored images from ShutterStock that will cost money. The free images will be in the middle. Personally, I don’t find they have a huge collection of images that I would want, but they might for you. The images aren’t super amazing, but there are some real gems in there!
You need to register to download the images, but then they are free even for commercial use and with no attribution required. Plus, they even have the model/talent release for the photos with people (if you look at the fine print on some websites you’ll notice that they don’t have these releases). The pictures are pretty high quality, although not as great as ones where you pay, but with a little searching you may just find what you want. A good range of categories too.
These images are absolutely free to use for personal and commercial use. They have a lot of vectors and graphics, but also some other high quality scenes and people photos as well. Not an enormous selection though. You are required to register.
This site looks different when you first come to it. There aren’t any pictures. You have to click on one of the several categories and then browse through the images. They are pretty quality images and are free to download and use.
This site is a bit different in that all of the free stock photos are images that were captured with smartphones. They are Hi-Res Mobile photos. The top search bar is an ad, so don’t use it to try to search. You have to just scroll down and letting new images load. The images are mostly cityscapes, landscapes, objects, statues, and food. Right now it’s a very small collection, but you might find something you like.
This is a unique stock photo website in that they offer old, vintage, and historical images that are free to download. If you write about history, vintage-themes, or just like using these types of images, I would definitely scroll through them! Many are in black and white or sepia tones. All sorts of different things pictured too, from immigrants, to buildings, to posters, to landing on the moon.
Tack-O-Rama
This stock photo website is also unique because they offer retro resources for designers. It’s vintage clipart, fonts, and stock photography. However, they aren’t sure of the copyright of some of the old images, but most are in public domain. The images are great for those who want images that are vintage or have a classic feel.
FREE STOCK PHOTOS (that require attribution):
Some websites offer free stock photos for blogs and websites, but they require that you give an attribution to their site as well as the owner of the photograph. Be sure to read the fine print for what exactly they are asking you for. Also, some of these sites only offer the free images in the smallest sizes, and then charge more if you want a larger version.
Foter is pretty awesome. You can search 228,860,217 (as of this writing) free stock photos. They have some awesome, beautiful pictures in a variety of sizes, which can be used for non-commercial uses (always check the fine print, as some can’t be modified). It’s nice that you can search by license type and even sort them by relevance, recency, interestingness, and with a safe or moderate search. Just remember to attribute on your post!
They have a very large collection of images. I have used their free images many times on my blog as they have a very large collection of people stock photos. However, the free images are all small and require attribution. I have been able to stretch the images sometimes to make them “pin-worthy” but you have to be careful because if you do blow them up you will see the pixels and they will start to get blurry. So, I guess it just depends on what you are using them for. If you don’t want to have an attribution or get a larger size, you can, but you’ll pay $3.00+ for one image.
This is a pretty great site with some quality stock photos. They claim to have the largest web collection of free images with more than 1 million royalty-free stock photos. You just need to attribute! Oh, and be weary of the sponsored images from Dreamstime that appear at the top and the bottom of your searches.
They have some great photos and are organized, but require attribution. Some even say you can’t make derivative works of them, nor use them for commercial purposes. Be sure to read the fine print and know which license the picture has. Thankfully you can search by license type (so click “commercial.”) However, they don’t really have a large variety of images and are very limited in the number of photos available.
Work with other sites, so not everything is free or available on their site. Some you need to log-in to download. And many require attribution. However, full disclosure: that they do have inappropriate pictures (i.e. naked women) in their search results. The pictures here are also not the best quality. You really have to search to find images that good compositions and lighting.
Pixel Perfect Digital
A great site for backgrounds and textures, as well as close up shots and objects, there are some really cool free stock photos here. I would totally browse through a few of their galleries. They do ask that you credit their site for the original creation.
They are a paid stock photo site, but they offer free images as well, but it does require registration and then attribution. But, it’s a pretty good selection.
With a subtitle of free photos for bloggers nd creatives, this is a good resource for stock photos. The images come from Creative Commons on Flickr. When you do search, the top two rows are sponsored images, so don’t click those unless you want to pay for the image. You can also choose the license type on the side bar – commercial or non-commercial. However, you will have to do some searching for high-quality, awesome photos. There are some good ones, but it will take some digging. And you’ll have to copy and pate the html for attribution purposes.
Another stock photo site that shres Creative Commons photos, but watch the terms; it looks like some want to charge $30 for commercial use. Also, use the orange search bar in the middle of the page, and not the gray “depositphotos” search in the top right. And in search results, the sponsored images will be at at the bottom. They have limited categories (which do not include people) and the images are only okay. You will have to poke around more and see what they have and if your niche fits their photos.
GeekPhilospher
They do not have a lot of stock photos, but they are pretty good (though not amazing). They includes celebrity images in web resolution quality. Categories are Animals, Events, Food/Drink, Holidays, Insects, Medical/Dental, Music/Bands, Nature, Objects, People, Places/Buildings, Sports, and Transportation.
Resources for this post (and where you can find even more free stock photo sites):
SlapDashMom.com – Find Free Images for Your Blog
Marketing for Owners.com – 12 Free stock Photo Alternatives
DesignYourOwnBlog.com – The BIG Guide to Free Images for Your Blog Part 1: Public Domain
The BIG Guide to Free Images for Your Blog Part 2: Creative Commons
LifeBlooming.com – Free Stock Photos for Your Blog
Kristy Girl – Top 10 Copyright Free Image Sources for Bloggers
Homeschool Blogging – 30 Free Image Sources for Commercial Use Stock Photography and ClipArt Grphics
Beautiful Life – 15 Best Free Stock Photo Sites
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