Finding the right media (while complying with the legal rules) is one of the most difficult parts of the creation of an article.
You have to choose the right subject, identify a picture free of copyrights (otherwise citing the source or the author), verify that the image has sufficient pixels size (I go for 600 px within my blog posts, and a little more for the featured one) or even resize the image if needed.
And despite all the time you spend on this process, sometimes the results are mediocre (well, it always depends on your expectations).
Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world – Bruno Barbey
A beautiful picture can make the difference between getting clicks and visitors or being ignored.
Wanting to go into detail, a well-edited image within your web pages provides:
- a greater amount of hits from Google Images (upon proper completion of the alt tag);
- a better perception of the “quality” of your article;
- an overall professional look of your website;
- an increase in the CTR. Just think, for example, when your content is shared via Facebook or Google Plus. The featured image of your post, together with its title, are the determining factors to get clicks.
Here is a list of 20 websites to find free photos, without copyright, to use in your content.
1. Photopin
Photopin takes all the pictures from Flickr under Creative Commons, which means you can use them by quoting the source (with a very short code already provided).
Just proceed with the keyword search in any language.
But pay attention as on Flickr, as well as great photographers, there are also fewer good users publishing media, so try to scan for quality pictures.
2. Free Images
Free Images is simple to use, albeit a little unattractive.
Do your keyword search and download your preferred images.
There are also tutorials to learn how to “do things”, with the possibility to modify the pictures.
Over 410.000 photos online.
3. Stockvault
Stockvault has currently about 54 thousand pictures (so a few compared to other repositories of images).
For each media, you are notified of the conditions of use, but it is not possible to choose the size of download.
Good variety.
4. MorgueFile
MorgueFile is among the most popular sites to get free images.
With over 350 thousand photos, it’s nearly impossible not to find what you want!
Insert a keyword and do a parallel research on iStockPhoto, Getty, Dreamstime, Fotolia and Depositphotos.
5. Pixabay
Pixabay is easy to use: just add your keyword in the search field to find the picture you are looking for.
Not bad also the “Editor’s Choice”, which contains the images chosen by the Pixabay team.
Other Websites
6. Photo Rack: http://photorack.net
7. Free Pixels: http://www.freepixels.com
8. Free Digital Photos: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
9. Pic Jumbo: http://picjumbo.com
10. New Old Stock: http://nos.twnsnd.co (good if you are searching for “vintage” photos)
11. We Function: http://wefunction.com/category/free-photos/
12. Gratisography: http://www.gratisography.com (Brian McGuire and Bells Design provide many photos, with a particular taste. Copyright-free, even for commercial uses).
Download for Free, After Registration
This is a widespread formula.
If you find the site that intrigues you, just register and you will be able to download quality images.
Here are some:
13. FreeRangeStock: http://freerangestock.com (even for commercial purposes, with a minimum size of 2400 x 1600 pixels)
14. RgbStock: http://www.rgbstock.com (wallpapers, images, textures)
15. StockPhotosForFree: http://www.stockphotosforfree.com (with the ranking of the most downloaded. Interesting preset categories to choose from)
16. StockFreeImages: http://www.stockfreeimages.com (more than 1 million of images and illustrations)
17. PixelPerfectDigital: http://pixelperfectdigital.com (not just photos, but also background, textures, various elements of design)
Free Images, But With a Newsletter
In addition to classic search engines for images, there are also sites where you need to subscribe to a free newsletter, in order to get images directly in your inbox.
18. DeathToTheStockPhoto: http://deathtothestockphoto.com (just enter your email and automatically, every month, you will receive free photos)
19. Unsplash: https://unsplash.com (after the subscription, you’ll get 10 photos a day)
20. LittleVisuals: http://littlevisuals.co (7 photos every 7 days, with no limit of use)
I hope you will find this list of resources useful.
So now you have no excuses to add catchy and nice images to your website.
And you?
Do you have a special place where to find excellent free images?
Please share it in the comments below, thanks!
Ryan Biddulph says
April 6, 2015 at 10:32 amHi Erik,
Super helpful list!
I use my travel photos, so I kinda cheat lol.
Although it does take time for me to snap them.
Also, I may use free digital photos for my client articles. Pretty good site over there.
Erik, thanks for sharing the resource!
Tweeting from Bali.
Ryan
Erik Emanuelli says
April 7, 2015 at 2:42 pmHey Ryan,
you are the master of the selfies.
After all, with all the amazing places you visit and live,
it would be a shame not to take advantage and take a lot of pictures! ;-.)
Enjoy your week over there in Bali.
Harleena Singh says
April 6, 2015 at 10:37 amHi Erik,
Resourceful post indeed 🙂
Yes, I use some of these image sites, and they are pretty good I would say. And I have been using just a combinations of these site for the pictures on my blog ever since day one, so I wonder why people go for the paid images? I guess we need to explore the free options more, because lots of good stuff out there is for free, just waiting to be tapped.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Erik Emanuelli says
April 7, 2015 at 2:43 pmHello Harleena,
good to hear you already know some of the sites mentioned in this post.
Hope you have found at least something new! 😉
Have a great rest of this week,
thanks for visiting and commenting here.
Nisha Pandey says
April 6, 2015 at 12:10 pmHi Erik,
It is wonderful resource. Images are the backbone of any post. Post doesn’t look good and complete without the relevant image.
Thanks for sharing the huge list for finding the digital photos. It is really helpful.
Thanks again. Have a wonderful week!
Erik Emanuelli says
April 7, 2015 at 2:45 pmHi Nisha,
happy to hear your positive feedback.
Hope you found this list of websites to find good free images useful.
Thanks for visiting and commenting,
have a good one!
Edwin Sydney says
April 7, 2015 at 9:38 amGreat in deed.At times getting images to match your work becomes a big deal when you have no information where to get them.This is quite good.
Erik Emanuelli says
April 7, 2015 at 2:45 pmThanks for the feedback, Edwin.
Onyema shedrach says
April 7, 2015 at 10:00 amThe image sharing tips above are wounderful, I will consider checking them for my fucture blog post.
Erik Emanuelli says
April 7, 2015 at 2:45 pmGreat, Onyema!
unicom says
April 7, 2015 at 3:46 pmThis is really a great stuff to get images free for our blog content. Will definetely go through these sites and let you know the result
Erik Emanuelli says
April 7, 2015 at 4:30 pmGood to hear that, let me know the one you like more!
Ileane says
April 8, 2015 at 11:51 amHi there Erik!
For years I would pay for my subscription to iStockphotos but with the wonderful free resources available today I really don’t need to. But the cool thing is, I still get one free image from them every week so it was worth it in the long run.
There are three bloggers that I would like to mention and you might want to add them to your list. Dustin Stout has some fantastic social media icons and templates and free images for his subscribers, Thomas Hanna from BlogPhotoTV sends out a fresh set of free images every week and my friend Lillian from Tiger Lilly Virtual Assistance gives away some great graphics too!
Thanks for the list Erik, chat soon!
Erik Emanuelli says
April 8, 2015 at 1:45 pmHi Ileane,
good to see you! 🙂
Well, you paid for a service with iStockphotos, and now you are receiving free images every week.
It seems a nice deal!
Thanks for mentioning those sites, indeed interesting resources.
I’ll check them out and eventually add them to this list.
Appreciate the visit and comment, Ileane.
Do have a fantastic rest of this week.
Kuldeep says
April 9, 2015 at 9:59 amHi Erik,
Great list of sites to download free images. My favorite is Free Digital Photos, got to know some new sites today.
Thanks for sharing this list 🙂
Erik Emanuelli says
April 10, 2015 at 11:49 amHi Kuldeep,
thanks for the kind feedback.
Glad you liked the post.
Thyrone Charles says
April 10, 2015 at 7:50 amVery useful information you shared. I normally use Pixabay, Stocksnap and picjumbo sites.. But the sites you mentioned are different.
So next time I wanna visit your sites as well..
Thnks for shared this useful article.
Erik Emanuelli says
April 10, 2015 at 11:50 amHi Thyrone,
thanks for mentioning those resources.
Stocksnap.io is quite new, but seems interesting.
Appreciate the comment, talk to you soon.
Romjan Dhayan says
April 10, 2015 at 10:03 pmHey Erik Emanuelli,
Yes, Images are good for a article to clear more about it to the readers. Above sites you mentioned will probably good. I will check check them one by one. Thank you buddy for sharing such post with us.
Erik Emanuelli says
April 12, 2015 at 11:09 amGlad you liked the sites mentioned.
Thanks for commenting.
Arbaz Khan says
April 11, 2015 at 9:04 amHey Erik, Great article man. I normally use FreeDigitalPhotos to download images for free for my articles and never tried any other website. I also wrote an article on the best stock photo sites to get images for free where I mentioned more than 30 such websites. You can check it out here and share your views –
Erik Emanuelli says
April 12, 2015 at 11:09 amGoing to check it, Arbaz.
Thanks for mentioning.
Dennis Seymour says
April 11, 2015 at 9:52 amGreat list Erik! Bookmarked them. I usually just use Pixabay. The rest I just take on my own, but stock photos will always come in handy 🙂
Erik Emanuelli says
April 12, 2015 at 11:11 amHi Dennis,
good to hear that!
Sometimes it’s great to have several alternatives.
Thanks for visiting and commenting,
happy sunday!
Yash Birajdar says
April 13, 2015 at 5:49 pmHey Eric,
I must say being new to blogging world is very difficult to handle, but post like such helps to overcome the difficulties faced.
Lovely post to a newcomer like me who hardly knows about the websites related to free images which are most important
Awesome Post!!!thanks a lot mate
Erik Emanuelli says
April 14, 2015 at 1:03 pmHello Yash,
glad you enjoyed the free resources here.
Thanks for commenting, and keep following!
rahul choudhary says
April 14, 2015 at 5:16 amHey Erik,
another superb post above destinations you specified will likely great Much obliged for specifying those locales, in fact intriguing assets.
I’ll look at them and inevitably add them to this rundown.
Erik Emanuelli says
April 14, 2015 at 1:04 pmHi Rahul,
appreciate the kind feedback.
Have a good week!
Christy says
April 16, 2015 at 7:42 pmWOW I can’t believe there are lot of sites which are providing free stock photos/images. Actually I checked for free but most of them were providing images with watermarked.
Can you confirm we can get images without watermarked.
Thanks
Erik Emanuelli says
April 17, 2015 at 8:29 amI depends on each of the sites mentioned, Christy.
Be sure to take a look!
Hamim says
April 18, 2015 at 4:18 pmHey Erik,
Great Resources.
I was just searching for that.
Hardly I know only one or two of them. going to check all of them.
Thanks for this awesome list.
-Hamim
Erik Emanuelli says
April 20, 2015 at 8:33 amGood to hear that, Hamim.
Glad you enjoyed the free resources shared here.
Sourabh says
April 26, 2015 at 3:42 pmGreat list. I have been looking for these high quality images from long time. Thanks for sharing this. Definitely this is helpful for me and everyone.
Erik Emanuelli says
April 27, 2015 at 8:39 amHello Sourabh,
good to hear you enjoyed these free resources to get images.
Appreciate your kind feedback!
Swapnil Jagtap says
April 27, 2015 at 8:10 amHey Erik,
thanks for the list of sites for free images, i will surely use them in my next blog. I have saved this page too for quick referring to all the sites you have mentioned. Looking for more such updates. Thanks for the post.
Erik Emanuelli says
April 27, 2015 at 8:41 amHello Swapnil,
it’s great you bookmarked this page.
Use it for future reference when you’ll need free images for your sites.
Thanks for commenting!
ankush says
May 16, 2015 at 1:43 pmAfter reading your this article I used photopin search images for my website content
Erik Emanuelli says
May 18, 2015 at 9:34 amGood to see you learned something new from this post today, Ankush.
Keep following and thanks for commenting.
ankush says
May 18, 2015 at 10:02 amhey erik,
Any top sites for video as same as image.
Erik Emanuelli says
May 18, 2015 at 11:17 amYou suggested me a new topic for my next post, thanks Ankush! 😉
ankush says
May 18, 2015 at 2:59 pmErik I am waiting for your next Post.I already Bookmarked your website.
Best Regards
Ankush
Erik Emanuelli says
May 19, 2015 at 9:21 amGood to hear it, Ankush.
Talk to you the next post, then! 🙂