If you are a blogger or you have a photography business, you know that stock photos are important to your livelihood. This is why I put together a list of free image website resources for you to refer back to when you are just having a tough time finding the right photo.
I know as a blogger you don’t want to be caught using a photo that is not public domain or wasn’t created by you. That’s why having free image website resources is very integral to a blogger.
Starting out as a blogger, you need to have these resources until you can either get your own camera or have the funds to hire someone to take photos for you. In that spirit, I’m going to give you 15+ top free image website resources.
15+ Free Image Website Resources
Pixabay
Pixabay is one of my favorite places to get photos. As you browse through my site, you will see many photos that have come from this site. Combine Pixabay with Canva and you have a blog masterpiece.
Not only can you get free images, but you can search vectors (mathematically generated images that never get blurry when resized), and video.
Life of pix is a free resource that I have really overlooked but when I write posts like this, I’m reminded that I should be checking in on this site more often. They have some great resources for bloggers that other sites do not have.
One thing you’ll notice is that if you type in the same terms on different sites, you’ll start to see the same photos pop up. This seems to be the case here as well, but they offer more images that other sites do not have.
A site that touts death to anything is usually not worth taking a look at.? However,? I found this one a bit off the board.? It’s not stock photography in the sense of the word.? it’s really a site all about the non-standard photo.
Photos with models that may have signed their name saying that you can use their image from this website.
Canva is yet another resource that most people do not think about using.? Yes, this is a place to create your images for your blog posts, and social media.? Yes, this is also a stock photography site that has many FREE images, vectors, etc.? However, they also have a paid option.? If the photo is worth it to you, you can pay $1 for the photo.? Do as many edits to the photo for 24hrs and then your access is shut off.
I get around this 24 hr bit by downloading a copy of that photo to my hard drive in a Canva folder.? I see no reason to pay for an image 2 or more times.? You shouldn’t either.
I’ve found this one intriguing.? However, the only reason for this intrigue is the mere fact that the free photos are there to entice you to sign up for there service.? All of these photos after your free 10 pack allotment are on a paid basis.
Sure, I would trust them that they would have great photos to use.? Just remember, whatever you do, it’s going to be free at first.? But then…
This site is one of those paid subscription sites that will give you rights to the photos you download.? it’s a one time fee and you buy your photos by purchasing packs of 10, 150, 200, 780 or more.? These are allotted to you in a one time fashion or on a monthly basis. The monthly plans start out at $39/mo and go up to $229/month for the 780 plan.
They give you a pretty good discount for purchasing the plan on a yearly basis.? For instance, you can get the 10 plan for $25 instead of the regular $39.
This site is also in the other post that I wrote about free images.? I chose this again because the site is not as robust but it has so many different images to choose from.? I would recommend using the search function if you’re short on time though. The way its setup you can really spend some time on this site searching for your photo.
The only downfall to this site is that Tumblr?is the system of choice. I’m sure the reasoning is due to the cost (free). I also presume this is why the site is not very friendly in searching for the photos.
The site is completely free, which is why I’m including it here for your reference.
To round off the top 10 is a site that has photos in categories for you. Both free and paid photo categories show up in very obvious places.? However, they are presented to you up front before clicking on the image, then being notified it’s a paid or free image.
As I go through some of the photo sites that I see on other blogs, I want to get a good feel for them.
One thing that I am almost always never going to promote is another blog on a free site such as blogger, Tumblr with free photos of them.? Long story short, they need to be self-hosted sites.? To me, that shows they are truly providing value and aren’t bound by the T’s & C’s of the site that’s hosting them.
As you can see in the photo below, this is another site that promotes free creatives by creatives.? In my book, it’s always great to see people in the same niche supporting each other.
Free pictures for your website can be tough if you’re looking for the photo for free.? Dreamstime is a site that covers a vast amount of subjects and you could very well find the perfect photo here.
As you can see, there are free photos to be searched here as well.
Originally, I found this photo site as a top professional site for photo enthusiasts only.? However, upon review, you definitely can search this site for the perfect photo for your next social media or blog post.
I think the trend (as of Jan 2018) in this world of stock photos is to have a site that has a section of free photos – if you sign up for an account.? Then offer you photos that are just too good to pass up but they are not free.
Now, I haven’t done much searching on this site, but one thing that I took note to was that my firewall blocked this site on my home network.? I checked it out on my phone and everything seems to be all in the clear.? The error that shows up on the block page says…
These are the top 15 that I have full confidence in. Most of these are free to start out and have premium features if you choose to go that far. Some, have premiums right out of the gate. That said, if you’re on a budget, I think it’s a no-brainer to do all you can and stick with the freebie photos until you have a budget to spend on photos. Some bloggers never do any spending on photos. it’s all a matter of your photo-taking skill set. Which really isn’t tough these days with a selfie iPhone / Android available at a moment’s notice.
I will be adding to this list as I get more resources for you to check out. Side note: each link will open in a new tab/window. Remember to please bookmark this post and share it around.
When you’re off to your blogging journey, you quickly learn that using images and video are very much needed in order to make your blog a great reading experience.
These images help the visitor to create the image in their mind and henceforth, remember your blog, website and hopefully will keep them coming back for more.
The other side of the coin is that most people when they start out, will go to google and type in a keyword and find an image from the search engine result.
Word of advice —- DON’T DO IT!
Instead, get your free images and then use a program called Canva
Google does not actively send out agents to find photos that are being used fraudulently, but if someone decided to complain or a photo owner finds you’re using their content without permission, you can be slapped with a hefty fine. This fine is anywhere between $8,000 and $12,000 from what I have heard from friends.
Think this won’t happen to you? I know a friend of a friend that has had this happen to them and it’s not pretty, especially when you’re just starting out and don’t exactly have a 4-5 figure expenditure budget to pay such avoidable costs.
Protect Your Blogging Efforts With Free Image Resources
Instead of doing things the wrong way, start off by inserting photos you know are free to use and have expressly been categorized as such.
Stock Snap
Stock snap is a free image search engine if you will. On the page that you are taken to right away. Type in a search term and boom, you’ve got a list of photos that are free for download from different users around the world.You can then re-size them for your use and add text graphics as well.Click Here to Learn More About Stock Snap
Little Visuals
This site is an email based delivery photo catalog. When getting to the site you will be told that you can get 7 high-quality images sent to your email inbox every day.
Each day you will be sent a pack of folders that are zipped up “.zip”. So you will need a program to unzip the file. Thankfully, almost every computer these days has a pre-installed program to do just that – zip and unzip. On Apple machines, you will see that they call it to compress and uncompressed and Windows it’s called compact and compress
The design of this site is one of the sites that are not free on this list. However, the caveat to this is that the membership is so cheap it’s well worth the investment of $50/year or $5/month. Mopho.to is setup just like a few other sites that have monthly “credits” that you pay for. This is just a much cheaper version that has high-definition photos to use on your blog and social media.
If you’re still wanting just the free photos there is an option on this site for free photos at mopho.to/free/
So you wanted to know where the videos would come into play, right? Well here’s the site that you can use that has over 540,000 free photos, vectors and art illustrations.
It says so, right at the top of their page!
So as I dig into this site, I find that when you search for a term, you are presented with photos from different people as well as different sites such as the expensive (but legal) shutterstock.com.
When you go to click on the Shutterstock photos you are taken to a sign-up page to get photos from Shutterstock. My guess is that Pixabay is using Shutterstock as a way to monetize this site. If you would like to pay for your photos, go ahead and get them here at Shutterstock or you can stick with the free photos on Pixabay.
The point of this blog post is to provide you with an arsenal of websites that provide free photos in many forms.
The organization of this site is quite good as well. It’s planned so that anyone can choose video, vector, or photo on the results page of any searched term.
Jay Mantri has a site that has a few photos you can use online for your blog or social media. To get to all the photos you will need to click some links and browse the site a bit.
One thing to note on this site, if you have any filters you will probably need to turn them off or view the site from a wide-open network such as a coffee shop or from home. A corporate network will more than likely block some of the technologies to render the site correctly.
Very much a site that has imagination on the mind. photos are photoshopped with different heads on different bodies big heads on smaller bodies and other oddities.
Blogging is a way to show off your online business. If you don’t have images, what’s the point of blogging? With the resources above you have the ability to blog with resources that are free and usable on your blog.
Free Backgrounds, Textures, and Images for Your Website – Finding awesome photos to use on your website is grueling. Sure, there’s Google Image Search and swiping stuff the old-fashioned way but, if your website is or will become as popular as you expect, that’ll eventually come back and chomp you on the haunches. The world is a small place your ex-dating your ex-BFF should have taught you that.
Free Image Resources | Otis College of Art and Design – Established in 1918, Otis College of Art and Design is a national leader in art and design education. The College mission is to prepare diverse students for art and …
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