Stock photography is a great resource to help you tell your brand’s story visually. For a long time, stock photos had a bad reputation for being staged, cheesy, and stiff. While those photos are still out there, it is much easier these days to find high-quality, organic stock imagery thanks to a few excellent free stock photo sites.
What are Stock Photos?
So, what are stock photos exactly? Stock photos are images taken by a photographer with the intent that they will be licensed by other people for use. There are many different licenses, both free and paid.
Some licenses might allow you to use an image for free with attribution to the creator, some might allow or disallow derivative works using the image, and some licenses might have no restrictions.
Both free and paid licenses will have specific directions on how an image can be used. It is important to always respect an image’s license.
Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a commission if you click on a link and make a purchase.
Tips for Using Free Stock Photos
- Always check the license and use the image within the parameters of the license or else legal action could be taken against you and/or your website.
- Use free stock photos sparingly. It is a best practice to use a mix of your own original photos with stock photos. If you need a lot of high-quality photography, but don’t have the equipment, time, or budget for photography, you might want to consider purchasing a styled stock photo bundle or joining a stock photo membership site.
- Don’t be afraid to go deep in the search results of a stock photo site. The more you use free stock photos, the more easily you will recognize stock photos on other sites. I have seen some of the same free stock photos used over and over again by different sites. This can be a red flag to savvy users, or feel inauthentic.
- Don’t cast the people in your stock photos in a bad light. Many stock photo sites ask that you don’t use the stock images of people’s faces in blog posts or other publications about sensitive topics, such as sexual and mental health, criminal activity, drugs, or violence. You don’t want to inadvertently cause harm, defame, or misrepresent someone in a stock photo – they are real people too.
One last tip is to always be cautious when using free stock photos. Even on vetted sites, there is always the chance someone may have taken a photo from another creator and uploaded it as their own. Always do your research and be diligent when using any free product, even free stock photos.
Now for Some of the Best Free Stock Photo Sites
Pexels.com
Pexels.com is my go-to source for free stock photos and videos. Yes, videos! Their catalogue is so extensive, I am sure you would be able to find something gorgeous for any project regardless of industry or aesthetic.
A lot of the other free stock photo sites that are out there have their own accounts on Pexels, so Pexels in a way aggregates a lot of the images from other sites so you don’t have to bounce around searching for what you need.
Some other great features of Pexels include easy, copy-paste attribution links, and the ability to do an image search by color.
Learn about the Pexels license.
Nappy.co
Nappy.co is a website for free, high-quality stock photos of black and brown people. The images include diverse people of all ages in many different settings that would work well for any business or lifestyle website.
Representation is important. This great resource provides authentic images that can help you both include and acknowledge all of your audience.
Learn about Nappy.co’s license.
Gratisography.com
Gratisography.com is one of the more curious free stock photo sites. These are not your parent’s stock photos. While they say a picture is worth a thousand words, these pictures are worth about ten-thousand.
Living up to their promise of quirky imagery, their collections include “Mischievous Men,” “Whimsical Women,” and “Amusing Animals.” You can tell a lot by how someone names their collections.
Learn about Gratisography’s license.
Unsplash.com
Unsplash.com, like Pexels, is another great free stock photo site with an immense catalog of imagery.
One of Unsplash’s strengths is in its intuitive categories. Sometimes you know what you are looking for, but you don’t’ know what search terms to use to get what you want. That is why well though out categories, such as Unsplash’s, can enhance user experience.
As I write this in April 2020, they have a whole category related to COVID-19, and another separate category for “current events.” This is an invaluable resource for content creators who are addressing the ever changing times.
On a lighter note, they also have a whole category of HD images to use for backgrounds on your desktop or mobile device.
Unsplash is a must bookmark. Learn about Unsplash’s license.
Picnoi.com
Picnoi.com is another phenomenal resource for real, authentic images of people of color. Picnoi’s mission is to make finding high-quality, free stock photos of people of color easier for all content creators.
From editorial style, to intimate, quiet moments, Picnoi has a great variety of photos that could be used for many different media.
Bonus Tip: Canva for Free Stock Photos
If you are like me and use Canva to create a lot of your graphics, you will be happy to know that they include a lot of free stock photos in their free plan. If you have the Canva Pro plan, they recently changed their terms so you now have access to tens of thousands of premium photos included in the price of your pro plan!
Canva also integrates with Pexels and Pixabay, so you don’t even have to leave your design behind to go search around the internet for photos. These features really help streamline the creative process.
You can try Canva Pro for free for thirty days.
Now, I Want to Hear from You
Let me know in the comments what some of your favorite ways to use free stock photos, and what other websites and resources you like to use.
As always, thanks for reading Domains and Champagne!
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