Creating content for a web site requires a lot of things – good content, an interesting angle, and usually some good eye candy. Trying to find good photography is easy, if you have a large stock photography budget – but what about free site?
Many time photographers want exposure and will offer their stock photos for free. Of course, you’ll have to check with each site to be sure you understand and utilize the necessary license, as some of the free stock photo sites will require attribution of some variety.
Here are 5 great free stock photo sites that I like to use.
Death To The Stock Photo
This is an interesting site that, once you sign up, will email you every month with new stock photos. The site features two self-taught photographers who are “…simply just sending our photography to friends, bloggers, artists, freelancers, businesses all with the goal of helping their brand be its best self without compromising on their visual aesthetic“. A premium option exists to help the site out and lets you gain access to an expanded library of additional stock photography.
Unrestricted Stock
This site has lots of vector, videos, and stock images. Unrestricted Stock’s mission is to “…provide the world with high quality images, video and vectors at no cost with no usage restrictions.”
Free Images
Formerly known as stock.xchang, there are tons of photos (410,000!) and lots to choose from. Thier belief was to “…create a site where creative people could exchange their photos for inspiration or work“. A handy search box is your guide at the top, and categories at the bottom are present to help you find the best photo for your project.
PicJumbo
A great site that has a vast library of stock photograph, and includes a fantastic filtering system to find just the photo that you are looking for. The site is a labor of love for artist Viktor Hanacek.
New Old Stock
This is one of the most interesting of the group – this site contains “…vintage photos from the public archives. Free of known copyright restrictions.” It certainly has a very nostalgic and feel to it – many of the photos instantly convey a feeling of time gone by, which can suit a lot of content.
Free Stock Photography
Photography can help visually tell a story – nothing can help engage someone like seeing an image that draws the eye and intrigues a person to want to know more. These are but a few of the sites available – if I missed your favorite site, be sure to let me know and I’ll review it in a future post.
