Impactful images are a necessary piece to creating a great website. But finding images that meet your needs and don’t cost a small fortune can be difficult. You can take photos yourself, buy images from stock photo websites that run a pretty penny or find images online that are free to use.
There are a variety of places you can find free photos that are available for public use. Most of these fall under the creative commons license so long as you properly attribute them. Others may be old enough that they now fall under public domain, which is what happens when an image’s copyright expires.
Here is a look at 5 places to find great stock images at no cost! Good luck.
Raumrot
Raumrot specializes in free, hand-selected stock photos to be used for personal or commercial projects. The images are available in high-resolution formats based on each individual photo’s creative commons license. Please display them according to those rules.
What’s most convenient is how the site is organized. You can search for the free stock photos by category and the selection of images is nice. Photos are generally modern and vary in composition and scope.
Unsplash
Unsplash uploads 10 new photos every day to be used under Creative Commons Zero, which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for personal and commercial use without notifying the artist or attributing their work.
Personally, we still prefer to attribute their work. That’s how they grow and create more great photos for you to use!
Gratisography
Ryan McGuire uploads his new free-to-use photography each week on Gratisography. Clicking on a photo will take you to a page where you can download a high-resolution photo for personal and commercial projects.
This site can be handy, but it is also great for a laugh because McGuire has a palpable sense of humor in many of his shots.
Foodie’s Feed
Thank you, Instagram and the Foodie movement, for making food images so easy to obtain! This site uploads five or more high-resolution photos each week, including collections with multiple angles of a plate.
Foodie’s Feed is a great location to get images of edibles that really look appetizing.
The Amazing Pattern Library
Okay, you caught us. This isn’t technically a stock photo site. However, The Amazing Pattern Library has a wide variety of patterns and textures that can be used in designing a beautiful website with a fun or modern aesthetic.
Choosing great images for a website will create an encapsulating experience for your visitors. For more information on impactful web design, contact our creative experts.
