Ten years ago I got my first web-related job – I was a content writer at a lifestyle website. The thing I remember most vividly from this period is how difficult it was to find beautiful and free stock photos for my articles.
I was spending as much time looking for photos as writing the text itself. Thankfully, these times are long forgotten.
Do you have a blog? Then most probably you’ve already spent hours and hours on the social media carousel. Having an exceptional online presence requires consistency and… captivating images!
If you have a small business, you must have a website. I hope you know this by now! But having a website is not enough. You have to think about the user experience as well as the brand identity. Your website should communicate your company’s values and look nice at the same time.
“Look nice” – this sounds simple, doesn’t it? Honestly, it can be overwhelming as well. You can spend hours and hours looking for the perfect photo (oh, by the way, if that’s the case maybe you’d like to read my article 6 Ways to Overcome Perfectionism That Really Work) which will keep on eluding you.
A lot has happened in the past ten years but one thing didn’t change – I’m still looking for beautiful and free stock photos for my articles on a daily basis. Thanks to my Type A personality I have a list for every aspect of my life and the high-quality stock photos topic isn’t an exception.
I’d like to share with you my list consisting of 20 websites with beautiful free stock photos. Of course, the domain names are in alphabetical order, from A to Zen!
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BigFoto
The royalty-free photo agency BigFoto is suitable for traveling websites with emphasize on the useful information they provide. As most of the photos are taken by amateurs, it’s difficult to find a picture for the #traveldeeper Instagram feed. But if you need a couple of non-pretentious images for your article with valuable tips about a certain destination, this is the right place to find them.
BigPhoto
You’ll find over 77 million stock photos, videos, and vectors on BigPhoto. The website offers a 7-day free trial during which you can update your photo database with 35 royalty-free unique and rarely used images that suit your brand’s style.
Creative Convex
Creative Convex has not only great stock photos but also a free Instagram course and a couple of photography guides. According to the terms of use, you have to tag @pinkpotxo if you use the images on Instagram or other social media channels. These free stock photos are also suitable for all non-commercial purposes such as the cover of the free e-book you’re preparing as your opt-in incentive.
DesignerPics
On DesignerPics you can find high-resolution free stock photos for personal and commercial use. There are nine categories you can choose from – Architecture, Business, Concepts, Food&Drinks, Nature, People, Technology, Things and Wild Life. Attribution is not required, so you only need to find the best match for your needs!
Fancy Crave
Fancy Crave provides stunning stock photos which help people from all over the world to effortlessly create great designs. The website has focused on quality instead of quantity but nevertheless has eleven categories of free stock photos as well as free fonts.
Foodiesfeed
In Foodiesfeed, you’ll find more than 1200 free stock photos of food. All of them look absolutely amazing! This website should go immediately to your bookmarks if you’re running a food-related business.
Freepik
Freepik is the go-to place if you need free vectors, icons or backgrounds. The perfect library of free images for developing your website and building your brand image. They also have a premium membership, in case you need more or better styles.
If you want to make sure that the texts in your blog or website are impeccable, check out my article The Essential Guide to Editing and Proofreading Like a Pro!
Good Stock Photos
A website with free stock photos taken by one photographer. You can download any of the available photos and use it on your website, social media, app, blog, print design – wherever you want. The owner of the platform adds a new photo daily, so the available database is constantly growing.
Gratisography
Gratisography is something more than just a website for free stock photos. It has a collection of extremely quirky and creative images that cannot be found elsewhere. Even if you don’t need a weird or funny image right now, it’s worth spending a couple of minutes browsing the website’s categories. Such activity will instantly brighten your mood!
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I’d Pin That
The name says it all! This platform is trying to provide the perfect images to bloggers and website owners who want to boost their traffic using Pinterest. I’d Pin That has a built-in text editor so that you can immediately add attention-grabbing text and effects to the captivating free stock photos they offer.
Kaboom Pics
Astonishing images which you have to check out! The free stock photos available for download at Kaboom Pics are grouped in photoshoots. This means that you can use them for creating stories or a series of posts which will increase your audience’s engagement on social media channels like Instagram.
Furthermore, you can conduct a search by choosing the color palette you need – a cool feature which will help you be consistent in building your brand identity.
Negative Space
With more than 16 different categories, Negative Space is a positive surprise! Their beautiful high-resolution free stock photos are ideal for both personal and commercial use as they are CC0 licensed and completely free to use.
New Old Stock
Are you looking for an old black and white image? You’ll most probably find what you need on New Old Stock! This website offers vintage free stock photos from the public archives. Even if you don’t need such images, you can still take a virtual walk throughout history. Explore the past of our world and feel the romantic atmosphere of the long-forgotten times.
Related: How to Write the Perfect About Me Page for Your Blog
Pexels
Pexels offers amazing free stock photos made by talented photographers. Fashion, traveling, cooking, sports, personal development – whatever your niche is, you can find impressive images in Pexels. At the same time, their conditions are quite simple: all photos on Pexels can be used for free for commercial and non-commercial use; attribution is not required (giving credit to the photographer or Pexels is not necessary but always appreciated); you can modify the photos as you like. Sounds great, doesn’t it?!
Pic Jumbo
Free stock photos, backgrounds, and images in high resolution for personal and commercial use – this is what Pic Jumbo offers to its visitors. The website’s library is still growing and you can find stunning photos in various categories. They also have a premium membership if you decide that you’d like to invest some money in this aspect of your business.
Pixabay
Another website with free stock photos which are so beautiful that it’s hard to believe you shouldn’t pay to use them. Pixabay’s database has more than 1,6 million royalty free stock photos and videos shared by its large community. Explore the available images and find yourself captivated by the extraordinary world of photography.
Split Shire
You can find more than 1000 free stock photos on Split Shire. All of them are with impressive quality and great composition. There are around 20 categories to choose from which makes the chance to find something you’d like quite high.
Stock Snap
One of the main advantages of Stock Snap is that hundreds of free stock photos are being added every week. You can find tens of categories in their library – from “Gym” and “Restaurant” to “Beauty” or “Technology”. Whatever your niche is, you’ll most probably find something suitable for your needs.
Unsplash
Can you keep a secret? Unsplash is among the websites I use the most when I need stunning free stock photos for The Zen Freelancer. So far I’ve been able to find beautiful pictures to use as featured images for my articles.
Furthermore, Unsplash is my favorite source of great photographs which I use to make pins with. Check out my Pinterest account if you want to see the full potential of using Unsplash. And don’t be shy, drop me a message if you want to connect!
Viintage
According to me, this database can also be used as an inspiration as it has a lot of retro advertisements, graphics, book illustrations, and even typography fonts.
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