Credits clockwise: Unsplash, Get Refe, New Old Stock, Pixabay. See links below.
We all want high quality stock photography for our blogs.
Free high quality photography.
That’s legitimate to use.
And NOT cheesy.
Here’s the deal: You know it’s important to carefully select images for your blog and posts to get your message across. You also know that it’s important to avoid violating copyright laws when using stock photography.
The good news is that there are many resources to find great photography that won’t get you sued for using them and won’t break your bootstrap budget.
I’ve been slowly adding to a gigantic list of stock photography resources for a few years now and figured it was about time I shared it. Because the list is so extensive, I’ll be splitting it up into two posts, one for each of the following two licensing categories: Public Domain and Creative Commons.
Please note that some sources may fall under more than one category, but to avoid repetition in the list, I chose the one I thought it fit under best.
Free Stock Photography Resource Type #1: Public Domain
Public Domain images have intellectual property rights that have now expired, been forfeited or are inapplicable. Images under Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0) also fall under this category because the images’ owners have waived their rights to the works.
This means that Public Domain images are free to use whenever and wherever you’d like, no strings attached! You do not need to provide credit or link backs for using most of these images. Except…
Be aware that some photos may require a model or property release and images featuring products or other company logos should be used with care.
MY FAVORITES
These are my favorite Public Domain image websites because their images are unique, modern and professional.
Unsplash
Unsplash is an amazing collection of free photography that doesn’t feel like stock. Many of the photos are quite artsy or photo-journalistic. Every 10 days, 10 new photos are added to the site and you’re free to do what you want with them through the Public Domain.
Searchability: Unfortunately, Unsplash doesn’t allow you to search for specific images, there is only the option to scroll through a long list of them.
UPDATE: Arthur Weill has created a simple search engine for Unsplash where you can search for photos by keyword. Definitely worth checking out!
Resolution: All photos are hi res.
Registration? No registration is necessary to download, although you might want to sign up for email reminders every 10 days.
Rights: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Attribution: None required.
A few examples from Unsplash:
Free public domain stock photography from Unsplash
Little Visuals
Little Visuals is another collection of curated photographs that have been released into the Public Domain and have the same look and feel as Unsplash photography. They used to send out 7 photos every 7 days, but it looks like they stopped a few months ago after week 12. Nonetheless, you can still access the first 12 weeks-worth at their website. Each week is combined in a zip file for easy download.
UPDATE 5/12/15: I’m sad to report that the reason why Little Visuals stopped being updated is because the young photographer suddenly died in November 2013 of S.A.D.S ( Sudden Adult death Syndrome ). Please click through to the site to learn more about the foundation his family has set up in his name.
Searchability: Like Unsplash, Little Visuals doesn’t allow the option to search for photos either. You’ll just scroll through a long list of photos.
Resolution: All photos on Little Visuals are high resolution.
Registration? No registration is necessary to download images.
Rights: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Attribution: None required.
A few examples from Little Visuals:
Free public domain stock photography from Little Visuals
Free Refe Mobile Photos
Refe is a digital marketplace of the best real life mobile photos. This part of the site is a collection of free photos shot using camera phones and they are available for personal or commercial projects. So far there’s just a small collection but the quality is impressive. They also have a mailing list to get the latest updates.
Searchability: Free Refe only lets you browse, not search photos.
Resolution: All images are hi res
Registration? It’s not necessary to register to download photos.
Rights: http://getrefe.com/license/
Attribution: None required.
A few examples of Refe Mobile Photos:
Free public domain stock photography from Refe
New Old Stock
One of the most popular Public Domain resources these days, new photos are hand picked and added every week from various vintage and antique public archives. What makes this site worth checking is out is that the images are curated by Cole Townsend, a visual and web designer, so most of them are really nice looking photos and fit in with current vintage trends.
Searchability: Can’t search, only browse.
Resolution: Most of the photos are available in hi res.
Registration? No account is necessary to download photographs.
Rights: http://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/
Attribution: None required.
New Old Stock sample images:
Free public domain stock photography from New Old Stock
Pixabay
Pixabay has some really great quality stock images of all kinds, ranging from closeups of nature to urban photos and even product images. All photographs on Pixabay are published under CC0. Thank you to Caroline and Davina for turning me on to this one!
Searchability: Pixabay photos are searchable by keyword, which is nice. Or use Creative Commons Search.
Resolution: Photos are available for download in several sizes.
Registration? It is not necessary to create an account on Pixabay to download images.
Rights: http://pixabay.com/en/blog/posts/public-domain-images-what-is-allowed-and-what-is-4/
Attribution: None required except in the case of model and property releases. Read more about that here.
Here’s a taste of what’s available from Pixabay:
Free public domain stock photography from Pixabay
Tackorama
Tackorama has some really cool, free retro images among other wonderful retro freebies.
UPDATE 1/4/16: It looks like the Tackorama website has been taken down, but I will leave this up in case it ever comes back online.
Searchability: The site is not searchable by keyword, but images are divided into a few categories.
Resolution: The majority of the images are 72dpi, although most of the photographs in the Large section are 300dpi (the general standard required for printing). The images vary in size from 1600 down to 250 pixels.
Registration? No account is necessary to download from Tackorama.
Rights: Most of the images are in the Public Domain, but the site does not 100% guarantee that they are. The owner of the site has tried to locate owners to every image he has on the site and hasn’t found any so far. Read more about that on his info page. Copyright.
Attribution: None necessary.
Here’s a sample of what you can get on Tackorama:
Free public domain stock photography from Tack-o-rama
Rijksmuseum
The Dutch national museum in Amsterdam, encourages sharing, downloading and use of its artwork by offering downloads of works, free for personal use. Find art by artists like Vermeer and Rembrandt or works from various periods including Baroque, Rococo, Impressionism and Art Nouveau.
Searchability: Images are searchable by artist or category
Resolution: All digital photos come in high resolution (4500 x 4500 pixels on average).
Registration? To download works, you’ll either need to log in with Facebook or create a Rijkstudio account.
Rights: Rijksmuseum is able to offer these works because a lot of their collection predates Dutch copyright law. The museum plans to digitize every piece in their 1 million+ piece collection over the next few years. Read the Rijksmuseum terms of use here.
Attribution: If you use their images for publication, they request that you acknowledge the source (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).
Small sampling of images:
Free public domain stock photography from Rijksmuseum
Public Domain Pictures
A website of crowd-sourced photos in the Public Domain, with new photos being added all the time. There are actually some really good photographs on this site, so it’s definitely worth a look. This site also includes illustrations, textures, background patterns and some clip art.
To download, click on an image to enlarge it, then right-click it and save to your computer.
Searchability: Search for photos by keyword search or by category.
Resolution: Most photos are not the highest resolution but are large enough for web use.
Registration? For access to full resolution files, you’ll need to register for a paid membership. You’ll get 100 downloads each month and price varies from $5.99 for 24 hours to $89.99 for a year.
Rights: See below.
Attribution: Most images require attribution or a link back to its page, but it varies with each image, so read the terms on each image page before downloading and using.
Example of Public Domain Pictures images:
Free public domain stock photography from PublicDomainPictures.net
US Library of Congress
The Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) manages the archival and historical images available from the Library of Congress. There are historical photographs, illustrations, paintings and posters. “While International in scope, the collections [of the Library of Congress] are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.”
Searchability: You can search by keyword or by collection.
Resolution: Image sizes available will vary.
Registration? You won’t need to create an account to download images.
Rights: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/about/#rights.
Attribution: Read the Rights Advisory on each image before downloading.
Sample PPOC images:
Free public domain stock photography from US Library of Congress
WORTH MENTIONING
These Public Domain photo resources may have collections that are a bit more amateur in style and quality, but I mention them in case you’re looking for something specific and didn’t find it in any of the above websites.
Public Domain Photos
Photos and Clipart. Many of the photos are of nice quality, full of color, while other are a bit amateurish. Many categories of images are available here. The clipart is a little cheesy.
Searchability: Search by keyword or category.
Resolution: Most photos are hi res, but not all.
Registration? No registration required.
Rights: All photos on this web site are public domain. You may use these images for any purpose, including commercial. But if they contain logos and/or products you need to be careful. Using someone else’s trademark commercially can get you sued.
Attribution: None required, although most of the images do have an author listed so it might be nice to include a credit.
Photos Public Domain
Another collection of free photographs taken by one family and released into the public domain. Many are really nice photographs from a wide variety of subjects including some textures, so it’s definitely worth a look. Downloading is as easy as right-clicking and saving as.
Searchability: Search for photos by keyword or category.
Resolution: The photos are high resolution.
Registration? None required.
Rights: Read the FAQ here before using images.
Attribution: Not required, however it is kindly requested.
Good Free Photos
Mostly travel and random photos by an amateur photographer and placed into the Public Domain. Many of the photos are just ok but there are some decent ones to be found here. Click to enlarge, right-click, then save to your computer.
Searchability: Searchable by category only
Resolution: Photos are high resolution
Registration? No registration necessary.
Rights: From the photographer: “All photos on this site were taken by me and I have chosen to license them under the Public Domain license to form a free photos database. This means you are free to use them personally or commercially (except for photos that require a model or property release) on any project without asking for permission.”
Attribution: Please consider giving credit to goodfreephotos.com when you use the images.
PD Photo
The images here are taken by amateur photographer, Jon Sullivan. While the majority are travel photos, there are some other random subjects included here as well. Jon has released almost all of the photographs into the Public Domain.
Searchability: Search for photos by keyword or category.
Resolution: The free photos are not available in high resolution but they are large enough to fit in most blog posts. If you need one in a higher resolution, he can provide it to you for a fee. To use an image on PDphoto.org, just right-click an image and save it to your computer.
Registration? No registration required.
Rights: From the website: “Unless something is clearly marked as being copyrighted, you can assume it is free to use. But if you intend to use an image you find here for commercial use, please be aware that standards for such use are higher. Specifically, you should assume no model release was obtained. And pictures featuring products or property should be used with care.”
Attribution: Not required, however it is kindly requested.
Create Your Own Stock!
I hope you found some good images to use here from the Public Domain. You never know how long some photos might be up on sites like Unsplash and New Old Stock, so you may consider creating an archive on your own computer of downloaded images. I have a folder of stock photography with separate folders for each site. I keep the original file names so that I can refer back to its terms when I use it at a later date.
Take Your Own Photos!
Not sure how to take your own beautiful photos? Emma Davies’ 28-Day Blog Photo Bootcamp should do the trick! No DSLR necessary!
Note:
While public domain images are pretty much free to use however you’d like, I noticed that some of the sites mentioned that photos of people do not include model releases so it’s best to be careful about using these types of photographs from the Public Domain. Always read and re-read the terms of use before you use an image and if you can, try and give credit if asked. It’s just a nice thing to do for someone offering to share their work for free.
Help Me Keep This List Updated!
This list is meant to be updated regularly but I need your help! If you find any resources here no longer available or you have others you’d like to add, please let me know in the comments below so I can make appropriate changes. Keep in mind that this list is for free images in the Public Domain.
More Free Stock Photography!
Want more? Try these other lists:
The BIG Guide to Free Images for Your Blog Posts // Part 2: Creative Commons
23 Sites for Free + Affordable Feminine Styled Stock Photography
22 More Free Feminine Styled Stock Photography Sites
I would also really appreciate it if you would share this with your friends and followers by sharing on your social media sites. Use the handy links below. Thank you!
Hi there Marianne – thanks for giving us a mention and very glad to share the gorgeous photos found on Pixabay.com.
Hi Caroline, of course! I’m glad to have discovered it through you, there really are some wonderful photos there!
Thanks for sharing this! What an awesome resource. Pinning it for future reference.
Hi Emily, you’re welcome and thank you for pinning it, I appreciate that!
This is such a wonderful list! Thank you, Marianne!
Thanks Kristine, I’m glad you like it. Be sure to check back for the next two lists!
Ditto Emily’s comment!! This is an awesome list. I so appreciate your Searchability/RIghts/Resolution/Attribution summary for each site. Thank you, Marianne!
I’m so glad you found that useful Sharon. I kind of created this list for me too and that’s how I wanted the information organized for quick reference 🙂 Thanks again for your comment!
Great list! Tack-O-Rama and New Old Stock are new to me and I am LOVING them.
Hi Julia, love your blog btw 🙂
I’m so glad at least something was here for you here 🙂 I love them both!
http:www.MorgueFile.com has a lovely selection (searchable) of free photos, too. Thank you for adding to my source list!!
Hi Susan! Yep MorgueFile will actually be in part 2: Creative Commons images as they are not technically Public Domain. I think that list will be even longer than this one! Thanks for stopping by!
Marianne this is amazing, can’t wait for the other installments. Several of these I’ve never heard of! I’m sharing it in my graphic design facebook group. Thanks!!
Thank you so much for sharing it Michele, it means a lot! I’m so glad you like it.
BOOM <- mind explosion of the awesomeness of these photos. This has changed my bloggy world. Thank you DYOB. Thank you.
You made me LOL Jenna, thank you!
Great List– thank you!! Here are 2 more favorites of mine.
http://join.deathtothestockphoto.com/
http://vintageprintable.com/
Thank you Anu! I have Death to Stock Photo on my last list: Royalty Free.
I had never heard of Vintage though, will check it out right now, thank you!
Thank you so much. I’m a big fan of Pixabay, but it is great to have these others resources. I pinned it too. 🙂
Hi Brook, I’m so glad I could introduce you to some new resources. Thank you for pinning it!!
Thank you for this wealth of information! Do you have an opinion about Photo Pin? It was recommended to me by other bloggers and has a large selection of good stuff. The thing that confuses me when I use it is that the site tells me to click on the image to “check the license.” I click on the image, but it doesn’t seem to tell me anything about the license but simply take me to the original site the post is from. Thoughts?
Hi Rebecca, thanks for stopping by and checking out the list! I have heard of PhotoPin, it’ll be in the next installment in my Creative Commons list. As of yet, I haven’t used it much so I can’t say, but hopefully I’ll have a little more insight as I do my research for the next part 🙂
I like the first two links you posted a lot. The picture quality was great, and there’s a good variety, especially on Unsplash.
I love the Pin It button you’re using. Is it a wordpress specific plugin?
Hi Lindsey, there’s a reason those two were listed first 😉 They are two of my favorite sites!
Yes, it’s a plugin called ‘jQuery Pin It Button For Images.’
This is such a great list! I will definitely find it helpful and I’m sure many others will as well.
Hi Angel, thank you! I’m so glad you stopped by too!
Wow Marianne!
I’m late to discover this post. Really a great liat of public domain image sites. I never knew there were so many. Didn’t know even one of these.
I love the ones which offer a keyword search function. How much time can one spend on these if there’s no search by keyword function! But, only a few of the above have this.
Probably, I’ll be making my own archive in the next few weeks. Thanks again for the lovely resources.
Hi Raspal, this is true, it’s unfortunate that these sites don’t have search functionality, but I think they’re trying a different model: a weekly set of images and they encourage subscribing to get them. You just download them each week and save for later.
The advantage to those sites is that their photo quality is usually worth the search. 🙂
You ROCK, Marianne!
Almost too much eye candy for me to process! 🙂
I’ll be sharing and pinning wildly!
Thanks Kimberley! I appreciate that!!
This must have taken some time to assemble and write. Thanks so much – brilliant
Bridget, you have no idea lol 🙂 I’m so glad you appreciate it!
Love these. Especially the UNSPLASH ones! Thank you again!
Thanks for your thoughts Christine. Unsplash is by far one of my favorites too!
Marianne, Thank you SO much for making this list up! XXx
You’re welcome Fay! I am about to publish part 2 any day now. It’s a much longer list so its taking forever but it’ll be worth the wait, promise 🙂
Thank you, Marianne, for this great list! This will be soooo helpful! I’ve pinned this for future reference.
Thanks April! And so glad it’s so helpful to you!
thanks so much for the wonderful list of photo sites. Love it!
Hi Cat, sure thing and thanks for stopping by!
You can also try: http://www.4freephotos.com and http://www.alegriphotos.com
Thanks for sharing your sites Alex! I need to update these lists with a few more sites and will be sure to add them when I do, although I’ll most likely place http://www.alegriphotos.com under the Creative Commons list.
Oh wow, what a great list! I have been through the first three sites and already found sooo many great images to have on hand. This series is such a great resource for me since I hate dealing with blog post graphics and it actually holds me back from
Hi Cortney, I’m so glad it’s so helpful for you! I admit, that i made this list for me too so I can remember where to look when I need something! 🙂
such great information. you blog look so amazing .great job u design it well
Hi Michelle, thank you so much!
Now that’s a kind of useful information any webmaster or blogger would love to read and follow. Searching for high quality photos for any website or blog is a cumbersome task and buying the relevant photos is not always affordable. Your free stock photo resource is awesome.
Thanks for writing this post. Would love to come back to read more…
Hi Don, you’re welcome and thanks for taking the time to leave a nice comment!
Hi,
Free images!
ALL FREE IMAGES LICENSED UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS! 🙂
http://beststockphotofree.com/
Thanksa ton Marianne for sharing such a useful resource. A picture speaks 1000 words. Being a writer, I at times require pictures to articulate what I wish to, will certainly use the resources shared by you. 🙂
Hi,
I love your post! I never knew there were so many sites out there that had public domain photos.
I have a question though…
How do you know FOR sure that a photo is public domain? Like can’t anybody grab an image off of Google, and submit it to public domain saying it’s theirs? Then you come along thinking it’s public domain, and it’s really not?
I’m very confused over this. Perhaps I’m missing something so simple.
Thanks for any help!
Hi Michael, thanks for your question.
First of all, sorry for the delayed response. But to answer your question, yes I guess one never quite knows if the photos from these sites really are legit, but for the most part I believe they are. I think that if you were to use a photo from one of these sites and someone came to you with a cease and desist, you could show them where you got the photo from and then they would probably have to take it up with that website.
For the most part though, these websites don’t do that. They are groups of contributors or single photographers who just want to get their name out there.
Hope that answers your question!
Hello Marianne:
Great resources on this post. However, correct me if I am wrong: Little Visuals doesn´t work any longer? I read there that the owner of the site died and is not updated anymore.
Thank you!
You are correct Laura, he did pass away unfortunately. However the site is still up and you can access the photos he had added prior to his passing.
Good think we can still make use of this person´s great job. Thank you for letting me knnow!
I went looking for Tackorama this morning but I don’t think they’re online any longer, unless they’ve changed their name. I had photos off their site only a few months ago.
Thanks for the update Deborah, what a shame, I really liked that website.
This is so helpful. Thanks for creating this for us! 🙂
Adore your report!
Chances are you’ll like http://Blogpiks.com . It is a totally free stock image website for individual and commercial use.
Thanks for sharing your addition Stuart!
Thanks for the great list! Please also check out the world’s largest collection of free, public domain/CCO images, https://snappygoat.com/ ,with 14 Million Public Domain/CC0 stock images, clip-art, historical photos and more, all in one searchable database. It includes an easy to use meme-maker.
Thanks for the heads up, I didn’t know about Snappy Goat previously Roya!
Wow, additional resources to bookmark. Thanks for this Marianne! I hope you could also add-up https://burst.shopify.com/ their stock photo is really useful and under CC0 license too.
Thanks for sharing this Ellie, i’m due to update this post soon so am adding it to the list!
yay! thanks for considering my suggestion, Marianne. 🙂
I had so much fun learning with you. Your lessons were very insightful and interactive, so thank you.
Thanks for sharing the article 🙂
That’s an amazing guide for free images. I will definitely try it
I really enjoyed reading your blog. You have given a good way to get images for blogs
Amazing guide. I usually prefer unslpash and freepik to get free images for my blogs. Thanks a lot.
Great content for this blog its very informative for us its very important for learners.
Amazing Guideline! I Like It.