I recently shared a post with 37 free places to find free stock photos, and you’ll be able to find photographs for nearly any purpose on those sites. But there are other places to find even more pictures! Today I’m sharing 14 websites where you can obtain legit free images.
Remember to always check the license page on each of these sites prior to using the photos—terms of service change all the time, so it’s best to double-check. As of this writing, all of the sites below offer photos for personal or commercial use without need for attribution.
Some things to keep in mind: Model releases are required when you use photos of people for commercial purposes, so use these kinds of images with caution. Be wary of any images containing company logos, especially if you’re using them for commercial use. Never insinuate that models/companies/photographers somehow sponsor you or your business. Don’t download the photos, make zero changes to them, and then attempt to sell them for profit. Basically, practice common sense. Read on for even more places to get free stock photos!
1. Pikwizard
Pikwizard is a website with plenty of photos of all kinds, including photos featuring people at work, which can sometimes be hard to find. There’s a search bar or you can browse by category if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you can also find the standard license agreement.
The license allows you to use the photos for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Basically, do anything you’d like with them, but don’t redistribute or sell the photos as they are (that’s true of any sites that provide free photos).
2. Public Domain Photos
Public Domain Photos offers free images for personal and commercial use. There’s a search function (but it’s slow…) or you can browse by category.
There’s no download button, so you’ll need to click on your image of choice to bring up the high resolution version, and then right click and “save as.”
All photos on the site are public domain, which allows you to use them for any purpose, including commercial. As always, don’t use photos that contain someone’s logo without their permission.
3. Stockvault
Stockvault has both photographs and illustrations. There’s a search function, and you can also browse by category. Use the download button to save the photos to your computer.
Be careful when looking through this site—all the photos to the right are, misleadingly, not part of stockvault, but links to Shutterstock photos, which are not free. If you want free photos, stick to the left of the page.
4. GoodFreePhotos
GoodFreePhotos does exactly what its name suggests: provide you with free photos for commercial and non-commercial use. All photos are public domain (royalty-free, copyright-free, and/or CC0). Use the search box or browse by category. To download a photo, click on it to bring up the high resolution version, then right click and “save as.”
5. New York Public Library Digital Collections
The New York Public Library maintains a website with over 180,000 items that are in the public domain. These items include manuscripts, images, videos, and more. You can use the items for any purpose, personal or commercial.
There’s a search function, or you can browse by category. There are several, very specific categories for the public domain items, and it’s worth browsing through the website. There’s a download button, and you also have the opportunity to purchase art prints of the items.
6. Plixs
Pixls has gorgeous photos, all shared under license CC0 1.0, which allows you to use the photos for any purpose, including commercial. There are both illustrations and photographs, which you can find by using the search function or by browsing categories. The website offers the option to “buy a coffee” for the photographer, should you wish to contribute.
7. Picography
All pictures on Picography are shared under CC0 license, which means you can use them for any purpose, including commercial. There’s a search function, or you can browse by category. When you find the photo you would like, click the “download the free photo” button.
8. Picjumbo
Picjumbo offers several images for use for any purpose, including commercial. There’s a search function and you can also browse by category.
Easily download any of the images by clicking on them. There’s also an option to download all images on the site, though I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that…
9. Public Domain Archive
Public Domain Archive offers photos that are free to use for any purpose. If you click on “categories,” a search box will appear, along with the categories below the search box. To download a photo, you’ll need to click on it, then click on the “download” button underneath it. This will not automatically download the photo, but rather lead you to a page with the image in full resolution. Once you’re there, right click and “save as.” It’s a little clunky, but it’s worth the extra effort, as the images are gorgeous.
10. Imagefinder.co
Imagefinder.co is an aggregate site—it shows photos from several different websites on the Internet, along with the information on what website it came from and the license it uses. Clicking on the “download original photo” button will lead you to the original website for each image, where you’ll need to follow their process to download it.
11. Cupcake
Cupcake, a website by photographer Jonas Wimmerström, contains several photos that are free to use for any purpose. There is no search button or categories to browse; however, it’s worth scrolling through the photos, as there are some wonderful ones available. To download the photos, you’ll need to click on them, which will lead to a page with the photo in high resolution. You’ll then need to right click and “save as.”
12. StokPic
Stokpick offers several photos in various categories. Use the search bar or browse by category. When you see the photos, it looks like there’s a watermark on them, but when you download the high res image, the watermark will not be there. To download a photo, simply click on it, then click on the large “free download” button. You can also sign up for the website’s mailing list to receive ten new photos each week.
13. Designer Pics
All photos on Designer Pics are free to use for any purpose, including commercial, with no attribution required. Use the search box or browse by category. Once you find the photo you want, click on the “download” button, and then click it again on the next page.
14. Open Access at the Met
Open Access at the Met catalogs all the objects in The Met’s (New York) collection. The majority of the images are shared under public domain and are available to use under CC0 license, which means you can use these images for any purpose, including commercial.
What’s even cooler about this website is that it explains the history and features of the objects, thus making the collection accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.
Once you find something you like, click on the image, and then click the download button, after making sure the image is public domain.
With so many options for gorgeous free photos, you have plenty of options when it comes to decorating your blog or providing a little extra value to clients. Be sure to check out my previous post on free stock photos for even more options.
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You have given me a very useful resource which I definitely intend to put to use. Thank you so much!
Glad it’s useful; enjoy!