My Top 3 Places to get Free Stock Photos
Working at the library, we wear many hats. One of those hats is posting to the tumblr blog. Tumblr is a visual social blogging platform. Meaning that there has to be pictures to grab people’s attention. Over time I came to know three stock photo websites very well. I will share today my top three sites for free stock photos. Another fact about me I try to do many of my web design or graphic design free or little cost in materials. These sites are great for high quality and high resolution photos. There are differences but mostly they operate in the same way.
Let’s jump into it. They are explained in no particular order.
1. Pixabay
Pixabay is a repository for hundreds of thousands if images. The photos are high quality and under the Creative Commons CC0 license in the public domain. You are able to search by keyword, color, different types of media and they even have video now. Pixabay allows you to download, modify, and distribute all royalty free! I personally love that it has clipart/illustrations, it comes in handy when you need icons. I suggest making an account for free so you don’t always have to be subjected to the Captcha when you download a picture. If you are just starting your search for free stock photos use Pixabay.
2. Pexels
Provides high quality, free stock photos under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license which means no attribution and could be used completely free personal and commercial. Pexels is allows keyword search because the photos are tagged. There will be tags under the photos, when clicked are completely searchable as well to lead to other photos. All photos are handpicked by the Pexels team, so there is a great curation of stunning photos for your next project. Another cool thing, Pexels now has free stock videos that can be used from personal and commercial projects.
3. Unsplash
How do I describe Unsplash? All I can say is that it is pretty; it is visually pretty. There are so many bright, bold, and colorful pictures. Unsplash, is far more artsy than the other two websites. You can do a keyword search or subscribe to receive 10 images in your inbox. Again all the images are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0). However, Unsplash is slightly unique where are asked to credit the photographer when you download. It is not required, but a nice gesture to give credit to the artist.
You no longer have to steal pictures from Google. Use these 3 stock photo sites for your next project. If you are a photographer you can also submit to these sites to have you picture become a part of their stock library.
Let me know what you think!
