free consultation
An interesting trend we've been seeing lately is the growing popularity of sites with free images or photos. This is real competition for paid image banks, which is growing as more and more amateur, professional photographers are posting their images under a Creative Commons (CC0) license for further free use ( including copying and distribution).
In this post, we will answer the question of where to get free images for websites, where to look for free images and how to optimize them for your own website.
Table of Contents:
Where to get good quality images for graphic design, website, blog, downloadable images ?
Want to find cool pics, images for free ? Read our article.
You'll find out from this post, it's worth it because places where you can find photos for free are plentiful.
It is possible to extract surprisingly good quality, professional, interesting and, above all, original frames from such photo banks, which are lacking in the already labeled shots of the typical paid 'business-stock', although it is undoubtedly still a good and proven option for sourcing professional photos, and at the same time safe due to explicit licenses ( fotolia.pl, istockphoto.com, among others ). Photos are added under the Creative Commons Zero CC0 license, i.e. so-called for public use.
Wanting to be a bit more original, to surprise the recipient not only with a graphic idea, but also with an unusual frame of the photograph used ( and thus giving the work a better, individual character ) for some time we have been reaching more and more often for photos from such services. This allows us to get a different impression and emotion in the viewer, who can be said to have seen everything, and the next prepared photo shoots outdo each other with increasingly better technical parameters of the photo and ingenuity. If you are looking for something unusual that draws attention with slightly different values it is worth checking out the following portals with free photos.
So where to get free images and photos ?
Below is a list of free banks, that is, those places where you should look for interesting, inspiring materials of good quality (not only for the Internet) without worrying about copyright for their use. Stock photos of good quality for free (for free) to use on a website, blog, in a project for printing.
Also check :
gratisography.com
Here you will find photos of animals, nature, bizness, people often in a curved reality, distorted and thus original. Ingenious and unusual frames.
unplash.com
Classics. Must have for every graphic designer and designer. Here you will find photos of landscapes, beautiful views and unusual frames for concepts like bizness, people, objects. Quite unexpected and surprising shots.
splitshire.com
Beautiful shots of landscapes, people, space. Lots of macro and nature. Interesting post-cataloged photos for example: food, lifestyle, streets, abstract, bokeh. In addition, also video
lifeofpix.com
Lots of scrolling (old version of unsplash). More photos presented one below the other which makes browsing tiring. Fortunately, tiled view options have been added. Ability to browse photos by author. The downside is pagination. However, it goes to shoot something good.
magdeleine.co
Slightly old-school design and bank layout. However, the ability to filter by license and dominant colors is definitely a plus. Photos very niche and unusual.
publicdomainarchive.com
A very interesting photo bank. The downside, however, is the scrolling of one column of photos without the ability to browse through tiles, in addition, pagination makes this portal not very useful and friendly to browse through very interesting shots. Modern photos and vintage type mainly dominate here.
littlevisuals.co
Two-column layout. Rarely updated base. Founded by Nic Jackson, who died suddenly in 2013. The bank remains in his memory.
designerspics.com
Photo bank divided into categories with search engine. Photos generally interesting but we have the impression that this is not a strong bank in terms of framing and photo quality.
startupstockphotos.com
One of our favorites, although we feel depleted. Office shots, people, interiors. Worth browsing if you are looking for photos of this type.
picjumbo.com
High quality photos. Convenient tiled browsing in 3 columns. In addition, tagged photos and the ability to search by category. After entering a given photo we also get to see photos related to the selected one, which makes it easier to search the photo bank.
skitterphoto.com
Definitely an interesting photo bank. Cross section very wide from nature, to photos of animals, people, macros. Mostly dominated by nature shots. However, the style and design does not encourage you to search the bank even though it has a search engine.
jeshoots.com
A successful photo bank. Readable and clear. At first glance arranged and from the first moments the user can figure out where what is. On the home page available entrance to the bank's categories. Thematic photos. After entering with a specific photo you can see tags and thematically related photos. The downside is pagination.
jaymantri.com
Another one of our gems. Very successful and original frames of photos. It's hard to fit categories here, however, just browsing is already inspiring. Photos in the form of a single-column stream, however, it does not interfere with browsing because the photos load quickly and are not full screen.
deathtothestockphoto.com
Currently, the bank is paid. However, you can enjoy a 14-day trial. There is a breath of fresh air and the bank also has video downloads.
stokpic.com
Photos of people in various poses, movements and moments of life sent to email every two weeks.
travelcoffeebook.com
Mostly views and landscapes. Nature and plants predominate in this photo bank. These are not the highest quality photos. We personally use very rarely.
That is, a search engine for free photos in one place.
If we would like to have all the free photos in one place we can use the so-called aggregators (search engines) of such photos:
stockup.sitebuilderreport.com
Search engine for 25,000 free images. Search engine available.
thestocks.im
Searchable by any publicly available image bank.
stocksnap.io
A pleasant bank with an intuitive search engine and search trends. The masonry-style layout with different number of columns makes browsing this bank pleasant. After entering a photo, we get information about the author, number of downloads, proposed photos.
allthefreestock.com
Same as above. Search after selecting a category, bank. Ability to search for photos, videos, mp3 music. In addition, the ability to search for icons, fonts, inspiration.
pixabay.com
Here we have a real mine. More than 2.1 million photos. Possibility to rate, comment on the photo. Available search engine by categories : photos, vectors, videos and advanced search engine with exclusion of given words, grouping of words etc.
See why free photos from the above free banks give you more options and inspiration for your project than stock photos, and how to avoid the mistake of choosing photos. Often cheap photos are of poor quality or uninteresting, and it's worthwhile to get interested in cool photos for your blog.
But what if stock photos? How not to duplicate photos in projects and unknowingly copy patterns.
Among the entire large collection of stock photos, there is a certain pool of models, settings , which is repeated for each industry often enough that it is impossible not to notice it. These stock photos are so universal, pretty and beating with professionalism that they fit practically everything. As a result, in most cases a webmaster or graphic designer who comes across such a photo, first of all does not search any further - because he has found what he is looking for, what will satisfy the client, secondly he does not check whether the photo he has found is not repeated by the client's competitors on a similar page, and it is not so bad if the same lady advertises insurance, throat pills or loans.
If we are making an effort to make our site encourage a purchase, order a service etc... it is good that it does not associate the viewer with the competition whether it is a photo or any other piece. In addition, the final effect becomes uninteresting where, after this kind of art of selecting a photo, the potential user will lose (before he still gains) confidence in the site and the brand of the company it represents especially if the lady in the photo is to inspire confidence and not to be associated with the same one seen earlier on the site advertising a market promotional newspaper or an elderly gentleman ultimately does not know whether he is a doctor, an elderly gentleman or perhaps a waiter.
How to check the uniqueness of the selected photo whether it is from a free bank or stock ?
Very simple, just right-click on the image you are interested in and select 'search for this image using Google' from the context menu, the effect is electrifying.
Buy pictures more expensive and check the number of downloads (although this, of course, is not a rule).
How to optimize photos for the Internet?
When we download our photo from the bank, it will probably be at a high resolution of more than 1mb. Such a photo is not directly suitable for uploading to a website. While cms systems such as Wordpress can handle this problem, there is still at least one thing to do, which can make us achieve even better results without losing quality of the photo.
Reducing the size of the photo or cropping in a graphics program such as photoshop or directly through online programs like https://www.iloveimg.com or https://resizeimage.net will already reduce the weight of the photo.
Once reduced, you can also use free online photo compressors giving very good results of reduction up to 40-60% depending on the photo. Here we recommend https://compressor.io or https://kraken.io
Comments on the entry from our community :
Hey 🙂 article very useful, thanks! Only a little unclear to me is this division of banks into categories. What is the difference between the first group of services and the second? I have no idea. Some information would be useful 🙂 .
SLYWESTRUS
My favorite is the website http://www.freepik.com maybe not so much a photo aggregator as a vector aggregator, but seriously there is a lot to choose from.
MARTYNA
Super, thanks for the cool overview. Like sylwestrus writes freepik is also cool, because you can find there a lot of interesting graphics that you can use for example for promotions.
SITESEO
I was looking for something like this 🙂 Thanks.
This search engine http://pixabay.com probably the best. And in Polish.
ZEKI
I, from myself, will add http://www.pexels.com/ - a service that combines several services with one search engine.
Great overview, thanks
LUKASZ
It's already another post with links to photo banks that I come across, and I'm getting more and more convinced to buckle down and take photos myself for everything, though. Of course, at my place you can't see it yet.
KATSUNETKA
I still know such a site with graphics: https://openclipart.org/ Quite often I use it and praise it. Lots of interesting and free images. Public Domain license and unlimited commercial use apply. I think you can link to their site out of sheer appreciation, although it is not required.
ANIA
I, from myself, recommend http://beststockphotofree.com/ and ask to be added to the list in the future
KAROL
I also maintain an image bank under CC license with credit http://www.lexpressive.pl/darmowe-zdjecia. For people with the soul of a designer, aesthete, minimalist. Landscapes, animals, design, abstraction, architecture, technology-all served in an original and creative way. I recommend myself ^^
DEMETRIUSZ
Great list. Thanks, will come in handy 🙂
MONIA
Very useful list. Thanks a lot.
MARCIN
Well, I'll leave the address of such a site: http://ourgreatphotos.com/ Maybe someone will find something there for themselves
TOMASZ
I usually use photolia, but I see that free photo banks have an interesting offer. I didn't even know that there are so many. Greetings.
MARCIN BRZEZINSKI
As for me it sweeps freepik and pixabay. I will definitely take a look at the ones you provided because after all, a photo for free always comes in handy 🙂 .
KSSERVICE
Gosh, I didn't expect that there are so many free photo banks! I added this post to my favorites! Thank you so much for the compilation:)
AGNIESZKA
Good article! Although I often use unsplash I didn't even know about many others. Thanks a lot!
ADAM
Hello, well I must admit that you have opened a window to a new perspective for me. I was a little unsatisfied with the image banks I knew, now I really have something to choose from. Thanks!
KOBIECO.PL
Interesting collection of image banks, we will definitely use, thank you for the informationEkipa Rynek Pracy Polska
MACIEJ
Great, thanks a lot and I recommend as someone mentioned earlier Pixabay - large selection and practical search engine.
G2DESIGN
I thought I knew all the services of this type, and here you go. It turned out that I knew not all of the 30% listed here :). Great list, thanks a lot.
PAWEŁ MANSFELD
Thanks for the list, some of the sites I already knew, the rest I need to test. In addition to images, you can also download free cliparts for example from the openclipart site
ARCHIE
Thanks for the list of sites. I already use a few listed, but was looking for something new.
MARCIN
Good thing these Creative Commons stock and on the site can be uploaded, and for the project can be used. Here in general they went crazy and gave 180 places where to look for free photos: http://veroling.pl/darmowe-zdjecia-uzytek-komercyjny/
As for vectors, @sylwestrus is right. Freepik gives a good idea. But I read a while ago on this site that you can still look on Lightstock, Plixs and Stockvault.
And yes 🙂 I confirm.
ADAM
And is it possible to make money on these banks? In the sense that I upload my photos and someone buys them? I am just looking for a place where I can sell my photos, but most of them reject me :/ Does anyone know any "not very" restrictive photo bank? It can be foreign, as long as it is in English or German
KAROLINA WAŚNIEWSKA
Very interesting list, I have already had the opportunity to use several and I can confirm that it goes there to find really interesting photos. Cool that it goes to find such things for free.
BRANDLINE
Finally a complete list of image banks in one place. Thank you very much, I am adding this site to my bookmarks.
MARIO38
From myself I recommend freepik.com, even buying the premium option for 10 euros per month you get access to professional photos and also to vector and psd graphics with the possibility to use for your own purposes without any legal consequences.
BRENDI
I've never used image banks, but indeed, I think it's quite a good source of visual material for websites or blogs 🙂 By the way, I prefer to entrust the design of portals from their graphic side to the team of specialists I trusted when creating my first site on WordPress.Greetings!
MAGDA
And are the photos from Flickr.com free? I ask because I sometimes use them in my service....
TOMASZ GRZELCZYK
I mainly used one photo bank, but after reviewing the list, I see that I will definitely expand my photo search to include the sites listed above.
BITEC
Very comprehensive list Matthew.. Thanks for sharing.. Pixabay and Unsplash are amongfavouritesorites
AMOS STRUCK
Very cool overview. I will definitely be using for future projects.
GRZES
For my part, I can recommend the service with free photos morguefile.com. I use and recommend it.
MIREK
From myself, I will add another service that offers free photos: canva.com/photos/
FABRYKA
One of the best compilations I've come across in recent times. This post has landed in my "favorites" tab. Thanks for the juxtaposition
TOMASZ
Admittedly not free, but quite a cheap option considering more professional photos - https://elements.envato.com/
MATEUSZ
A useful overview indeed. Unfortunately, most creators expect very matched images to the content. Free services usually do not give a possible wide range of choices. However, you can sometimes bail out with something substitute.
ECOCOM
We use these services very often, really helpful.
GREGOR
Super prepared list! Some of the sites I know and use regularly, but also thanks to this compilation I discovered some new noteworthy sites : ) For my part, I can still recommend foodiesfeed.com - a cool database of food-related photos. If someone often does projects in this area then it can certainly come in handy : )
AGA
Digital Agency Hauerpower
Copyrights 2010-2022
