15 Best Places for Designers to Get Free Stock Photos Online

Dreamstime has one of the largest libraries of stock photos on the net. At the time of writing, they have just under 7 million images, and just under 80,000 contributing photographers. In order to stand out among the huge crowd, Dreamstime photographers often put their photos in the free section of the site. On their site, the team talks about how many stock photo sites depict unrealistic representations. Karolina, a web designer from Poland, is the creative eye behind this awesome resource for high-quality photos. From fashion to food to landscapes, her images cover a variety of different scenarios.

Almost all photos have a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. For those looking for access to more exclusive free photos, ISO Republic invites you to sign up for its email list and receive photos right to your inbox. And while these photos are a bit more quirky (we’re talking everything from monster feet slippers to Vespas to bananas), they are entirely usable for the right project.

The Quick and Easy Guide to Resizing Images Online

As always, your printer is your number one pipeline of information when it comes to finding the best stock photo sites for print. They can help you check the resolution of your images, as well as warn you if your selected art isn’t high-quality enough for printing. It’s also a good idea to closely review your proof copy so that you can inspect the quality of your printed stock art with your own two eyes. Everybody knows deviantART is a great place for artists (both novice and professional) to show off their work—but many don’t realize that it’s also a fantastic source for stock art. There’s a wide range of images in the stock photo section, and many of them come in an extremely high resolution that is perfect for print. It was only a matter of time before someone found a way to aggregate free stock photo results and monetize the concept somehow, and that’s what Everystockphoto does.

Owned by Getty Images, Thinkstock’s collection includes selected photos from Getty as well as iStock and Jupiterimages. You might end up paying a bit more for downloads, but the site’s convenience and massive selection are where the real value lies. Their free section is quite good, but changes every day and the free photos that were there yesterday, may not be there the next. Fotolia has an office in France and their global headquarters in New York.

Free stock photo search engine

And thanks to its search functionality, turning up the right photo for your next project is super easy. Not to mention, every photo published on Unsplash is licensed under Creative Commons Zero, which provides users with the freedom to copy, modify, distribute, and use all of the photos without attribution. From crisp architectural shots to vibrant florals, Vorel‘s collection of photos contains some of the most unique selections we’ve come across. All the images are tiled immediately for you to view, a simplistic design that fits the needs of almost any industry.

To save you some work for your next design job, we’ve put together a list of our top 10 free stock image websites, ready to serve all your picture needs. The downside, however, is that pulling from so many sites means Jupiterimages has over 2.5 million images to sort through. The stock photo you’re looking for is definitely out there, but it might takes some time to find it. The name is certainly not misplaced as the pictures on the site are quite polished, especially the illustrations.

Your story will be more captivating than ever with Adobe Stock in your toolkit

It started in 1996 and is highly recommended by many web design and development professionals. Morguefile currently contains 9,148 pages at 24 photos each page, and the photos are very good resolution. The site is clean and intuitive, making it easy to navigate your way through the 780K+ free photos, vectors, and illustrations. The truth is high-quality stock photos don’t have to come hand-in-hand with a hassle or high price tag. If you have a similar project in mind or need a graphic design to promote your company or organization you can invite designers from DesignCrowd’s designer directory directly to your project for free. If you’re looking for freelance design jobs, find out more about the benefits when you join DesignCrowd today.

This collection of vintage photos comes from the public archive via Flickr Commons. According to the website, the photos are free of any known stock images for designers copyright restrictions. Designer Jay Mantri has built up an impressive gallery of professional, quality images just for you and me …

Free tools to skyrocket your creative freedom

According to its website, Life of Vids serves up free footage videos, clips, and loops weekly. They are either digitally photographed on Canon DSLR cameras, or they are a high resolution (4000 dpi) Nikon scan of an original 35mm slide,” according to the site. I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of images available upon arriving on the home page. While there are no formal attribution requirements, Karolina does ask that you include photo credit with a link back to the site when possible. Keep in mind that CreateHER Stock is not intended for commercial use without an extended license.

• When we noticed a shortage of high-quality free stock photos available to marketers and creatives, we decided to whip up some of our own.
• The downside, however, is that pulling from so many sites means Jupiterimages has over 2.5 million images to sort through.
• The photographer, Vicktor, also offers unique paid packages for bloggers, designers, and agencies (starting at $10/month).
• Getty is an established leader in stock art, with a giant archive of practically every type of image you could want.
• All of the photos that make the cut are under the Creative Commons Zero license, meaning that they are free for personal and commercial use with no attribution required.

While you don’t get a search function on subcategories, you do get to access an archive with a smaller grid layout, allowing for quick scanning of images that may suit your purpose. Dreamstime is tailored specifically to print marketing designers; you may recognize many of their best stock photos from popular magazine and newspaper ads. Some of them are quite expensive, but there are also plenty of affordable, high-quality images to be found, including several free options. Even expert designers such as those at WebFX in Harrisburg use stock photos, and these are some great places to find them.

These 100% free stock images are a gift to you from photographer Ryan McGuire. Without a search function, you will have to scroll for a bit to find what you are looking for, however, since many of the images have a touch of humor to them you won’t get bored too easily. You also get to choose between different categories to speed up your search.

From architecture to technology, Negative Space‘s continuously growing collection of images is one you’ll find yourself tapping into again and again. Thankfully, if you know where to look there are an abundance of free images of superb quality available for you to use. From images showcasing architecture to old industrial scenes, if you need more of an antiquity feel, you’re in the right place. If I had to describe Mantri‘s photos in one word, it’d be “scenic.” But don’t just take my word for it. These photos are carefully handpicked from a variety of free Image Sources to ensure that you’re getting only the best of the best. As if that wasn’t enough, Life of Pix also has a counterpart, Life of Vids.

In fact, its selection is so interesting and versatile that it’s almost too easy to “fall down the rabbit hole” and come to fifty-something scrolls later. With two new photos uploaded daily to keep things feeling fresh, this is a bookmark-worthy resource for great photos if we’ve ever seen one. Nappy calls on their audience to “tackle diversity and representation one photo at a time.” Best of all, their library is completely free. While the name is specific to startups, there are plenty of professional options to use, no matter what industry you’re operating within. It’s easy to find the perfect image that makes a statement for your brand. Simply submit your email and enjoy a new batch of photos delivered to your inbox every month.