Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for businesses to purchase professional images from photography websites (also known as ‘Stock Image’ websites). You may have heard of a number these websites such as iStock and ShutterStock.
Purchasing stock images or hiring a professional photographer for your next project may not always be the most cost effective option for small businesses. However, you can still achieve the same result and make your business stand out from the crowd without breaking the bank. Thankfully, as is the case with most things on the internet, there are a number of free alternatives!
I’m talking about websites that now offer free photos for personal and commercial use. Yep, no strings attached, high quality FREE stock image websites are popping all over the place.
It’s exciting to see such amazing images in both subject and quality freely available!
Here is a list of my top 5 free stock photography websites (in no particular order):
1. SPLITSHIRE
SPLITSHIRE is a collection of shots from Italy based photographer and graphic designer, Daniel Nanescu.
The collection has a tonne of categories ranging from food, fashion, landscape and technology – to name a few. Split Shire is updated on a regular basis as well, so it pays to check back each week to see what’s new.
2. GRATISOGRAPHY
Gratisography offers a collection of quirky, abstract and still life photos that would make the perfect feature image for your upcoming article or brochure design.
With its continuous scrolling feature, you’ll find it hard to break away from it’s amazing gallery.
3. UNSPLASH
Running since May 2013, Unsplash collates free stock images from around the web and brings them all together in the one place.
Users can freely submit their photos to the database with the team at Unsplash making 10 new photos available every 10 days. So make sure to check back regularly.
unsplash.com / unsplash.com/images/stock/public-domain
4. PICJUMBO
Open since November 2013, PicJumbo has a an enormous collection of images to choose from.
With the ability to break your search down via category, it would be hard not to find something you’re looking for here. My only complaint is that the search bar hiding on the right hand side of the page is a bit hard to see, so keep an eye out for it.
5. PUBLIC DOMAIN ARCHIVE
Public Domain Archive is another site collating images from around the web. The ever growing collection offers modern and vintage images as well as serving up hi-res images of some of the world’s most famous photos that are now available in the public domain.
The site is set out like a blog, with each new image in its own post. Some posts can contain around 50+ images, so you may have to do a little bit of searching, but the rewards are very satisfying.
I hope you enjoyed my list of free stock photography websites and find the sites above useful for any upcoming projects you might have. Do you know of any other sites? Feel free to share them in the comments below.
If this post has inspired you to update the look of your brochures or collateral, please don’t hesitate to contact me or leave a request in the comments section below.
