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Calling all Content Marketers! Are you bored of using the same old stock images? Looking to spice up your content without spending a penny?
If that’s the case, listen up, because this post is for you.
Let’s face it – the majority of standard stock photography isn’t great. At its best, it’s generic and bland, and at its worst, well, things just get plain weird. I’m tired of stale boardroom pictures filled with fake smiles and phony actors; and baffled by the deluge of random images which make absolutely no sense.
Disillusioned by the quality (and often extortionate price) of images on offer, I decided to search elsewhere, to see if there was such a thing as high-quality, usable, royalty-free stock images.
The results blew me away.
There are so many sites out there with such amazing images freely available, that I felt the need to put together the following mega-list, compiling all my research into one easy-to-browse blog post.
But why stop at images? I’ve also gathered a number of free resources to help spruce up your content even further, including free stock video, free data visualisation tools and free web design templates.
Licensing is a huge issue when it comes to the use of images. Before you use any images or content from the following sources, be sure to check whether you need to give credit to the original creator, or whether you’re allowed to alter the images in any way.
The brilliant Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licence allows you to both use and edit images for private or commercial purposes, completely free of charge. However, it’s still worth checking with the source of the photos if you’re unsure of where you stand. Licenses can change so be sure to check and avoid a nasty fine turning up on your proverbial doorstep at a later date.
So, with that settled, let’s get cracking.
A great resource for both free and premium non-stock nature photography.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Another subscription-based service, you can either sign up to receive a free batch of photos each month, or go premium and have access to everything.
https://deathtothestockphoto.com/
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
High-resolution stock photos, free for both commercial and personal use.
https://www.designerspics.com/
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Flickr is an image hosting platform where you can find images that can be used and modified for commercial purposes. Select “Commercial use & mods allowed” under the “Any license” filter to find those images, and remember to check the license for each image as they vary.
Restrictions: Royalty Free Licence
Over 300,000 free photos for personal and commercial use. Free Images has its own license that allows a very broad range of uses, though it does list several restricted use cases (which is quite common for most free images sites).
Restrictions: Bespoke Licence
Looking for stunning snaps of the outdoors? Look no further than Free Nature Stock. Updated daily.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Find royalty-free, high-quality photos for free, or purchase pre-curated packs for all your visual needs. You can even use the site to start selling your own snaps!
Restrictions: Royalty-Free Licence
Photographer Ryan McGuire has set up this brilliant collection of weird and wonderful images that he offers completely free. Updated weekly!
https://www.gratisography.com/
Restrictions: Bespoke Licence
Fantastic free resource filled with creative images. Sign up to get the latest pictures delivered directly to your inbox.
Restrictions: Bespoke Licence
Jay manages to perfectly capture the magic of his surroundings in these gorgeous shots. As he says on his site: “Free pics. Do anything. Make magic.”
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Free and premium photos sent directly to your inbox as and when they’re uploaded.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
The Jopwell Collection has hundreds of images featuring people in the Jopwell community. You can download and used the images for free so long as you visibly attribute Jopwell.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions) but you must attribute Jopwell
With 23,927 photos and 32,381,540 downloads at the time of writing, Kaboom Pics is an amazing resource for free photos. Kaboompics allows you to search by color, and then even provides a complementary palette of colors in the photo. Genius!
Restrictions: Bespoke License
A stunning collection of high-resolution photos that have all been donated to the public domain.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
A saddening entry on the list, as Nic, the creator of Little Visuals, tragically passed away in 2013. His family, however, have been kind enough to maintain the site and its beautiful collection of nature photography.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Follow one Portuguese man’s journey through life by downloading all of his photos for free.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Enjoy a collection of stunning photos for free, because, as the site says, “not everything in life has a price.”
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
If you’re looking for vintage photography, this is the ideal resource for you. All photos are taken from public archives and free of any known restrictions.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Download and submit awesome free stock photography! This is one of our favourites.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
A brilliant resource that offers hundreds of free photos. You can even pay a small fee to download all of their photos in one go!
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Awesome free photos offered by Irish web design studio Hidden Depths.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Stunning library of over 1 million stock images and videos.
Royalty free and safe for commercial use, with no attribution required
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
With 7 realistic new photos added every week, there’s plenty to see at Realistic Shots.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Fantastic free images from Australian web developer Klaye Morrison. Sign up to their newsletter for special, exclusive photos.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
The Skitterphoto team have been posting original photos every day since May 2014, and because of that, they’ve built up an amazing collection of authentic images.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Artistically loud images that stand out from the crowd.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Can’t find the images you’re looking for? As well as housing a decent library of free photos, Snapwire lets you submit a request for a specific photo which you can then buy.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
A cool selection of copyright photos from all over the world.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
If you’re looking for office-based images that aren’t completely banal, check out this site.
https://startupstockphotos.com/
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
With its beautiful collection of free, high-resolution photos, Stocksnap even lets you see which photos are trending, giving you an insight into the most popular images.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Submit and share beautiful travel photography from all over the globe.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Unsplash publish jaw-dropping images of the outdoors, completely free to download.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Similar to Canva this site is a free graphic design tool that allows you to use many free images.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
This is an album of photos of women of colour in tech, started by the founders of #WOCinTech Chat. There are more than 500 images to choose from and all images can be used so long as you attribute #WOCinTech Chat or wocintechchat.com.
Restrictions: CC0 (No Restrictions)
Still can’t find the images you were looking for? Try these handy stock image search engines:
Static images are so last summer. Gifs are the new black.
Giphy has a huge library of readily accessible gifs, paired with a powerful set of advanced sharing options:
Make your own Gif:
Turn any video into an awesome gif with this handy tool:
Of course, you don’t just have to rely on awesome photographs to spruce up your content. If you’re working with some interesting data, why not turn these into a slick visualisation by using one of these handy free tools?
Ah, infographics, the format everyone loves to hate! Knock them all you want, but these colourful visualisations are still a powerful and effective way to showcase data. The below sites allow you to create fast and free infographics in all shapes and sizes:
Take your visual game to the next level with awesome free video footage from one of the following sites:
Last but in no way least, the following two sites offer a wealth of free web design resources, including templates, patterns and audio:
Phew, what a list. I know what you’re thinking now though: “How am I meant to remember all these sites when it comes to crunch time?”
Don’t panic, dear reader, I’ve got you covered. You can download your own copy of all the links listed above in a handy Google spreadsheet, right here. Alternatively, bookmark this page and visit any time you need to find new resources.
If you need any further content marketing training or support then please contact us – we love to chat
Have I missed something off the list? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet us your favourite visual resources @Koozai.
