We all love great images but not all of us have the skills needed to take the perfect shot. Many websites need some pictures to improve the beauty of their page and here are some of the best sources for free pictures on the internet.
The largest high-quality stock photos are held on only a few sites for which you have to pay $20 or even more and that’s for a single photo. Lucky for us there are still many amazing photos you can get for free and here is a list of the best places to find them.
When it comes to free licenses for a photo there are two kinds that you have to know about: the Creative Commons zero which means that you don’t need to ask any permission to use or modify the photo in any way you like, and the Creative Commons with attribution which means that you can use the photo but you have to credit the author of the photo (a simple “photo by…” will do).
Unsplash
This site provides ten free photos each ten days and they are mostly of stunning landscapes. The photos are under the creative commons public domain license and are made by professionals in the field, ensuring their great quality. Many consider this the best source for free photos online and if you seek landscapes then they are should definitely be your first stop.
Snapwire Snaps
Each day you can get a free photo and they have a stock from over 200,000 photographers, so you should be able to find anything you want here. The photos are public domain and have no copyright restrictions.Snapwire Snaps
FreeImages
Here you get thousands of photos from categories such as transportation, textures and patterns, architecture or wildlife to name but a few of their divisions. Due to the careful categorization of each picture it is easy to find what you need and you can use most of them without the need for any attribution. FreeImages
StockSnap.io
With its great search engine and a tracker of downloads and views for each photo you can easily find what you want and look for the most popular choices out there. Each week you get hundreds of new photos at a high resolution and they are all free! stocksnap
Gratisography
The artist and web designer Ryan McGuire created this wonderful collection with many beautiful images that tell some story. Each week new photos are added and you can use them without any restriction and no cost at all. Gratisography
Negative Space
Here you get 20 new free photos each week under the CC0 license and they have a search engine that can sort the photos by category, copy space or color. Some of them are premium so you need to pay for them, but you can get most for free. Negative Space
Life of Pix
The LEEROY creative agency from Montreal offers new pictures each week through this site and they can be downloaded without any restrictions. You get many categories to choose from and can easily search the themes you need. They also have a similar site for videos with the same copyright free model. Life of Pix
Pixabay
An enormous database without any copyright, so you can use them for any purposes you choose. They include vector graphics, illustrations or films as well and with such a large stock you will find many pictures to suit your needs. Pixabay
Picjumbo
It stands out through the really high resolution of the photos and the ease with which you can find what you need. You get many categories that you might not find anywhere and this makes this site a great place to find new pictures. Picjumbo
IM Free
IM Creator is an online website building tool that comes with a library of high quality free photos that you can use on your own projects as long as you attribute them to the artist. Compared to the other sites they don’t have a huge selection, but they are well organized under many categories and they are quite nice so give them a try. IM Free
New Old Stock
Vintage photos from the public archives can be a great treasure and New Old Stock offers just that and for free. Many of the pictures are taken from government agencies or discovered in sold estates and they have no copyright restrictions so you can use them for whatever purpose without cost. New Old Stock
GetRefe
Filled with photos of landscapes and architecture, GetRefe is the Tumblr account of someone who travelled throughout Europe and has taken photos of their journeys. They aren’t put into any categories but you have a large selection of wonderful pictures without having to pay anything for them. GetRefe
Jay Mantri
Jay Mantri offers you free pictures under the CC0 license and tells you to “do anything. Make magic.” with them. He is one of the most talented designers in Southern California and you get new photos every Thursday from him. Jay Mantri
MorgueFile
A morgueFile is a place where you host materials after the production so that they can be used for reference and this is where they took their name from. You get many pictures that can be used by illustrators, designers, teachers or any other professionals without any cost and with a stock of over 300,000 photos. MorgueFile
Picography
The layout of this site is as simple as it gets with a scroll-down gallery of random shots that comes from several professional photographers. Since anyone can submit photos you get a very large selection but it might take a while to find exactly what you are looking for but it is worth the effort. Picography
Public Domain Archive
A web designer and photographer from Athens, GA made this site as a repository for high quality public domain images that he found throughout the internet and since it acts as a huge archive you get a lot of valuable photos here. The great thing is that they host vintage and contemporary photos so many genres are brought together but the lack of an efficient search engine might lead to a few minutes of scrolling until you find what you need. Public Domain Archive
Pexels
All pictures on the site are under the CC0 license and this site adds around 20 new photos every day. Each one of the photos is carefully chosen to make sure that all are of a really high quality and they are easily found with the efficient search engine making the site easy to use. Pexels
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