Where to Get Free Images for Your Website

One problem that I had when I first started doing web design was that I had no photos to use. This was a problem because photos are very important to a website. A well-designed website will look awful if it doesn’t have high-quality photos to supplement it.

I looked at different websites and noticed that a lot of them used stock photos. That was the trend that I noticed, but I dislike stock photos very much. The main reason I dislike stock photos is because they are so cheesy-looking. Another reason is that so many sites seem to use the same stock photos – it was to the point where I was seeing the same stock photo actors again and again on multiple sites.

This is what I mean when I say that stock photos are cheesy. This photo in particular is named "Multi Ethnic Business Meeting." Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
This is what I mean when I say that stock photos are cheesy. This photo in particular is named “Multi Ethnic Business Meeting.” Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So what’s a freelance web designer to do? On one hand I don’t want to invest time and money into learning how to take photos. On the otherhand, I don’t want to pay $199/month to get a subscription to Shutterstock, one of the industry leaders in stock photos. Nor do I want to buy individual licenses for images.

Over the first year of me doing web design, I found many great websites for free photos. It’s not as simple and copying and inserting into your website though; there are certain restrictions, as I will explain.

*Note: all of these sites have user-uploaded content, meaning that there is a possibility that copyrighted content may have been inappropriately uploaded. Be careful and always do your due diligence.

 

1. MorgueFile.com

In photography, a “morgue file” is where the leftovers go. So you can think of the site as a place for leftovers. Really, really good-quality and high-resolution leftovers. MorgueFile.com is a site that I found last year. It’s turned out to be very easy to use, although a bit limited.

Any drawbacks? Some of the photos are very amateurish. The library itself also isn’t that big. Finally, there aren’t too good photos of people doing things (e.g. an accountant, a business meeting, etc).

Are there restrictions? The photos you use “cannot be in a standalone manner.” This means that they don’t want to use their site as a photo library, but rather, a resource for artists. You can easily do this by cropping, re-coloring, or turning the photo black and white. If you’re using their photos as part of a blog entry, that’s fine as well, as the photo would be a part of the blog entry.

stock-morguefile-demo

 

2. FreeRangeStock.com

FreeRangeStock.com is a photo library I found a couple of months ago. This site, along with MorgueFile.com, are my stock photo saviors. FreeRangeStock.com has a very high standard for photo quality. They state that they choose which photos they include into their library and digitally edit them.

Any drawbacks? You have to register and you need to be logged in to download their photos.

Any restrictions? Nope! As a courtesy, they do ask that you include a link to their site when possible.

stock-freerangestock-demo

 

3. Flickr Creative Commons

Flickr is a popular photo hosting website that is owned by Yahoo. Flickr also has a big community of photographers (both hobby photographers and professionals). Some of these awesome photographers license their photos under a Creative Commons license. This means that they give you permission to use their photos, but you must give them credit and you should include the license.

Any drawbacks? You do have to take the time to include license information and attribution. If you use WordPress, I would recommend the Flickr Pick-A-Pic plugin, which automatically includes such information.

Any restrictions? There are different Creative Commons licenses. Some of them don’t allow you to use their photos for commercial works. Most licenses also state that if you make a derivative or remixed work, the new photo has to carry the same Creative Commons license as well.

Attribution is required for Creative Commons licensed photos.
By skycaptaintwo. CC BY 2.0

 

4. stock.xchng

stock.xchng is a website that a lot of members in my web designer community recommend. I personally don’t really like it that much. To be honest, I can get almost everything I need from the 3 previously mentioned websites.

Any drawbacks? You have to register and be logged in to download photos. They’ve also designed their website so that their affiliate links for paid stock photos blend right into their free photos.

Any restrictions? You will need to contact and ask for permission from the photographer of the particular image if you plan to use their photo in reproduction (e.g. T-shirts, a website template, postcards). There are also several situations where you can’t use the photos (read stock.xchng’s “Legal Information”).

stock-sxchu-demo

 

5. Public Domain Photos

When a photo is taken, it is automatically assigned a copyright under it’s photographer’s name (Don’t know what a copyright is? Read this). Some photographers choose to waive their copyright and the photo then enters the public domain, where people can use it for free, for whatever they want.

Any drawbacks? Nope.

Any restrictions? Nope.

stock-publicdomain-demo

 

6. Wikimedia Commons

This website is where all the photos and video for Wikipedia are stored. These images are 100% user submitted. The photos aren’t as nice as you would find on Flickr’s Creative Commons, but like Wikipedia, there is a large diversity of media available. A search of “typhoid” for example, came back with 125 search results. That’s a lot of pictures for typhoid.

Any drawbacks? If you use Wikipedia a lot, you’ll know that the photos on there aren’t anything to scream about.

Any restrictions? You must attribute the author and adhere to the license restrictions.

Photo by Sansse. CC Share Alike
Photo by Sansse. CC Share Alike

 

7. FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Finally, if you’re looking for cheesy stock photos, then go ahead and visit this site. They offer small sizes for free,.

Any drawbacks? Photos are only available in a small size. Larger sizes must be paid for.

Any restrictions? Photos must be include a credit and link back to FreeDigitalPhotos.net. If you pay for the photo, you don’t need to include a credit.

Courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos & graur razvan ionut
Courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos & graur razvan ionut

8. Pixabay

Recently, this has become my favorite source for quality, free photos.

Any drawbacks? The license is a public domain one, but these are the restrictions:

  • Images depicting identifiable persons may not be used for pornographic, unlawful or other immoral purposes, or in a way that can give a bad name to people, or to imply endorsement of products and services by those persons, brands, organisations, etc.
  • Since Pixabay does not require a written Model Release for each Image that has identifiable people on it, We cannot guarantee that You will be able to use the Image for any purpose You like. Also, if there is a model release for the Image, We do not represent or make warranties whatsoever as to the legality or validity of it.
  • Furthermore, certain Images may be subject to additional copyrights, property rights, trademarks etc. and may require the consent of a third party or the license of these rights. Pixabay does not represent or make any warranties that it owns or licenses any of the mentioned, nor does it grant them. It’s your and the Image uploader’s responsibility to make sure that all the necessary rights, consents and licenses for the use of the Images are provided.
  • You are not allowed to mass download Images with an application, or reuse a big part of the Images for redistribution on a similar Website. Texts including image descriptions and tags are copyrighted.

dog-190056_640

Any restrictions? Usually not, but check the individual pages.

5 comments on “Where to Get Free Images for Your Website

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