As a busy entrepreneur, when you’re in need of halfway decent imagery for your next project, it can be awfully tempting to head to Google Images and just grab the first image that pops up.

Please resist that urge! Grabbing images without considering whether it’s legal to use them can land anyone in hot water. Just like you wouldn’t plagiarize text, stealing images violates copyright all the same. It’s best to avoid that potentially costly risk by going to the deep wells of Stock Photography.

Believe me, I can hear the groans already. For most of us, stock photography calls to mind painful meme-worthy images, a la Hide the Pain Harold & women inexplicably laughing at their salads. As if the horrible images weren’t bad enough on their own, it adds insult to injury that you typically have to pay for these monstrosities!

I’m here to solve both of those problems for you!

The original & much beloved Hide the Pain Harold

A woman inexplicably laughing alone with her salad

Bad stock photography

has launched over 9,000 memes

A brick wall with the words Together We Create spray-painted on

There are plenty of websites that offer free, high quality stock images, covering a wide range of subjects. Yes, these images can even be used for commercial purposes! The options are practically endless.

In fact, the vast majority of images used on our own website came from free stock photography websites listed here.

To further enhance your use of free stock imagery, if you have the necessary skills, we highly recommend editing stock photos whenever possible. For instance, that happy smiling woman has been edited so that her lipstick & shirt match the shade of red from our color scheme. The spray painted wall? We edited that very image for use on our Contact page, adding our own rainbow swirls. You can do it too! Paying attention to small details like this, keeping imagery cohesive with your color scheme & overall branding, will truly take your stock images to the next level.

Need a little help integrating free stock imagery into your brand? Give us a shout! That’s what we’re here for & we’re happy to help.

Without further ado, we proudly present

Our Favorite Free Stock Image Resources

Favorites:

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Unsplash.com

Unsplash offers thousands of free photos, powered by countless global contributors. A lot of my favorite photos have come from Unsplash!

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Pixabay.com

Pixabay is one of the largest stock image repositories out there, featuring photographs, vector graphics, and illustrations.

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Pexels.com

Pexels.com is a thriving resource that’s constantly being updated by photographers around the world. I’ve even found some vector illustrations there from time to time.

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Icons8.com

Don’t let the name fool you – Icons8 has so much more than icons! They also host a wide variety of stock photos and vector illustrations. The higher res versions do cost money, but they more than make up for that through their amazing tool suite. Look for their Photo Creator & Vector Creator tools, helping you create custom graphics on the fly. On top of all that, their large collection of icons covers a wide range of styles & topics. Best of all, you can customise the colors right there on their website. Icons8 is truly best of the best!

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Burst by Shopify

A truly gorgeous collection of free photos, all available in high resolution for free.

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StockVault

Another resource that offers stock photos, textures, and vector illustrations.

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ReShot

While exploring ReShot’s vast selection of free stock images, make sure you take a look at their top menu. Their sister sites also offer entirely free videos, music, sound effects, templates, and so much more. They’re a total one-stop-shop!

Honorable Mentions:

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New Old Stock

Anyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with antique print. This free resource is basically my version of Nirvana. It’s all antique & vintage photography from public archives, available for free. Go, look, and enjoy the beautiful history!

Gratisography

This amazing site covers both photos and vectors. While it has a slightly smaller archive, what they do have is top notch.

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FoodiesFeed

If you’re looking for delectable photos of delicious looking food, look no further!

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FreeFoodPhotos.com

Here’s another one that’s the whole foods, all the food, and nothing but the food, so help me, Chef Andrés!

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FOCA Stock

This fantastic resource offers not only photos, but also videos and templates, all available for free for commercial use.

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Styled Stock

Billing itself as a “Feminine Stock Photography” supplier, Style Stock offers a refreshing response to the predominantly masculine business stock photo space. It does have its share of pink and salads, but also tons and tons of great options showing believable, professional, realistic women in the work place. It’s a great thing to see!

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