A website that offers free images for your content is every web designer, blogger, and social media marketer’s sanctuary. It is a known fact that one of the most important elements to consider that can make your write-up more interesting, with a huge probability of going viral, is the visuals that come with it.
There are numerous places that promote copyright free images or have Creative Commons Zero CC0 license. Simply put, you can download and use however you want, no need to get permission. On the other hand, you need to be mindful of how you intend to use the pictures as some of them need attribution. Thus, you have to do a bit of research to understand how to use the images.
Why do you need good images for your post?
Before we get into details on where you can grab free images, let’s talk about why the images are significant to your post.
It does not take a genius to know that the brain works hand in hand with the eyes. From the image we see, it transmits the information to the brain where it gets processed. Next, it will send a command to the conforming body part that will then execute the required action accordingly.
While it may sound like it would take some time, in reality, the entire process happens in approximately 50 milliseconds only. Therefore, you only have that minuscule window to snatch someone’s attention and be judged, “to click or not to click”.
Where do you get free images for your content?
The best place to download free images depends on your preference. If you google “free images “, you’ll see top suggested sites, but which one should you pick? Well, you’ll never really know unless you take a peek on each one but that would take some of your precious time, which most of us can’t afford.
We have rounded up some of the finest websites that offer a wide range of high-resolution images which you can freely download and use for your social media accounts and marketing blogs.
Pixabay
Boasting a massive collection of top-notch quality images and still growing. To date, Pixabay houses roughly 1,120,000 free photographs, videos and more. All their contents are distributed under CC0 license.
You may download free images without creating an account. But if you want to be a pro-active member of the community, feel free to create an account. You can upload and share images (subject to their terms), bookmark your top picks for future use and so on.
Pexels
Next on the list is another site that offers high-quality images but has a bit smaller collection compared to Pixabay. Pexels also promotes CC0 license, however, require that the recognizable personalities on the images should not be placed in a compromising or in an unpleasant situation lest they give their consent.
StockSnap.io
Third on our go-to website for crisp free images is StockSnap.io. It has different categories for specific images and their collection gets updated on a weekly basis. You may sign up for their weekly newsletter, without creating an account, to get the freshest uploads readily accessible through your inbox.
Unsplash
Unsplash has around 200,000 images that were contributed by very talented photographers. And while it’s not mandatory, they encourage giving credit to whom it is due to boost the morale of the respective photographer, not a deal breaker if you think about it.
You can opt to join their community and start interacting with almost 42,000 highly competent shutterbugs. You may follow your favorite photographers and be updated with their latest prints.
Burst by Shopify
If you are more into e-commerce, then this would probably be the most suitable place for you. Burst offers free images tailored for product-related businesses. In addition to that, they also provide business tips for wannabe online sellers, talk about killing two birds with one stone.
Jay Mantri
Are you looking for photos that center on the beauty of nature? Then be sure to visit Jay Mantri. From breathtaking sceneries to random themes, all his snapshots have that certain feel to it.
You can grab his free images through StockSnap.io or through his own website. You can also follow him via Tumblr.
Magdeleine
Yet another place to be if you want to download landscape inspired images is Magdeleine. What I love most about this website is it lets you search images depending on the dominant colors, popular tags, category and license type.
You may submit your best photo and get a chance to be featured as the photo of the day as well as Editor’s pick.
The website has an RSS feed which is a huge plus if you are using JARVEE for automatically publishing your posts across all your social media accounts.
Viintage
If you are looking for old-fashioned, antique feel free images in black and white, you can browse through New Old Stock. But if you have a fondness for the colored, quirky, blast from the past posters, I’m pretty sure you will go gaga over Viintage.
The only down side to Viintage is that the site is not user-friendly. It does not have a search function for keyword or category, hence you’ll need to do a good amount of browsing, but it’s worth the trip as most of the old posters are funny as it is entertaining.
Foodiesfeed
As the name implies, FoodiesFeed promotes an assembly of genuinely mouthwatering food pictures perfect for food bloggers and the likes. You can download free images without creating an account. But it’s better to sign up for one and share your images, it would be a great source of exposure for your social media account.
Final Thoughts
There are tons of websites that promote free images but I guess we really have not addressed the question “Where is the best place to get free images?”
We have talked about our top picks, but then again, we love to save the best for last. And before you start bookmarking all the places we cited above, take a closer look first at The Stocks. Unlike the other sites, it is more like a free images convenience store.
Yes, you read it right! It is one stop shop. Most, if not all, the places we named earlier are accessible through this nifty website. That said, this website is the most deserving of that bookmark.
Reign says
I’ve been checking out your blog from time to time and have bookmarked some of it and adding this one too 🙂
Avinash Kumar says
Great sources! I love your page with images to share online. and one of my best favorite is pixabay because here i got high definition pictures, and high image resolution