We know you don’t have time and you just need pictures for your blogs. No one wants to read a blog if it doesn’t have images to reclaim their attention at some point. You know, The “Ooh, shiny!” Effect.
You need cheap or free and quality images because you’re small business and not rolling in big dough yet. Naturally, understanding royalty free images and where to go to get them is more than simply a valuable tool for websites and bloggers, it doubles as an honest-to-goodness savior of attention AND a money.
Copyright laws usually protect these photos, hence the need to “understand” them. So what exactly does that mean? If you aren’t the one that created the image, you have to obtain permission from the owner to use it and agree to their terms of use.
One of the best ways to do this (and the often the preferred, easy-peasy version) is to use universal commercial agreements or royalty-free licenses.
Our Favorite Top Royalty Free Image Sites
Royalty free images aren’t necessarily free, despite their occasionally misunderstood name. Royalty free just means you lawfully don’t have to give credit to the artist and can just use the art for whatever you need (within the limits of the agreement, of course).
Generally, to get a license for images, you pay one flat rate, and then you can use the image as many times and as in as many places as you choose. As always, yes, you do have to read the fine print, too.
Plenty of websites contain these types of images. Once you set up an account, you opt in for a one-time fee for to use photos found on said site. These royalty free image websites are primo tools for small business owners, website owners, and bloggers. They’re your key to quality images that you can use on any of your platforms.
Well, again, read your user agreement. Usually on any of the platforms, at least.
To help you build your website and enhance your blogs, we have gathered the top royalty free image sites to for your necessary royalty free images minus any gross hassle or outlandish price tags.
1 – Negative Space
Negative Space offers new, free, stock images weekly. None of the photos have copyright restrictions which means you can use them however you want. Score!
Whether you’re searching for photos of wildlife or technology, Negative Space maintains a diverse collection that is continuously increasing. The best part about this site is it’s easy to filter through their sortable gallery by filtering the images by category, copy space position, and color.
2 – Death to Stock
The Death to Stock website was founded by photographers Allie and David after they noticed how difficult it was for bloggers, businesses, creators, and more to find free, high-quality images fitting their “vibe and tribe.”
As a result, Death to Stock was created to fix this all-too-common problem. All you have to do to get free images is submit your email address and Death to Stock delivers a new batch of photos each month.
If you do have some extra cash in your pocket, Death to Stock offers memberships for $15 a month to $180 a year. The paid memberships give a percentage of the profit to photography trips and projects that help maintain the company.
3 – Picjumbo
If you’re searching for free images for your website or blog, then look no further, fam! Picjumbo adds new photos daily. You read right: daily. With these types of updates, there’s always a variety of high-quality images available for whatever topic you need.
The site’s photographer’s name is Vicktor, and he offers unique packages bloggers, designers, and agencies can purchase starting at just $10 a month. He also provides a useful plugin for Photoshop and Sketch for $7.99.
4 – Stokpic
Stokpic‘s photographer Ed Gregory adds ten new photos every other week that you can use for your website, as part of a template, in ads, or anywhere else. Sky’s definitely the limit with these photos.
You can scroll through his most recent 100 photos or browse through different categories like people, landscapes, technology, and more. Find the one that best fits your needs- it’s likely you can find it at Stokpic!
5 – Kaboompics
A web designer from Poland named Karolina is the intrinsic mastermind behind this helpful resource for high-quality images. Kaboompics provides a humongous variety of photos for pretty much any scenario you’d need. Well, probably. Anyway, users are free to use these pics for whatever they want–commercial or not.
Even though there are no official attribution stipulations, Karolina asks that users include a credit with a backlink to the site when possible. Her request is made in hopes to grow the website’s popularity and provide even more incredible photos for anyone to use.
6 – Startup Stock Photos
Startup Stock Photos: the name of the company says it all. They strive to provide people with a powerful resource of free professional images that can be used to create astonishing work or focal points. Whether you are writing a blog on technology or a website promoting beauty products, you can find your pictures at Startup Stock Photos. Go grab ’em already! Sheesh.
7 – Freerange
All the images on this website come from both in-house photographers and an extended community of contributors. Freerange offers a variety of quality photos for people to use. Most pictures are either digitally captured or use a high-resolution scan of the original slide. All free.
8 – LibreShot
Martin Vorel is a photographer and SEO consultant that provides the captivating photos on LibreShot. Whatever type of picture you’re looking for, Vorel’s collection is sure to give you one of the most unique varieties you’ve seen yet. And probably your favorite part yet? Also free.
9 – Fancy Crave
The photos on this FancyCrave are free of copyright restrictions and capture the most remarkable images you’ll find. Honestly, you can practically taste those bright red apples. Please don’t lick your screen, though. You’ve probably not cleaned the thing in ages. Live your life how you want, but it’s in your favor to not lick the pixels.
Anywho, FancyCrave’s photographer requests that you don’t advertise the photos as your own and provide attributions when possible. Two new images are uploaded daily to keep the palette relevant and useful for users in need of quality photos.
10 – Splitshire
Splitshire offers numerous free photos for use without commercial restrictions. You know, just like you need! Italian photographer Daniel Nanescu powers the website. Every picture is “made with love,” and the truth of that statement is obvious. We’re not kidding. Go look. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding the perfect image for your needs.
11 – Unsplash
Unsplash provides ten new photos every ten days that you can “do whatever you want” with. The originality of the images will capture both you and your reader’s attention. They captured ours and have you met our attention span? Exactly. Enough said.
Unsplash publishes every photo with a license under Creative Commons Zero. This provides users the freedom to modify, copy, distribute, and use every picture without permission or attribution.
No Crowns, Just an Outro
(You know, like an intro, just on the way out. An outro!)
Anyway, you know finding the perfect image for your site or blog posts doesn’t have to be complicated or even pricey. You’ve got enough dollar amounts to worry about. But also, don’t steal the art of photographers. Use these sites to fairly use art with appropriate permissions.
With the large pool of websites that offer royalty free images (you know, as seen above), as long as you agree to the terms and conditions, you’re golden and good to go. These sites offer low prices or even free use. The websites we mentioned above are at the top of the list for creativity, low prices, and quality. Give your site the look it needs to draw users and keep them entranced in your content.
Yep. It’s true. We know a thing or two about content, marketing, blogs and beyond. If you need anything related to any of these, Dominate with SEO is your go-to. We offer all of the services you need so we can help you find a clearer path to dominating your competitors. Contact us if you need help with your digital presence.
