Free Photos And Images
64
When I searched the web for free photos and images that allows personal and commercial use, I discovered thousands of sites. Many of those sites were small, personal sites with a few hundred images, while some sites hosted hundreds of thousands to millions of images.
In many of those sites, the terms of use were not clearly defined, although most do state that the images were free. Rather than face potential legal problems, I decided to focus only on the biggest sites, and those whose terms of use were clearly defined.
I would suggest having a core stable of sites that you get your content from. That way, you are familiar with their terms of use and don't have to waste time reading each individual site's terms.
My Free Photos And Images Sites
Public Domain Photos.com - There are 5,000 photos and 8,000 cliparts in the public domain. But you are warned to be careful if the image contains logos or products.
FreeDigitalPhotos.net - All images are royalty free. You can use the images for free on your website or blog, provided you include a link back, or purchase a higher resolution version. If you are a photographer, you can sell your photos here as well.
Stock.XCHG - There are nearly 400,000 quality stock photos contributed by more than 30.000 photographers. The photos are free for most uses although some restrictions might apply to certain photos.
EveryStockPhoto - This site is a search engine for free photos. There are practically millions of photos are indexed. Most photos are free to use, under specific licenses. Licenses include a variety of Creative Commons, GNU, public domain, and custom free licenses.
Directories
Creative Commons Content Directories - A massive directory linking to hundreds of other directories containing content licensed under Creative Commons licenses. Content available include audio, video, image and text.
Caution
Do read the terms of use carefully and be extra careful if you want to distribute or sell the work, or if there is a model or models in the work.
CommentsLoading...
I had the same problem and posted a request but nobody answered, so I did a little research myself. :)
I am not the best at doing searches in Google, would you believe it? I've had to have others do keyword checks on my sites before or I will choose all the wrong keywords! I'm glad somebody else did the research so I didn't have to!
Planning to do something on keyword research soon. Stay tuned. :)
Wow thanks I tried a couple seems good to me...G-Ma :O) Hugs
Thanks, G-Ma. :)
I get so frustrated trying to find images I can use without stepping on someone's creative toes. Thanks for the link to the Creative Commons Content directories. Sounds like just what I need!
Useful information, thanks.
JamaGenee - That's the reason for this hub. I can't draw to save my life and I don't take pictures, so I need somebody else's work. I'm sure that you find every that you need in the content directories. :)
Rochelle Frank - Thanks for dropping by.
I like everystockphoto, it has a nice search and links you to a variety of free picture sites. The only thing is having to go through each of the licenses; and parsing license speak is sometimes like hitting my head into a wall.
Ahh...they are the biggest. For me, I simply choose the CC Attribution License photos. I do usually find something I like. :)
Excellent. Thank you for the prompt reply. The article is very useful.
Thanks Karen. :)
I very much appreciate your research and your sharing it! Thank you sincerely! Will have to try those several sites.
Thanks Frogy. :)
Thanks for sharing. This is pretty good hub on sourcing and using free images and photos.
Thanks Andrew0208. :)
Helpful hub, thanks.
Thanks daisyjae. :)
thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated
Thanks Asp52. :)
I totally agree with you about using a small group of sites. I've also found it useful to ask these sites to notify me of updates in their terms and conditions. If they don't have this facility then you should read sites' info. regularly. I recently found that one site had stopped its massive freebies and restrictions on use but had, instead, offered a lifetime licence for free usage of digital images for a cost of $20 FANTASTIC! Thanks for the info Wandereth. Mo :)
Mo - You definitely need to go with a small group of sites or you will find that you are constantly reading the TOS. And a lifetime license sounds good but it actually means for the lifetime of the site. But if the site has been around for some time and you can use the images in any way that you want, it's still a good deal. :)
Everyday Miracles Level 2 Commenter 3 years ago
Thank you for posting this! I was beginning to get frustrated looking for images for my hubs. I resorted to photobucket.com but it is very difficult to tell what is "stolen" and what isn't! Thanks!