Six sources for free Stock Photography

One question asked by people new to making websites always is, ‘Where can I find pictures to use on my website?’ Many people point people to stock photo sites that cost money either per picture or per membership. Often lots of them require a royalty fee as well.

There is some good news! There are several that actually offer free pictures you can use. There are even some that offer pictures that are royalty free.

Always check the terms of use and the licenses for the picture you choose to use. Sometimes you may be required to link back to the site in exchange for using the picture.

• Every Stock Photo
  This one isn’t my favorite site on the list, but I put it first because it is a stock photo search engine. They claim over 4 million pictures in their database. When searching you can specify license type.
• Stock.XCHNG
  My personal favorite of the bunch. I’ve used it for years. They have an excellent search and a large selection of pictures. If you are a photographer, you can even upload your own pictures for other people to use. They claim 350,000 images by 30,000 photographers.
• MorgueFile
  Despite the name, this site is a very good source of pictures. A morguefile is a term used my illustrators and newspapers to refer to their picture stockpiles. They have many categories of pictures. As with most of the sites on this list, photographers can upload their own pictures.
• DesignPacks
  This site has multiple picture packs consisting of 15 pictures on a particular subject such as flowers, cars, or tools. Some of the pictures are pretty abstract, but they would have a use for headers or the like.
• StockVault
  This site has quite a few Photoshop tutorials in addition to thousands of pictures. Registration isn’t required for this site, but it does give you additional features. You don’t need to register to download pictures.
• ImageBase
  The pictures here are licensed by a Creative Commons License. The pictures come in very high resolutions. Many different pictures across many categories.