24 websites to find original free pics

by Sancar Sahin

in Ask Awesomely

Digital photos. There are trillions of them out there. Yet finding good-quality,
free images that we can use on our websites, social media, and print publications
is somehow still difficult.

We all know about the big stock photo sites. But we also know that the rights
to good photos dont come cheaply. And if youre lucky enough to stumble upon
a decent image, youll likely see it cropping up everywhere.

So, weve put together a list of 24 of our favorite websites full of free pics to help
you stand out with original, high-res images that dont cost a cent.

1. Unsplash
Born as one of Crew.cos now-famous side projects, Unsplash is a collection of
beautiful do whatever you want photos. What does that mean? Exactly what it
says on the box. Download them, edit them, use them for commercial purposes
hell, you could wallpaper your kitchen with them for all they care.

2. SplitShire
The generosity of photographers is spreading like wildfire. Daniel Nanescu is
largely feeding that fire. A man with not only a cool name but also a large
collection of high-quality digital photographsand all for free. Nanescu was
keen not to let his photographs disappear into oblivion, so he created
SplitShire.

3. Epicantus
Visual & UX designer, Daria, has put together a collection of photos that anyone
can download and use in their projects. The images are pretty abstract, so make
for great content backdrops. Everything is high quality and free.

4. Picjumbo
There comes a time in every bloggers life when all they really need is a picture
of a man holding a phone, or a cute puppy on a bed. For those inevitable
moments, there are sites like Picjumbo. A little less artsy than some of its free-pic
website cousins, Picjumbo is full of royalty-free stock images that dont require
any type of attribution.

5. IM Free
From the creators of IM Creator, a sleek website building tool, IM Free is a
curated collection of high-quality images broken down into different categories
such as Business, Food & Drink, Health, and Technology. They even offer
up free icon sets. Although they do ask for attribution, its a small cost for top-
notch and completely free digital pics.
6. Morguefile
A sizeable, searchable, and very likeable library of free picsthats Morguefile
for you. Its got a bit of everything and is a great companion for any blogger.
Youre free to use the images as you like, but need to attribute the photographer
when you use them in their original form.

7. FreeImages
FreeImages lives up to its nominal promiseits full of free images. Attribution
is sometimes required, depending on the image you want to use. However, this
site is massivethey have almost 25k photos just in the Army & Weapons
category. The images are bit more stocky than the other sites on this list, but
depending on what youre looking for, can definitely be worth a bookmark.

8. New Old Stock

Ever rummaged around one of those boxes of old photos that people put out at
yard sales? Its a bit like going back in time without needing a flux capacitor.
New Old Stock has loads of old, vintage photos that are free of known
copyright restrictions. Even if you dont need any pictures for your project, just
browsing this site is a pleasure.

9. Picography
Free high-resolution photos. Use them however you like. So reads the text that
sits in Picographys website header. You cant say fairer than that, right? Its a
simple collection of seemingly random photographs, all professionally taken. If
youre looking for something very specific, this might not be the site for you.
However, if youre after a bit of inspiration, its definitely worth a visit.

10. GetRefe
Theres no search feature on this site, but its got a pretty solid collection of
good-looking free pics that you can use for pretty much anything. While the
photo collection includes some stock-like photos, such as people holding mobile
phones, its probably strongest contender for landscape and travel shots.

11. Jay Mantri

This is a collection of beautifully-shot photos of mostly landscapes and abstract
objects which are all the work of one designer, Jay Mantri. The offer he proposes
on his website? Free pics. Do anything. Make magic. Thanks Jay, sounds good.

12. Superfamous
Would you trust an artist with your website images? If so, give Dutch Artist
Folkert Gorters website a go. He put together a stunning collection of photos,
which look more like paintings, for you to use on your blog, website, social
media, or anything else you can think of. What does he ask for in return? Just
attribution. Sounds fair.

13. Public Domain Archive

This website puts its pictures into three categories: modern images, vintage
images, and weekly images. Theres no search feature, but the pictures are
top quality and artistic in style. As the name suggests, all the images are in the
public domain. This means youre free to use them as you wish.

14. Gratisography
Gratisography, or Freeography for non-Spanish speakers, is a stunning collection
of free pictures all taken by one manRyan McGuire. In his own words,
McGuire isnt a ninja. He is an artist though and he generously adds new images
to his collection each week and lets the rest of us use them as we please.

15. StockSnap.io
Its right there, proudly displayed at the top of their website: Free from
copyright restrictions. Music to the ears of any marketer, blogger, or general
maker-of-things wanting to add beautiful images to their projects without
worrying about something as boring as copyright.

16. Negative Space

This is a nifty website to have in your toolbox. The photos on offer are colorful
and ooze quality. They have a handy list of categories and a unique copy space
filter. Whats that? Basically, you use the filter to specify in what position you
want to add text to the photo (like an article headline) and it will return results
that match your request. Pretty handy, right?
17. Pixabay
Pixabay is a large collection of free pics, illustrations, and even videos. The
images are high quality easy to find. When using images from Pixabay, you dont
need to worry about any kind of attribution and youre free to chop them up and
use them as you please. We do recommend, however, not using any image for
evil purposessuch as taking over the world.

18. Freestocks
This website offers a good mix of categories all stuffed full of good-looking
photos. Theres no catch. Just find, download, and use as you wish. Simple.

19. Snapwire Snaps

The good folks at Snapwire, a platform for requesting custom photographs, offer
7 free pics every 7 days. The images are always high-quality, good-looking, and
free for you to use as you like.

20. Tookapic
Theres a good mix of standard, high-quality stock-like photos and more abstract
pics on this site. Some of their photos fall under their Premium plan, but theres
also a generous collection of free images on offer.

21. MMT
Time for another one of those generous photographers. This time its Jeffrey
Betts, a talented photographer offering up his work to be used free from the
constraints of copyright. What a guy.

22. Life of Pix

The description is simple, but Life of Pix is a collection of high-res,
professionally-taken photographs. All pictures have one-click download and
there are absolutely no copyright restrictions. If a list of static photographs isnt
enough to get you going, check out their sister site, Life of Vidsa collection of
free-to-use videos.

23. Kaboompics
There are some really good-looking photos to choose from here, from a variety of
different categories (such as Abstract, City & Architecture, Fashion, etc.) Once
again, everything is free for you to use pretty much as you like (not for reselling
though that should be a given).

24. Burst
If you havent heard of Shopify, and have therefore been in some kind of solitary
confinement for the last 10 years, its a site for creating your own online
store. Getting some of the side-project goodness, theyve created Burst, a
microsite with lots of quality product and lifestyle picturesall for free.
Found plenty of new images, but still struggling for content? See how ArtSquare
uses Typeform to collect and manage blog submissions.