The Ultimate Stock Photo Resource Library for Your Social Media Graphics
As bloggers and online business owners, we’re pretty into our stock photo libraries. Whether we choose free or paid stock photos (or a combination of the two), it’s understood that our marketing content would be a lot more difficult to create if we didn’t have awesome photos readily available for our use.
Instead, we would have to invest in a quality camera, find shit to take pictures of, get the lighting just right, and take a million pictures only to hate them in the end and have to redo the entire thing. An entire day, wasted.
BUT, thankfully stock photo libraries are a thing. We can surf a website that offers stock photography, choose the photo we need for the graphic we’re creating, download it, and it’s ours. Yaaasssss. However, not many business owners are aware of just how many stock photo libraries there are on the interwebs. So I have taken it upon myself to remedy this situation. Because there are so many different resources for finding new and gorgeous stock photography that hasn’t already been used in 50 other blog graphics.
I’m going to cover two sections of stock photography libraries: free and paid. Although I completely support paying photographers for their hard work and images, a lot of bloggers and business owners have little to no budget, and free stock photos are all they can use. Other bloggers and business owners may have a higher budget and are willing to pay for the higher quality and less used stock photos. To each his own–that is why I’m including both.
One hugely important thing to pay attention to when using stock photography is the license and attribution requirements. I’m going to include each library’s license for use below so you’re able to see what your photos can be used for. Some stock photo libraries allow you to use their photos for both personal and commercial use at absolutely no charge. Some charge for commercial use. Some require attribution. Some don’t allow modifications. Some charge for any use. It is so, so important to follow these requirements or else you can wind up in some serious legal trouble. Copyright laws are nothing to mess with.
Other than that, you’re golden! Stock photos are great for custom social media graphics, blog post graphics, visual social media content, Instagram content, and more. So I highly recommend you take a look through this stock photo resource library I’ve put together for you.
Free
Pexels
I use Pexels more than every other stock photo resource in this list. If I’m looking for a photo, this tends to be my first stop. It’s a great library of images that you can search through to find exactly what you’re looking for.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means that you can use the photos for free for personal and commercial use without attribution. You can also modify, copy, and distribute the photos.
StockSnap.io
StockSnap is another one of my favorites. It also has similar content to Pexels. Sometimes photographers will submit their photos to more than one resource, so you’ll see the same photos across multiple websites. However, there are some unique options here. It’s another library that you can easily search to find what you’re looking for.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Life of Pix
Life of Pix used to be a website that you had to surf through the pages to find photos that could work for you, however, they’ve updated the website to add a search feature. This makes it much easier to use.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Pixabay
Pexels and StockSnap have a lot more photography, whereas Pixabay has a lot more stock options. For example, you’ll find a lot of photos with white backdrops as the backgrounds, as well as some graphics. It’s still a great resource to check out.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Unsplash
Another great resource for photography. I’ve actually been starting to use this one more and more and have found that they have some of the most unique stock photos that I haven’t found on any other site. Unsplash also has an option for you to receive an email with their best stock photos to keep on hand. Buffer even uses Unsplash for their stock photos in all of their marketing!
License: Unsplash license which “grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash.”
picjumbo
Huge library of images. picjumbo also has a premium membership that allows you to download full photo packs and more.
License: The website does not list the type of license, however they do say that you can use these photos for absolutely any use except photo redistribution. Learn more about their licensing for photo redistribution here.
Gratisography
This website is really cool because it’s maintained by a single photographer who only includes his own photos. And if you use his work often, you have the option to donate to the photographer as a thank you.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Refe
I’ll be including Refe under both free and paid because they have an entire section of free stock photos that you can choose from, but they also have different paid options and photography packs.
License: They do not explicitly say what the licensing is for their free photos, and I did not hear back from them when I reached out myself. What they do say is that you can use these for personal/commercial purposes, in your blog posts or other publications, and in the themes/templates you sell. You cannot distribute/sell the photos, claim them as your own, or give them to other people for free.
Jay Mantri
This is another example where a photographer is hosting his own works for you to download from his own website. He has some really gorgeous stuff, but the site is not searchable.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Death to Stock
Death to Stock, or Death to the Stock Photo, is a monthly email subscription that sends out free photo packs for subscribers to use once each month. The photo pack includes about 10 themed stock photos and they’re always gorgeous. They also have a paid premium version which we’ll cover more under Paid photos.
License: Photograph End User License — you can read more about this here and here.
Burst (by Shopify)
Shopify is getting in on the stock photo game with their new resource Burst. They have a searchable database as well as a list of categories to sift through.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Negative Space
Negative Space is another awesome stock photo resource. You can search for the type of image you’re looking for, and they have a library full of gorgeous photos.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
123RF
123RF is a paid stock photo library that also has an entire section of free photos for those of us with a smaller budget. Click here to browse their free images. The free library is constantly revolving, so if you see an image you like, grab it before it expires!
License: Standard license. Learn more about it here.
Foodiesfeed
This is an awesome niche stock photo library for foodies or lifestyle brands who need natural looking food photos in their social and blog content. I really love this idea! They also have a free membership if you’re interested in getting stock photos regularly emailed to you.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Freestocks.org
Freestocks.org allows you to search for your photos as well as browse through various categories and tags. I don’t particularly love the layout, design, or setup of this website, but it’s definitely better than a few stock photo sites I’ve seen! I haven’t included any whose UX isn’t up to par.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
MMT
MMT, short for Moment, is a stock photography website founded by Jeffrey Betts, a UI/UX designer who has a seriously impressive resume. He uploads new photos each week, and they tend to focus on nature scenes or photos of workspaces (which tend to be perfect for bloggers and business owners).
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Kaboom Pics
This is a seriously awesome website because they offer more than just stock photos. They have photos, a blog with great content on using stock photos, and some seriously intuitive search features. You can search by photo orientation, search a particular photoshoot or all available photos, and search by color! How neat is that?
License: The owners of this site actually worked to create their own license and terms which you can learn more about here. It’s nearly identical to the Creative Commons license except for their redistribution guidelines. Which basically say no redistribution of any kind.
Styled Stock
I actually just found this stock photo site in my research for this post and I’m freaking in love. This will probably be one of my new go-tos and I actually just signed up for their newsletter as well. I love pink and rose gold and white flatlays and basically every photo this website has. So you’ll see a lot more of these around here soon 😍
License: Since the owners of the site create the content themselves, they have also created their own license. It’s similar to the license on Kaboom Pics in that they do not allow any type of redistribution. Check it out here to find out what is and isn’t allowed.
ISO Republic
ISO Republic is a free stock photo website that was created by photographer Tom Eversley. I think the photos may have all been his when he first started and now it has grown to include contributors, which is really exciting! This site has some pretty gorgeous photos and it’s easily searchable. You can subscribe to their newsletter to get photos sent to your inbox as well.
License: The photos can be used in nearly every commercial design project and attribution is not required. You can read more about their terms here.
Magdeleine
This library curates free stock photos from around the internet on this single resource. It’s extremely searchable, and you can also browse photos by color, category, and license.
License: All photos are free, but they are not all the same license. Some are a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license white others require attribution. Make sure you pay attention each time you download a photo from this site, or search for only CC0 or only attribution required so you know which photos you’re getting.
Stockvault
Stockvault.net is a huge library of photos, textures, and illustrations (so more than just photos–it’s hard to get illustrations for free!) that various photographers and artists have contributed. This site also has varying licenses per photo, so make sure you pay attention to the type of photo you’re downloading.
License: Stockvault.net has three different licenses: non-commercial (can only be used for personal use and cannot be redistributed), commercial (can be used for any use and cannot be redistributed), and Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. Attribution is not required under any of their licenses.
Realistic Shots
As a heads up, they haven’t updated their site since April 2016, so I’m not sure if there will ever be new photos added. But the content they do have is good enough that I wanted to include it as a resource anyways.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
BucketListly
This site is filled with incredibly cool travel photos that you can use for free–however his licensing is a little different. (Also you should just check out the main site BucketListly as well. It’s a very cool concept.)
License: His photos are released under the Creative Commons, but not a CC0 license. So you can use the photos for free, and you can share and edit the photos, but he does require attribution and he does not allow commercial use. He explicitly says the photos can be used in a blog post, but for larger commercial projects, you will need to get in touch with him for licensing fees. Learn more about his licensing here.
Stokpic
This is another site that I have just been introduced to through my research for this blog post, but I’m pretty excited about it. They have a lot of photos of people, which can do pretty well in blog post images. Their licensing is also a little different because most of the photos are their own.
License: Some of the photos on their site are under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, but most are under a license called the Photograph End User License (same license Death to the Stock Photo uses), which essentially means you can use them for nearly anything but you cannot redistribute the photos. They call it the Stokpic License, but it is the Photograph End User License, and you can read more about it here.
Travel Coffee Book
This stock photo site has more awesome travel photos. One thing that’s pretty neat is you can click download all images on their homepage and go to a OneDrive folder with every single image from their website for quick and easy download! The only issue is that this library isn’t searchable which can make it damn near impossible to find something specific.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Skitterphoto
Skitterphoto is another large stock photo resource with a variety of different photos. All are released under the public domain as well, so have fun with this one!
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Epicantus
This is another resource full of images created by the owner of the website, Daria. She has all of her photos on this Tumblr website for anyone to use for free. There is a variety of images to choose from, with most of them taking place outside, and the website is searchable. You can also get a quick view of all images by checking out her archive.
License: She does not specifically list any type of license, but she says all of her photos are free for personal and commercial use.
ShotStash
ShotStash is full of awesome stock photos that you can use for personal and commercial use. You can browse through categories and the database is also searchable.
License: They don’t specifically say, although it is similar to the Photograph End User License. You can use them however you like, but you cannot redistribute them (or use them in degrading ways). Read more about what is and isn’t allowed here.
The Stocks
This site is extremely cool because it takes several of the stock photo resources already listed here and embeds them into this site. So you’re able to browse through several of these included in this list all at once!
License: Whatever the stock photo library embedded is. Most are likely the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Paid
CGScreative
CGScreative is a blog meant to help other bloggers and entrepreneurs create their own blogs/businesses, and they offer a stock photo shop as well, to help with graphics, curated Instagram feeds, and more. Her photos range from $6-9 apiece.
Kate Max Stock
Kate Max Stock is another creative resource for bloggers and small businesses. You can buy her photos as singles or save money by purchasing a bundle.
CreateHER Stock
Because many stock photo libraries don’t put an emphasis on women of color, CreateHER Stock’s mission is to create diversity within stock photos. They also have an entire library full of free photos for you to try out before making a purchase.
Check out their premium packages here.
Haute Stock
Haute Stock also has a stock photo membership for its styled stock photos. The membership is $99/quarter or $299/year.
Learn more about the membership here.
Stock That Rocks
Stock That Rocks offers several different ways to purchase their photos. If you fall in love with just one or two, you can purchase photos individually, or you can sign up for a membership. Memberships range from $17-$500 monthly or yearly.
Learn more about their pricing here.
Baby Got Brand
Baby Got Brand is a great site for overall branding. They offer premade branding & web design packages, brand mapping services, and stock photography bundles for new bloggers and small business owners to take advantage of. A one-stop shop for branding elements like that is really helpful for people who are just starting out.
Check out their products here.
Ivory Mix
Not only do they offer over 550 FREE stock photos, they also have beautifully styled stock photos for sale a la carte and via their photo membership.
Adobe Stock
A lot of us probably use Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, etc. Adobe Stock can be an easy add-on to your Creative Cloud for $29.99/mo to access their massive library of stock photos.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is another popular stock photo library with different monthly plans. You can pay per photo or monthly fees to have access to a certain number of downloads.
iStock Photo
Not only does iStock have a huge stock photo library, but they also have vectors, illustrations, video, and audio available for purchase for commercial use. This is another site very similar to Adobe Stock and Shutterstock.
And that just about does it! If you yourself have a stock photo resource (whether it’s free or paid), please feel free to reach out and let me know so I can add it to this list!
What is your go-to for stock photos?
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Kavleen Kaur
Thanks for sharing such a beautiful content.