Top 10 Stock Image Sites to Download Free Stock Photos for Designers
Getting high-quality images that are suitable for your content is a big challenge, especially when it comes to copyrights related to images. In this article, we will show you the top 10 free image sites to help you own stock images that enhance your content without getting into any legal problems related to copyrights.
Stock images play a major role in modern digital developments, as they are an essential part of the content presented on various websites or social media accounts. In fact, some digital social media platforms rely mainly on images to present their content, such as Instagram. The quality of stock images also helps in displaying your content, attracting the audience’s attention, and placing it at the top of the competition list with any other content presented on various digital platforms.
What are the copyrights of stock images?
When using images to support your content, you should make sure to use free, royalty-free images so that you do not run into any legal issues regarding the ownership rights of the images held by the people or businesses that created them.
Image copyright refers to the right of the photographer (the original owner of the image) to control its use, copying and distribution. Therefore, permission must be obtained from the photographer before using the image in any way. There are also image rights related to the people or places shown in the image, so in some cases you may need to obtain permission from the people shown in the image before using it commercially.
Types of Copyright Licenses for Images
- A royalty-free image license that allows the buyer to use the image in specific ways and for a specific number of uses.
- Rights-managed image licensing requires a fee to use images for a specified period of time or for a specific project.
- Extended or enhanced image license which allows greater freedom for commercial use and resale.
What are STOCK IMAGES?
STOCK IMAGES, Free and royalty-free images are images that are provided free of charge for public use without the need to pay fees or obtain permission from the owner. These images are often available on websites that specialize in providing free content or in free image libraries.
Benefits of Using Free, Non-Royalty Images
If you work in the field of graphic design as a Graphic Designer, Video editor, Brand identity developer, Web Designer, of course you need to use stock images extensively. Using free and royalty-free images provides you with many benefits.
- Save money when you use free images instead of purchasing licensed images.
- Get a large collection of images through free stock photo sites that can be used freely.
- Use these images freely without fear of any legal issues.
Top 10 Free Stock Images Sites
To get free images ready to use in various commercial projects, you can rely on the following sites, as they include nature images, images about sports, technology, education, health, commerce, and many other free, royalty-free images in high quality.
1. Pixabay
Pixabay is one of the most popular sites for getting free stock images. The site contains a huge image library that includes more than 1.8 million images that can be downloaded and used freely and without paying any fees. What is special is that the site also provides free high-quality videos .
- To go to the site: Pixabay
2. Unsplash
Unsplash is one of the most famous sites for downloading free, royalty-free images. The site contains the most beautiful images in many categories, including more than half a million images submitted by a large number of photographers, reaching more than 90 thousand photographers and creators.
The site supports all images in different categories completely free of charge and is interested in images with the PNG extension. The site's library includes a huge collection of high-quality and diverse images. The site is also regularly updated with new images, which means that you will always find new images that suit your own project.
- To go to the site: Unsplash
3. Pexels
Pexels helps you get free stock images that suit different projects, as the site contains a large collection of images in all fields and is updated regularly, providing users with thousands of high-resolution images. You can also find popular images that are in line with global trends, so you can easily search for images within the site and copy, edit and use images easily for free.
- To go to the site: Pexels
4. StockSnap
StockSnap has a large collection of free images and what's great about it is that you can search for images using your desired brands and topics. It provides high-quality, free, royalty-free images that are suitable for personal and commercial use.
The site appears when searching Google Images, making it one of the most famous and popular sites. The site's stock images can also be used in designing websites, blogs, and commercial projects. What is special is that the site updates the image library periodically, which ensures the availability of new and varied images on an ongoing basis.
- To go to the site: StockSnap
5. freepik
Freepik offers a wide variety of images that can be downloaded and used directly. The site also helps designers with visual nutrition and inspiration for design ideas or even obtaining free open files provided that an account is opened on the site.
- To go to the site: freepik
6. Kaboompics
Kaboompics is owned by Polish graphic designer Karolina Grabowska, the site features unconventional and unique stock images divided into sections described by tags, the site has more than 2500 images and the site is updated daily with new images.
- To go to the site: Kaboompics
7. Gratisography
Gratisography offers a large collection of free images in high quality. Images can be downloaded and used in various projects such as design, commercial and personal purposes, etc. What is special about the site is that images can be downloaded easily and without the need to register.
- To go to the site: Gratisography
8. Foodshot
Foodshot is a website specialized in displaying high-quality images of foods, fruits, vegetables, healthy foods, and various drinks. Images can be obtained by searching or browsing the sections and popular and distinctive images on the website. The website is characterized by the fact that the images are diverse and ready for personal and commercial use.
- To go to the site: Foodshot
9. Reshot
Reshot provides a large collection of free, high-quality, royalty-free images. The site contains unique and updated images and includes a large database containing images from various sources in high quality that are easy to access, download, and use in various projects.
- To go to the site: Reshot
10. Life of Pix
Life of Pix offers a large collection of free and royalty-free stock images, including many distinctive artistic images. You can use this site to improve the content of your website or blog, while obtaining attractive and constantly updated images of Lareen.
The most important feature of Life of Pix is that all images are professionally photographed and of high quality that is not affected after downloading and editing them. They also do not contain watermarks or copyrights, which allows them to be used freely and flexibly without worrying about legal issues related to protection and copyrights.
- To go to the site: Life of Pix
Finally, in this article we have discussed a list of the top 10 sites to get free stock images without copyright. However, you must be careful when using images from these sites as some of them may have certain restrictions on use, such as not using them for commercial purposes or allowing modification. Also, using some images may require indicating the source. However, thanks to the great diversity of sites that provide free images without copyright, you can compare more than one site and choose the site that suits you best.