You know what? I don’t want to get sued. And I bet you don’t either. But if you are using photos from other websites, you are technically stealing (I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it is). Even if you provide a link (like “via” or “source”) at the bottom of the photo, it’s still really a no-no.
I’ve been guilty of this before (I love GIFs) and will probably be guilty of it again someday (cause God knows I’ll keep using GIFs). But for most of my posts I either use my own photos or I get them from one of these free photo sources. This is one of those things I think about and go: I wish someone had told me about these when I first started blogging.
Photos can set the tone for a blog post. They break up wordy posts and hey, they make your post look prettier (and more clickable) on Bloglovin. I like photos that I’m allowed to edit – usually to create a “pinable image” for Pinterest. You can do that with the photos from the links below (just like I did with the image above!). It’s a bloggers dream.
1. UNSPLASH
Unsplash is probably my favorite, in terms of the quality and diversity of the photos. It’s where I head first to get some idea of what I’m looking for. There aren’t many photos of people (which I like because I don’t want to post pictures of people I don’t know on a personal blog) and you are allowed to do whatever you want to the photos.
It’s easiest to look through the photos if you immediately click “archive” when you arrive at the homepage. Then you can see little thumbnails of all of the photos instead of scrolling through them one by one.
2. LITTLE VISUALS
Little Visuals releases 7 new photos every 7 days. There aren’t as many photos here and many are landscapes but the photos they have are beautiful. And again, you can do whatever you want to these photos.
3. FREE RANGE STOCK
This site has a ton of interesting photo options. Their search feature makes it easy to find what you looking for. The only downside is that you have to register to be able to download. Registration is free and just takes a minute.
You can also do almost anything with these photos. Here is how their license reads: “You can do nearly anything with the images, commercial or not. Just don’t redistribute them – this means don’t host the images or repackage them, just post a link to this site and let others sign up download them, just as you did.”
4. GRATISOGRAPHY
This eclectic collection is all photographs taken by Ryan McGuire. There is a lot to work with here and all photos are completely free of copyright restrictions.
5. MORGUEFILE
Morguefile is the most hit or miss of all of these. If you head over there and search, you will immediately find that many photos on this site were taken by amateur photographers and some are quite old. That being said, if you click “popular” you’ll see a ton of high-quality, beautiful photographs. Again, you can use these for anything.
6. PIXABAY
Pixabay may have the most images available of all of these sites. The search feature pulls some quality photos and lots of cartoon type photos so the fastest way to find the good stuff is to click “explore” at the top and then select “editors choice” or “leaderboards”.
These are also photos that you can do whatever you want with but just to be sure, once you click on a photo, check the license information in the bottom right corner. You have the ability to download each photo in various sizes. Again, you have to create a free username and password with this one but it just takes a minute.
7. PICJUMBO
This is a fantastic website with high-quality photos. I love that you can search by category on the left side. Though there aren’t a ton of photos (yet) there is a lot to work with and you can do whatever you want with them. The site design of this site is user friendly and is my favorite of all of these.
Have any photo sources to add to this list? Leave a link in the comments below. And if you liked this post and it helped you 1. bookmark these fabulous resources and 2. please use the pin it button below to pin this post on Pinterest so that others can find it!
HI, I’M NADINE.
I left California after college to start my life on the east coast. East & is what happened after that.
