What Quality Stock Photos do for Your Site
Great visuals and imagery play a prime role in setting the vibe and energy of your site—capturing attention and evoking emotions, ideas, or opinions in your visitors' minds.
From free libraries to premium collections, there are countless resources for finding the ideal stock photo or illustration. Choose high-quality images that tell your story and elevate your brand.
Selecting Images
Visual collateral will evoke different responses in each viewer, influenced by their personal experiences, tastes, state of mind, and more. So yes, it's possible to miss the mark, but then again, that's true for nearly anything. Let's start with...
- Do you like the photo?
- Is the composition, color scheme, tone, and layout appealing and will it work where you plan to place it?
- Does it jive with your vibe, aesthetic?
- How do you think your audience will feel when they see the image or how will they respond—will it make them keep reading?
- Does this photo have visual storytelling that adds to your site, page, or story?
Brand consistency and visual storytelling goes a long way. If used effectively, stock photos can improve user experience and potential engagement. If you are using stock photos paired with pieces of text, you'll be able to improve your SEO for that page as long as the photo matches the text it is paired with.
License and Usage of Stock Images
Not every photo you find on the internet is free to use for your website. Some photos require attribution or payment for use. We typically try to get stock photos that are free from copyright restrictions or licensed under creative commons public domain (CC01).
Each of the sites below offers high-quality stock images—most include a free plan, with premium subscriptions available if you need an even larger library.
Where to Find Stock Photos
Unsplash
We personally love Unsplash. They offer high-resolution photo collections and are known as one of the best sources for stock photography.
Pixabay
Another site with a wide variety of stock photography. Pixabay also offers stock vectors and other forms of art.
Pexels
Pexels is an easily explorable website with tons of stock photos licensed under Creative Commons (CCO).
Picography
Picography is one of the top sources for free stock photography. Their collection includes high resolution free photos for use in any of your projects.
Reshot
Reshot is a stock illustration and icon website that was initially created for startups. Reshot is a great place to find photos that aren't tacky or too "stocky".
Foca Stock
The photos mainly focus around nature, city scenes, workspaces, and macro photography.
Stocksnap
New images are added daily, so your visuals always stay fresh and up-to-date.
Freepik
Freepik is a great place for graphic resources. All photos and vectors on Freepik are free to use under creative commons public domain.
ISO Republic
ISORepublic provides curated collections of high quality photos under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
Freephotos.cc
Freephotos is a resource that allows you to search for creative commons photos to use on your projects.
Coverr
Coverr offers a curated library of free, high-quality stock videos—with new footage added weekly—to bring dynamic motion to your projects.
New Old Stock
NewOldStock is a free resource for vintage photos from public archives.
Gratisography
Gratisography has free stock photos that you can use on personal and commercial projects. Photos found in their collection are definitely on the quirky side of things.
Free Images
Free images including photos, illustrations, vectors, clipart and icons.
PicJumbo
A good variety of free and premium images, backgrounds and photos.
Life of Pixs
Free hit resolution photography—imagery is a bit more avant-garde.
KaboomPics
Photographs and photoshoots—grouped images for stylized usage.
The Dos and Don'ts of Using Stock Photography
Stock photography can transform a bland website into something eye-catching in the time it takes to refresh the page—but used poorly, it can undermine your design. Here are our quick dos and don’ts for using stock images effectively.
Dos
- Use high quality images. The photos you use represent your brand so make sure you're using nothing but the best.
- Show positive imagery. Positive imagery is a great way to make your site seem inviting to anyone who comes to visit.
- Always check after you post. Seriously though. ALWAYS check your photos after you post them.
Don’ts
- Use images just to use images. Having more photos on your site doesn't automatically make it better.
- Use too many images. Fewer, bolder photos are better than a dozen small ones. Remember, quality works way better than quantity.
- Be cliché or use cliché photos. Stock photos range from the downright weird to the absolutely wonderful. Use photos that represent your brand that don't feel out of place or tacky.
- Steal photos or the work of others. Comply with licenses from each resource.
A Last Reminder About Licensing
Even on "free sites," be sure check every image’s license, resolution, and attribution rules before using it to keep your site looking great and legally compliant.