A decade ago, it might have cost thousands of dollars to get a beautifully-designed website! But thanks to the proliferation of top website builder companies and website frameworks like Joomla and WordPress, it’s now easy, simple, and fast to get a great-looking website template. But the framework is just one part of the equation to a great-looking website.
It’s unfortunate but true that cheap-looking stock images are very common, and can absolutely detract from an otherwise great website design. Even worse than just being tacky and dates, many of these stock images can cost their users cash which could be going to other website improvements. And the effect of high-quality graphics on web design and overall appearance cannot be overstated. In an time where it’s easy for anyone to have a website, the smallest details which can increase your website’s sense of authority and legitimacy can have dramatic returns on subscriptions and conversions. But, believe it or not, there are many websites which offer large, high-resolution, high-quality photos without any copyrights! This means that you can use these photos without crediting or paying! The list of stock photo websites below include images which have all been released under the public domain.
Located at StockSnap.io, this website has hundreds of gorgeous stock photos and high resolution photos all released under the creative commons 0 license. This means they’re free and require no attribution! Their large amount of photos and images, coupled with their amazing, easy-to-use search function, makes it simple to browse all the photos they offer. Hundreds of images are added weekly to this website, and you can easily see which ones have the most views or downloads.
Unsplash is very similar to StockSnap, and all of their images are released under public domain licenses and published for free. This website has quickly become one of the best go-to sources for stock images, and often their photos are high-definition and broad in scope. Whether you’re looking for cityscapes or portraits, rest assured that you can find it here! Unsplash averages roughly one new photo added a day. Just head to Unsplash.com!
The Gratisography website offers photos free for personal or commercial use, and like all of the above, are free of any copyright restrictions. Interestingly, this website is the pet project of Ryan McGuire, the photographer responsible for the uploads and photos. New photos are uploaded roughly every week, and include amazing black-and-whites and great filtered photos.
The Negative Space Website:
Negative Space provides 20 new photos every week released under Creative Commons CC0. The photos are searchable and can be sorted by category, copy space and color. Negative Space is an apt name for this stock photo resource! Many of the photos do include great examples of negative space, which make them ideal for converting into graphics with words. The image search function allows you to search for images which have negative space on the center, top, sides, or bottom. Perfect for adding some value to your web design!
Little Visuals was the pet project of Nic, a longtime photographer, who released all photos on the site to the public domain with no requirement for attribution. But unfortunately, he passed away relatively recently. His family has done a great job of supporting his project in his memory, and continues to run the site on donations. Many of these photos include great everyday scenes in high resolutions.
Another large amalgamation of free photos, Picjumbo perhaps has the largest variety. There are abstract images, nature photos, and fashion and tech shots… anything you could want! Free for commercial and personal use, Picjumbo is unfortunately also among the most difficult to search of the free websites we mention.