100 (Legal) Sources for Free Stock Images
By Laura Milligan
If you’ve ever tried to design a website or blog, you’ve probably felt the need to add images to your creation. It can be easy to see the Internet as a free-for-all, but images belong to the people who created them. Staying legal means you’ll have to either create your own images or buy them from stock sites. Fortunately, there are a number of sources for free images, and we’ve collected them here. So read on for 100 sources where you can find free stock images: and don’t worry — they’re all legal!
Most Popular
These resources are some of the most popular free stock image sites on the Web and with good reason. If you’re looking for some mainstream images, these are the first place to try.
- FreeFoto: FreeFoto.com claims to be “the largest collection of free photographs on the Internet.” They’re available for offline projects as well, as long as you’re not using them to make a profit.
- KAVEWALL: Look for images and textures in unique categories like tattoo, smoke, and food.
- Digital Dreamer: Free, royalty-free stock images can be found here.
- Free Photos Bank: This features a handful of the newest photos in their directory, so check back often.
- Free Digital Photos: Find gorgeous, easy-to-download photographs in categories like animals, celebrations, home & garden, and lots more.
- PD Photo: Browse through the categories and subcategories in this site’s database, most of which depict the urban and rural landscapes of the United States.
- Visipix: Search over a million photographs and fine art pieces.
- Cepolina: On cepolina, you can choose to save photos in up to five different formats.
- DexHaus: A wide array of beautiful images are found on this well-organized site.
- FreeStockImages.net: Chances are you’ll find whatever it is you’re looking for on this terrific site.
- TurboPhoto: TurboPhoto has 10 categories keep the high res photos easy to find.
- Yotophoto: An immensely popular site, Yotophoto is worth checking out.
- Stockvault: Search by photo subject or by the newest and most popular photos on Stockvault.
- Dreamstime: While most of the photos on this site cost a fee (some as low as $0.26/image), Dreamstime provides a few free stock photos.
- Open Stock Photography: This site offers over one million images for you to download and use however you want.
Community-Powered Content
In addition to being a great source of images, these sites host forums, file sharing and other features designed to nurture community spirit.
- Image After: Search tons of free photos on this site while meeting other photography lovers on the forum.
- Unprofound.com: Use the images however you want, just make sure you let them know where you’ve published it!
- Font Play: This site has nearly 10,000 free photos for you to use any way you want. Look under the “Guests” heading to search by your favorite contributor.
- Studio 25: This attractive site lets you upload and search images.
- Vintage Pixels: Share your archived photos with other users. Download images that work for your Web site or blog.
- Abstract Influence: Search for the stock images you want while talking about photography with other visitors on the site’s forum.
- amygdela’s atmosphere: This site hosts a forum and a blog, as well as tons of stock images.
- Every Stock Photo: A forum and blog keep this stock image site fun and informative.
- Photocase: The good people at Photocase are “prettying up the world.” Check out their great library of stock images.
- deviantART: Provocative photos spawn great debates on the site’s forum.
Artists Welcome
It’s probably pretty safe to say that every stock image site on the Web needs the help of photographers to keep it running. The following sites, however, really cater to the needs of photographers, designers, and other artists even though they’re donating their photos for free.
- Stock.xchng: Check out the gorgeous shots organized into lots of different categories, making your search as easy as possible.
- Morguefile: Browse thousands of beautiful photos in this site’s archives, but don’t miss their job board either!
- Woophy: This site organizes photographs by geographical location. Enter into their contest for a chance to win great prizes.
- The NOAA Library: Breathtaking science and nature shots are available at this site. Don’t forget to check out the “Meet the Photographers” page which includes short bios and descriptions of the featured photogs.
- Pixel Perfect Digital: Get tons of free stock images and read the latest in photography news.
- Free Range Stock: Photographers are rewarded for giving away their pictures by getting a percentage of the site’s total ad revenue.
- AMG Media: As long as you give credit to the photographer somewhere on your site, these images are yours for the taking.
- Free Photographs Network: Submit photographs for others to see, or download some for your own use.
- FreePhotos.com: If you’re a photographer, submit your best pictures for a chance to win cool prizes.
- PhotoRogue.com: If you can’t find a picture of anything you want, go to PhotoRogue.com and make a request for whatever it is you’re thinking of. Photographers will take pictures for you — and it’s still free!
- Graphicsarena.com: Submit your photos for consideration.
- Fotogenika: Send in your photos for other visitors to use on their personal sites.
- Image Temple: Send in your own photos to be included in this site’s gallery.
- Flickr: Most of the photos on this site are not free, but a clever search will turn up some real goodies.
- FreeLargePhotos.com: Downloaders must link their chosen photo back to the site, which gives the photographer credit.
Less is Sometimes More
Just because the sites listed in this section aren’t as expansive as some of the others on our list doesn’t mean they’re not worth checking out. Sometimes less can really means more, especially when it comes to narrowing down your search or coming across hard-to-find treasures.
- Mayang’s Free Texture Library: Download high-res textures from this site, which has categories like architecture, buildings, plants, wood, and stone.
- Liam’s Pictures from Old Books: Discover hard-to-find illustrations from old books, “most with multiple high-resolution versions.”
- Texture Warehouse: Find interesting textures at this great site.
- Free Stock Photos: Nature shots and religious themes are abundant at this free stock photography site.
- BurningWell: Totally free images are organized into categories like animals, bugs, cityscapes, people, plants, and textures.
- Design Packs: New images and themes are added monthly, so this site may not be a well kept secret too much longer!
- Amazing Textures: This site is a web designer’s dream. Browse hundreds of high res textures and backgrounds.
- Aarin Free Photo and Digital Images: These site boasts nearly 1,000 fantastic images for you to choose from.
- Image Base: On Image Base, breathtaking photographs are organized in categories like nature, concept, people, and city.
- Majestic Imagery: All the photos on this site were taken by the host.
- diwiesign studio: All the images are free, but if you’re a frequent user, you might want to consider making a donation to this photo entrepreneur.
- Zurb Photos: Photographer Bryan Zmijewski uploads his own images onto this site.
- tOfz.org: Find urban images for free, but consider making a contribution to this artist’s cause.
- LIGHTmatter: These gorgeous photos were all taken by the same artist, who also hosts the Web site.
- Insect Images: Find all kinds of photos of creepy crawlers here.
Stock Images Plus
There is a lot more to legal stock images than just a bank of free photos. The sites in this section all go beyond being a basic stock photography resource by offering more services that will help improve your search for and use of stock images.
- Creative Commons: This nonprofit site shows you how to license your images once they’ve been uploaded onto your site.
- Free Images: This British site offers free images as well as wallpapers, desktops, and a section of ideas and tips that will help you customize your image experience, whether you’re a photographer or not.
- Creating Online: This stock images site is an excellent resource for any new blogger or Web site developer. Learn about editing your images, hosting, domains, and more.
- ArtFavor: Find stock images, fonts, sounds, flash clipart, and more, are all on this terrific site.
- Geek Philosopher: Find hilarious and beautiful stock images side by side. Also check out the site’s blog and web hosting capabilities.
- Gimp Savvy: In addition to finding great images, Gimp Savvy also gives tips on photo touchups, making a collage, and more.
- Creativity 103: Find free abstract images and videos on Creativity 103.
- Afflict.net: Search photos and textures while learning about images in the tutorials section.
- One Odd Dude: Download photographs, wallpapers, textures, and more on One Odd Dude.
- Discover: Search for your favorite subjects or web sites, and hundreds of free icons, stock images, and other designs will appear.
- Photoshop Support: On Photoshop Support, browse photos, read the tutorials, and check out the great imaging tools.
- AncestryImages.com: Search antique portraits and use the geneaology resources link to connect you to even more tools.
- Free Media Goo: Download free stock images, audio, and video on Free Media Goo.
- National Park Service Digital Image Archive: Check out beautiful pictures taken for the NPS. This site also provides a link to the NPS official site.
- <New York Public Library Digital Gallery: Browse through thousands of prints, illustrations, and photos. Read the photographic services and permissions page for more information on downloading high-res files.
Miscellaneous
These image sites don’t necessarily fit into one particular category, but they’ve still got a lot to offer.
- Backgrounds Archive: Find beautiful backgrounds for your desktop or MySpace page.
- USDA Agricultural Research Service: The government’s Agricultural Research Service sponsors this “complimentary source of high quality digital photographs.”
- Holy Land Photos: Poignant photos of the Holy Land are available here.
- Stockcache.com: This site makes organizing your downloads easy.
- Four Bees: Browse through the stock images directory, or download royalty free music and video on Four Bees.
- Clipmarks: Search for free stock images with this handy tool.
- Yellowstone Digital Slide File: These beautiful shots of Yellowstone National Park are available for use by the media and public.
- Plants of Hawaii: Perfect for any botanist, this site has over 45,000 images of Hawaiian plants.
- Microshots: This site specializes in microscopic images.
- IN TEXTURE: Free stock textures are plentiful on this site.
- Trip Album: This site is all in French, but the photos are divided into categories based on country, making it easy to figure out.
- Orange Trash: Find pictures about Hungary on this Web site.
- Public domain stock photos: Browse categories like backgrounds, food, nature, objects, and seasonal on this site.
- BAJstock: Written in both French and English, this stock image site has tons of photos for you to use for free.
- NWYK Stock Image Library: This hilarious site provides free images that capture the drudgery and playfulness of office life.
General
These stock image sites offer a wide range of photo subjects, perfect for casual browsing or a way to get ideas before you plan out your site.
- Public Domain Photos: Check out these gorgeous pictures of animals, cities, landscapes, and more.
- Bigfoto.com: Find photos of beautiful places all around the world, as well as fun shots in the Christmas, grafitti, or food categories
- Photogen: Look through the Top 10 gallery to find the most popular downloads in a preview-friendly thumbnail format.
- Free Pixels: Find free photos, logos, or other images on this site.
- DHD Multimedia Gallery: Search through thousands of basic photos.
- PIX: This site is so easy, you don’t even have to register to download.
- Photo Rack: New photos are featured at the bottom of the page, so check back often to make sure you don’t miss anything great.
- Free Stock Photos: On Free Stock Photos, each image comes with a description detailing its size.
- Barry’s Free Photos: This is a great site for finding all different kinds of images for your Web site.
- Cromavista: This site is all in Spanish but still easy to navigate if you’re not a native speaker.
- IronOrchid: Several different categories allow for an efficient search on IronOrchid.
- Image Blowout: Have fun looking through these unique photos.
- FreeImages.com: Tons of categories and subcategories make searching for photos on this site simple.
- ilovefreePhoto: This fun, attractive site makes searching for that perfect photo a little less frustrating.
- Free Photo Station: Loads of great photos are all free on this site.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Fantastic resources! Thanks for pulling this together for everyone!
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Stumbled on this page. Simply superb.
Nice work.
October 4th, 2007 at 7:06 am
holy webdesign! what a fab resource. one for my bookmarks.
thanks!!
October 4th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
truly a great resource. thank you very much for the time and effort to place it on the web for us.
October 4th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Fantastic resources!
October 5th, 2007 at 4:14 am
Really appreciate the effort required.
Good Work
October 5th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding 100 (Legal) Sources for Free Stock Images, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong
October 5th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Think referring to either CC or GFDL images as “free stock images” is a true (not so uncommon) mistake. If the image is released under a “free” license, this does *not* mean the image is free, that we can include it anywhere, at any purpose, modify it and so on. Free licenses let the user to do something, and something other not. A lot of images listed on the given sites are neither *legal* or *free* as we commonly mean it. It’s simply a big, common mistake.
Best regards
cb
October 6th, 2007 at 11:34 am
As Carlo Bono suggests, you need to read the licenses/terms of use in each case because you could end up on the wrong side of the law otherwise. Watch out for CC (Creative Commons) licenses and always check out exactly what you are allowed to do, and whether there are any requirements of you (eg. giving credit in a certain way to the originator).
October 8th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Fantastic, I will never use google to search for free images any more, thanks a lot, this page is moved to my bookmarks
October 10th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Thanks a lot, bookmarked your post. Very helpful.
October 12th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Great post!stumbled upon this page while googling.Thanks for sharing!
October 13th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Oh fabulous post! Great, thanks!
October 13th, 2007 at 3:57 am
thanks for this collection.
October 13th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Great effort.
October 14th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Hi you might consider adding: http://www.vertabase.com to the list. This SaaS is being used extensively by marketing companies to guide multiple complex creative products. Because it is a Software as a Service offering the power of the computer is not a factor.
October 18th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Brilliant!
bookmarked for future use, this is a real goldmine
November 4th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Great resource man! Cheers!
November 4th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Very helpful great resource Thanks
November 9th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Thank you so much for this list! If only this existed years ago when all I could use were my OWN photos. lol
November 15th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Excellent resource, thanks so much for sharing!
November 27th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Very Nice site. Thanks …………………………
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:44 am
As someone who advises on use of open source/ public domain material I must admit this is a fantastic list. Thanks a bunch.
December 27th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Wow,that is so great,i will bookmark this article.Thanks for sharing this.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 am
Cool! Thank you!
How long did you work on this?
January 4th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
brilliant! a definate bookmark!
January 4th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Fantastic resources!
thank you very much for the time and effort to place it on the web for us.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:08 am
Nice resources!Thank you for sharing this here,I am definatly sure that everybody here would love it.
Thanks again.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:40 am
Oh,I love your article.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:41 am
I think i only have to visit your blog & just found all the resources what i am looking for with google,thank you for sharing.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Thanks for sharing.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:43 am
I am really love your blog,Thank you for creating this.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Cool site mate.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Good job,keep these great content up,thank you.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:48 am
I can not find a better place with such great content on the internet,thank you for sharing.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:50 am
OMG,this is what i am looking for in the past a few days,thank you webmaster.:)
January 6th, 2008 at 3:51 am
Wow,this is really a nice blog.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:52 am
January 6th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Thanks for sharing.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Wow,:),i love free resources.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:59 am
free stuffs,always so welcome
,keep it coming up webmaster.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Thank you for sharing.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:03 am
Nice site,thanks………………………….
January 6th, 2008 at 4:04 am
January 6th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Book marked ,thank you
January 6th, 2008 at 4:06 am
Very helpful great resource Thanks
January 6th, 2008 at 4:07 am
Fantastic resources!
January 6th, 2008 at 4:08 am
thanks for this collection.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Hi,
May I make it 101?
http://www.oldbookillustrations.com/
January 18th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
우왕ㅋ굳ㅋ 감사합니다~
January 20th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Very nice resource list. This should be useful to many!
January 29th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Thanks a lot for sharing!
January 31st, 2008 at 2:28 am
thanks for the open stock pictures
i looking for that more than a year maybe
January 31st, 2008 at 2:37 am
i wanted free image bank for my site, i search for woman picture that answearing the phone
January 31st, 2008 at 10:59 am
wow.. thx for this info.. cool
February 1st, 2008 at 11:14 am
Great resource, thank you for the effort.
Impressive, how some of these web sites are being run on free open-source scripts (I spotted Gallery2 for one).
February 4th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Very nice resource list. This should be useful to many! Thanks for sharing it
February 15th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Happy New Year My Dear Customer, price for 2008
It’s my pleasure contacting you to inform you about my product ” Alluvial Gold Dust”. I am a Gold Dealer here in Ashanti Region,Ghana. I am having in stock right now 800kg of Alluvial Gold Dust and seek your assistance in helping me doing the sale there in your location.
My F.C.O is described as follows:
New price for AU GOLD DUST
Commodity………. Au Metal
Quantity………. 800kg
Quality………. 22+ carat
Price……….15,000 US Dollars/kg
Shipment………. By Air
Package………. Export Carton Case.
Terms and Condition:
I will be very grateful if you can come down here and do inspection of the goods properly before we commence shipment.I agree to follow the lot with you to your country and get paid after the final assay and refinery in your location.I shall await your utmost response soon.
Regards,
Nana A. Addo.
Aroma Mining Company.
00233249386465
nana_addo2007@hotmail.com
NB;you have to understand that in this kind of gold business you need to call so that we can get back to you immidatly must of the time we may be out of were we can have assess to Email.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Спасибо за сайт, русский коментарий здесь первый!!!)))
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:56 am
Really very good resource list. This should be useful to many user too! Thanks for sharing
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:54 am
Great list, and really worth a bookmark. I’m surprised to see Flickr buried halfway down, though
February 26th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Excellent helpful great resource, Thanks…
March 8th, 2008 at 8:09 am
All right!
March 12th, 2008 at 3:20 am
I recently used one of this resources “DexHaus”, This is great site.
Thanks for list of other sites.
March 15th, 2008 at 12:13 am
great list!
March 15th, 2008 at 12:13 am
good post.
March 15th, 2008 at 12:19 am
DexHaus help me a lot. thanks!
April 1st, 2008 at 6:45 am
this is stupid, where can i go to get an image of underwater????
April 1st, 2008 at 6:49 am
what an ace search engine? better than anything ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i like chicken curry with spag bol, does anyone else?
April 1st, 2008 at 6:50 am
i do
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Great list
April 4th, 2008 at 1:57 am
OMG, your list is awesome. Thanks for the information..
April 9th, 2008 at 12:23 am
DexHaus help me a lot. thanks!
April 9th, 2008 at 12:26 am
good post.
April 12th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Thanks for share it!
This list is really usefull!
April 15th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
This is a great list! However, I must say that deviantART is not a stock site. Most of the images are copyrighted, and there are but a few users who give free stock images, you’ll always have to read what is copyrighted and what is not. But in general this is an art sight, not a stock sight.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Sweet list. Thank you very much.
These free stock images will most definitely come is handy.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Thanks a lot for sharing!
April 29th, 2008 at 6:55 am
well ace m8. i love heste shes well fit.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:57 am
luv u 2 glenn. we are two peas of a conjoined pod. you my love and life. my sweet sweaty cherub.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
April 30th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I just wanted to say that deviantART is not really a source of free stock. Some people upload stock to their galleries, most of them upload stock for non-commercial uses, but the main focus of the site is for art in general, and most artists there don’t like people using their images as stock.
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:51 am
thank you for sharing this resources, it is required right now.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Useful site. Thank you!!!
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:39 am
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net is also a very nice site. Just my 2 cents
May 5th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Thanks a lot…I m searching for this….
I use 4shared for this but they only provide 5GB free space for this…
thnks a lot….
May 10th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
xwuates
May 10th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
owjx leysf entb
May 16th, 2008 at 12:53 am
WOW! Is anybody getting this..
May 18th, 2008 at 11:12 am
שידורי כדורגל
May 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am
thanks for the open stock pictures
i looking for that more than a year maybe
May 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am
thanks for the open stock pictures
i looking for that more than a year maybe….
May 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Thank you very much for providing us with this valuable list of resources.
Keep up the good work!
May 20th, 2008 at 6:47 am
this is the best list ever, it got me through my projects so easy.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
This is the greatest article, thank you so much! It has been so helpful as I try to fill my blog with images. THANKS!
May 21st, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Thank You!
May 21st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Great!!
May 21st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Very Very Helpful!
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:33 am
NOT HELPUL
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:52 am
Thanks this list will be of great use!
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I just recently launched a new website called Your Stock Photography Source, which is a collection of photos that you are free to use in any project. All the photos featured on the website were taken by myself.
You can view my website online at http://www.ysps.info
May 24th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Thanks fro e share!!!!!!!!!
May 27th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
fantastic list, you have nearly all of the photo/image sites I know of. Anyone looking for travel photography and landscapes might be interested in photoeverywhere.co.uk, we have more than 3000 free travel stock images with a creative commons attribution license.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Thanks for the list! I will make reference to this page and post it on our website and direct people here. Hope you dont mind - Laura Milligan! Thanks heaps!
June 16th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I love this blog. Very useful and informative.
Thanks!
June 16th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
great list!
June 19th, 2008 at 5:52 am
This list is great but could you also mention some websites where we can find royalty free”people” photographs as well such as sxc.hu which provides loads of free people photoes but with certain resrtrictions on certain photoes.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!Thank you!
Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:34 am
Another tip:
http://www.macrofoto.se
….has a lot of profesionally shot, FREE, piqs. All photos is high quality, you’ll get really good quality even in print. Free to download for private use. No registration necessary. Note: If you want to use a photo for commercial use, you have to e-mail the owner to get an ok for that.
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Nice!!!
June 24th, 2008 at 12:17 am
NWYK Stock Image Library länken stämmer inte länge.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Great list.
July 5th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Thanks for the sites:)
July 8th, 2008 at 10:43 am
akhirnya dapet juga foto ciamiikk.. danke
July 20th, 2008 at 7:02 am
great list, thanks alot. helped me very much
July 21st, 2008 at 4:15 am
ah thank you so much.. have been looking for such sites for ages.. and now i have the whole list.. THANK YOU again!!
July 21st, 2008 at 8:10 am
Wow, I didn’t know how many free images are available on the web
July 21st, 2008 at 8:16 am
Thanks for the information, it is very helpfull
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:18 am
Cool Cool Cool
Very helpful 
Great links. Thanks!!!!!!