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Excellent And License Free Stock Photo Websites For Bloggers

April 2, 2008 By Abhijeet Mukherjee

Images Collection
Image by Gaetan Lee

Using images in your blog posts not only makes it attractive but in most of the cases also lures readers into reading the complete post , instead of just scanning through it and going away .

There are hundreds of websites offering quality images . Some of them require a fee , some do not allow photos to be used commercially and some have ambiguous terms of agreement . After going through about 50 such sites and analyzing various aspects , I have produced the following list which allow photos to be used free and for commercial purposes . Some may require attribution but that shouldn’t be a problem . I think this list should suffice a blogger / freelancers’ need for free quality images .

1: EveryStockPhoto

EverystockphotoThis website offers all kinds of photos , but you should do an advanced search and select attribution under the license category to find photos for your blog .

2: Stock.xchng

Stock.xchng is probably the oldest site in the list , offering hundreds of photos which are free for commercial usage . It also offers a forum where you can ask questions in case you are not able to find your desired image .

3: Flickr

Who doesn’t know Flickr ? It is an abode of images . However in order to get the images which have Attribution license , you can click here . Further you can read the posts of Skellie and Tay , who have elaborately described the ways to get best flickr photos for your blog . And yes!…there is a cool wordpress plugin called Photodropper which lets you use flickr photos in your blog easily , although I am not sure if this plugin is compatible with WordPress 2.5 .

4: YotoPhoto

Yotophoto (www.yotophoto.com) is like a search engine which collects photos from sites such as Flickr, Wikipedia , Stock.Xchng , Morguefile , Pixelperfect Digital and OpenPhoto for images in the public domain , or made available under CC , GNU FDL or similar licenses . Hence this can be your one stop resource for finding free photos . ( Note : This site appears to be down since the last 3 days but still worth bookmarking so that you can check it later )

5: Wikimedia Commons

WikiMedia Commons is a huge database of all kinds of media files , contributed by the public . However it contains both free and copyrighted images . Hence you need to go to Category:Public Domain and there you can search for GNU Free Documentation License or Creative Commons Licensed Photos . You may also search for it on the main page under categories in the right .

6: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Freedigitalphotos.net is another good resource for finding royalty free photos . Although the search function of the site may not be very good ( as I tried ) and you may need to manually browse through the categories , but the good thing about this site is that it clearly mentions on its homepage that the photos are royalty free and can be used forcommercial purposes .

7: Dreamstime ( Free Section )

The free section of Dreamstime certainly does have some quality photos which you may find interesting .

 

So which stock photo website do you use for finding images for your blog ?

 

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Comments

  1. Pete White says

    April 11, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    I’ve been using the stock.xchng for years, its a great resource for stock photos.

    Pete White’s last blog post..How To Handle The Jerk Next To You On An Airplane

  2. Pete White says

    April 12, 2008 at 12:33 am

    I’ve been using the stock.xchng for years, its a great resource for stock photos.

    Pete White’s last blog post..How To Handle The Jerk Next To You On An Airplane

  3. Lawrence says

    April 12, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Morguefile is great, and most of them are free to use.

    Lawrence’s last blog post..BBC iPlayer (on Wii!) and the Obsolescing of Television

  4. dan says

    April 13, 2008 at 1:17 am

    thanks

  5. dan says

    April 13, 2008 at 6:17 am

    thanks

  6. dan says

    April 13, 2008 at 11:17 am

    thanks

  7. Abhijeet says

    April 13, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    Thanks all for the comments

  8. Abhijeet says

    April 13, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    Thanks all for the comments

  9. Simonne says

    April 17, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    iStockPhoto has also good photos, and they are pretty cheap (a bot over $1 a piece). It happens sometimes that you cannot find a particular type of photo for free, and here you can buy it cheap.

    Simonne’s last blog post..Free Blog Layouts

  10. Edward says

    April 17, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    What’s happened to yotophoto? It’s sad it’s been down for so long 🙁

  11. Simonne says

    April 17, 2008 at 6:56 pm

    iStockPhoto has also good photos, and they are pretty cheap (a bot over $1 a piece). It happens sometimes that you cannot find a particular type of photo for free, and here you can buy it cheap.

    Simonne's last blog post..Free Blog Layouts

  12. Simonne says

    April 17, 2008 at 11:56 pm

    iStockPhoto has also good photos, and they are pretty cheap (a bot over $1 a piece). It happens sometimes that you cannot find a particular type of photo for free, and here you can buy it cheap.

    Simonne's last blog post..Free Blog Layouts

  13. Edward says

    April 17, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    What's happened to yotophoto? It's sad it's been down for so long 🙁

  14. Edward says

    April 18, 2008 at 1:41 am

    What's happened to yotophoto? It's sad it's been down for so long 🙁

  15. Aravind says

    April 19, 2008 at 9:37 am

    I use some of them already.
    But got many new ones from your post.
    Thanks for the post.
    Looking forward for more down the road.

  16. Aravind says

    April 19, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    I use some of them already.

    But got many new ones from your post.

    Thanks for the post.

    Looking forward for more down the road.

  17. Aravind says

    April 19, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    I use some of them already.

    But got many new ones from your post.

    Thanks for the post.

    Looking forward for more down the road.

  18. Fendi says

    May 23, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    We’ve used Stockxpert sand Stock.Xchange.

    BigStockPhotos has a great commercial license and so far Fotolia has some superb pictures and graphics.

    Fendis last blog post..Creative Premium

  19. Fendi says

    May 23, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    We've used Stockxpert sand Stock.Xchange.

    BigStockPhotos has a great commercial license and so far Fotolia has some superb pictures and graphics.

    Fendis last blog post..Creative Premium

  20. Fendi says

    May 24, 2008 at 12:13 am

    We've used Stockxpert sand Stock.Xchange.

    BigStockPhotos has a great commercial license and so far Fotolia has some superb pictures and graphics.

    Fendis last blog post..Creative Premium

  21. Stockphotos says

    May 31, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    I use some of the sites. I like stock vault also

  22. Stockphotos says

    June 1, 2008 at 2:13 am

    I use some of the sites. I like stock vault also

  23. Stockphotos says

    June 1, 2008 at 7:13 am

    I use some of the sites. I like stock vault also

  24. WINSTON says

    August 15, 2008 at 7:19 pm

    i use this free stock, the images are in hi resolution and its very simple to download
    http://www.freejpg.com.ar

  25. WINSTON says

    August 16, 2008 at 12:19 am

    i use this free stock, the images are in hi resolution and its very simple to download
    http://www.freejpg.com.ar

  26. WINSTON says

    August 16, 2008 at 5:19 am

    i use this free stock, the images are in hi resolution and its very simple to download
    http://www.freejpg.com.ar

  27. lankapo says

    August 27, 2008 at 9:25 am

    does this mean image from gettyimages is not free ?

  28. lankapo says

    August 27, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    does this mean image from gettyimages is not free ?

  29. lankapo says

    August 27, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    does this mean image from gettyimages is not free ?

  30. Prd says

    October 1, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Thanks for this useful list of free photos

  31. Prd says

    October 1, 2008 at 4:28 pm

    Thanks for this useful list of free photos

  32. Prd says

    October 1, 2008 at 9:28 pm

    Thanks for this useful list of free photos

  33. Dankegoppenuedordhow says

    December 27, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    artimzhgdhhikobawell, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch 😉

  34. Dankegoppenuedordhow says

    December 27, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    artimzhgdhhikobawell, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how's life? hope it's introduce branch 😉

  35. Dankegoppenuedordhow says

    December 28, 2008 at 2:13 am

    artimzhgdhhikobawell, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how's life? hope it's introduce branch 😉

  36. Dyerwewly says

    February 18, 2009 at 7:32 am

    ikea

  37. Dyerwewly says

    February 18, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    ikea

  38. Dyerwewly says

    February 18, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    ikea

  39. Lawrence says

    January 6, 2010 at 7:24 pm

    Morguefile is great, and most of them are free to use.Lawrence's last blog post..BBC iPlayer (on Wii!) and the Obsolescing of Television