If you own a website, or a Facebook Page or use photos and images for your business, you'll need “royalty-free photos” you can use. In this article, I'll show you where you can find millions of royalty-free photos and images. Perfect for your latest post update or project.
Having a successful online business is about having a daily method of operation in place. Having access to a resource of royalty-free photos will save you time getting things done. So bookmark this page and return to it each time you need that image.
There are a number of options when using images for your business –
- Using your own photos
- Licensing other photos
- Search for royalty-free photos
- Chance your luck on Google images (please read on…)
Taking your own photos is a time-consuming process, remember we want efficiency built into our daily method of operation. Licensing other people's photos is an option, but it will get expensive over time. Searching for royalty-free photos leaves you searching online which can lead to being distracted.
Finally, if you want to chance your luck with Google Images, then expect a ‘cease and desist ‘letter in the post, or a hefty fine.
The following 9 resources I've used over the years will give you access to millions of images you can use for free.
Royalty free photos on Pexels
One of my first choices, Pexels states on their page https://www.pexels.com/photo-license/ that all photos are free for any personal or commercial purpose, under the creative commons license. You can download a choice of sizes appropriate to your needs.
Photogen
Here you will find thousands of professionally shot royalty-free photos you can search for in categories. Their terms of use page http://www.photogen.com/terms-of-use/ will tell you what the images can and cannot be used for. Registration for Photogen is free.
The Commons on Flickr
Flickr is known as a resource to license images, but the lesser-known Commons has images in the public domain, archived by institutions. Their usage page https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/ states that images can be used without restriction. A comprehensive list of participating institutions is also available on that page.
Wikimedia Commons
This site is different from the professionally shot images on Photogen as all the content is user-submitted. Both royalty-free photos and videos are available with terms of use detailed within each image. The 7 million images available, are searchable by category.
Get started with Wikimedia Commons
Free Images
With over 390,000 stunning images to choose from, Free Images will make your content pop. Searchable via keyword or category. You'll find their full terms of use right here – http://www.freeimages.com/terms
Photo Rack
While the Photo Rack site may look a little like 1995, there are thousands of professional photos to choose from. Their terms of use are very simple, anyone can use them for personal and commercial use – http://photorack.net/terms.php
Morguefile
Morguefile has a vast collection of professionally shot photographs. You are free to use them for both personal and commercial use. Find their terms here – https://morguefile.com/terms
Stock Vault
Thousands of professionally shot photos, textures and illustrations are available at Stock Vault. Searches can be made using keywords or categories. Their terms and licensing can be found here – http://www.stockvault.net/terms-of-use
Royalty free photo's on Pixabay
Once again Pixabay has over 1.1m professionally shot photos and videos, which look stunning and perfect to use as cutaway shots. Available to use free for commercial use under the creative commons license and no attribution is required. Find their terms here – https://pixabay.com/en/service/terms/
You now have access to millions of free royalty free photos and videos that you can legally use in your content and productions. Don't forget to Bookmark this page so you can refer back to it when you need it.
