Friedbeef’s Tech

It really doesn’t matter what your website or blog is about, nothing makes it look nicer than really good, professional quality photographs.  Unfortunately, professional level photographs can sometimes be downright expensive. Luckily, like most everything else, beautiful looking stock photos can be found for free on the internet. You just need to know where to look.  So, that being said, let’s take a look at 8 places to get free stock photos for your website.

1. Stock.XCHNG

The self-proclaimed leader in free stock photos online. They may, however, be right about that. With around 400,000 photos available they do have one of the larger databases of free stock photos. If you wish to download something you need to have an account, but signup is free. There are minimal restrictions on the use of their photos and they only request that you leave a comment thanking the photographer and letting them know where it was used.

2. Unprofound

Started in 2001 by a guy named Jim as a way to share his excess photos online with people who may be interested, unprofound.com has grown to a database of several thousand. Although not one of the larger places, it is one of the more interesting. Totally free to use – no signup is required, nothing required for download. Searchable database by both tag and color. Yes, you can search by color.

3. Morgue File

Slang for a file of old newspaper clippings or photos in journalism circles, ‘morguefile’ has a large database of free photos. While accounts can be created, they are not necessary. An interesting feature at Morgue File is the ability to crop a photo, reduce the size, and create a code to insert on your website that would display the photo, yet allow it to remain hosted at Morgue File. Of course, this creates a link for them, but such is the price to pay.

4. Photo Rogue

Although one of the smaller databases with just over 600 images at this time, Photo Rogue is unique in that it allows visitors to request specific photos. Need a picture of a dew-covered spider web? Check. Photo of a house at a specific address in Santa Cruz, CA? Got it. Although there is no guarantee of your particular request being fulfilled, no other free stock photo site on the Internet is offering this.

5. Open Photo

Searchable by category and individual tags, openphoto.net offers numerous photos for free. Most follow the Creative Commons model of distribution which is fairly wide open but should be read and checked out for every photo. Offers ready-made code for crediting the photographer and the ability to link directly to the image.

6. Free Media Goo

Offering completely free images, freemediagoo.com has a lot of images but not an overwhelming amount. A little difficult to determine what links were to their images and what links were to advertisements. Main benefit is the images don’t even require a credit or acknowledgement. Also offering free audio, free flash media, free textures and free video footage.

7. Free Range Stock

With several thousand images of their own and more on top of that submitted from users, Free Rang Stock has a fair selection of searchable photos and textures. An account is required, but it is free as well.

8. Every Stock Photo

A different take on the free stock photo site, everystockphoto.com is a searchable database made up of several other companies listing stock photos, some of which are listed above. Aiming to be a stock photo search engine as opposed to a stock photo site in and of itself, you will still need to sign into the different websites where the picture is found.

This post was guest-written by Melissa Tamura who blogs at Zen College Life.