With a breathtaking revolution in the Photography industry, the demand for stock photographers is ever increasing. Stock photography refers to the trade of professional photographs on a royalty-free basis. These photographs can be of commonplaces, nature, events, people and everything else that comes to the mind of the commercial users.
In 2020, stock photographers are expected to bring absolute realism into their pictures as the designers no longer like the usage of tacky, pretentious pictures. They yearn for rawness rather than following a code of already-used photos.
The good news is that your research ends right here. We have undertaken the job of curating a list of 20 Free Stock Photo Websites.
Unsplash
It is one of the most renowned sources of free stock photos available at the scrutiny of the users. Unsplash deals in cool and artsy, high-resolution stuff which is absolutely free of cost. With the ultra-modern approach, Unsplash has quickly escalated towards success. Apart from this, it has a smart user-interface and an effective License Policy. They also have a custom license with no attribution requirements. However, image compiling is forbidden.
Pixabay
This Canva-acquired website is acknowledged for its German-engineered images and it involves a huge library of art illustrations along with community features. It fairly accepts submissions from anyone but it also has an image curator/editor. All the photos are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) which means it is free for all commercial purposes.
Gratisography
Ryan McGuire, a graphic and web designer owns Gratisography which provides an access to the exclusive collection of the owner. It is quite limited in terms of variety, but offers a high-resolution range of sleeky and Instagram-worthy pictures. Youngsters are the target audience of this website. Evidently, the website has a custom license similar to that of Creative Customs Zero (CC0) with a sensitive use clause.
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PikWizard
Wavebreak Media, which is a venture of an Irish videographer, Sean Prior owns PikWizard. The website is known for its prowess in trending topics and the images depict professionalism at their level best. It brings a beautiful spectrum of creativity and commercialisation on the table with an in-built design tool to edit the images in real-time. The licensing is pretty much similar to the other websites with a sensitive use clause
Life of Pix
The creation of LEEROY, a Canadian agency, Life of Pix offers a multitude of artistic photos covering all possible themes. They have made their way into the market with a flexible policy in terms of licensing. The images are not subject to copyright restrictions, meaning that they are in the Public Domain. However, they forbid mass distribution of their photos.
Kaboompics
The appropriate place to set eyes on super artsy images, specialising in abstract, landscape, lifestyle, and nature with Karolina Grabowska behind the lens, offering a range of about 8000 images to choose from. The licensing policy offers free usage to the commercial users with a sensitive use clause. However, the website prohibits reselling and redistribution.
Pexels
Originally, Pexels was invented by Bruno and Ingo Joseph. Canva, an online design platform acquired it later on. Pexels offers a variety of high-quality and edgy images for commercial use. Their collection is rich in variety and quite easy to navigate when it comes to the user-interface. It follows the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) policy, with no attribution requirements.
Reshot
Reshot can be easily summed up as a catalogue of modernised requirements since it is explicitly startups and freelancers-oriented. It offers them everything that they are looking for and more. Due to the never-ending use of tacky images, Reshot came into existence to offer a peppy collection. The images are free to use commercially with no attribution requirements.
Picjumbo
Commercial users generally appreciate this website particularly because it is a creation of a stock photographer who understands the needs of the market and improves on the short-comings involved in other websites. Picjumbo is a 2000-photos collection by Viktor Hanacek. The photos are all about popular themes such as fashion, nature, technology and lifestyle. Creative Commons Zero (CC0) policy is prevalent here.
Rawpixel
Typically oriented towards the visual accommodations, Rawpixel is an initiative by Robert Churchill. A realistic approach to the photography industry is what makes Rawpixel famous. It offers a rich variety of high-resolution, royalty-free, social media-worthy images for free commercial use, with a sensitive use clause regarding resale.
Burst – Shopify
Burst, founded by Shopify is a stock photo platform to assist e-shops and entrepreneurs. An enormous amount of photos are taken in-shop and they aim at various marketing campaigns, entrepreneurial ventures and general blog posts. They follow the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) as well as a custom license on the same lines as CC0.
StockSnap.io
This website is the definition of the users’ current needs. It is a resource by Christopher Gimmer and Marc Chouinard. They have curated a beautiful collection offering insights about the number of views and the downloads of the photos available, so as to out-stand the popular ones. They follow an aesthetic and a trendy approach. The website uses Creative Commons Zero (CC0) with no attribution requirements.
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ISO Republic
Tom Eversley is the owner of ISO Republic. This website focuses on both the traditional uses and the modern desires which simply means that ISO Republic is all about covering the needs of every kind of user. It follows the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licensing policy allowing free downloads with no attribution requirements.
FoodiesFeed
Instead of generalising the stock market industry and providing access to all the themes, FoodiesFeed explicitly involves the photos for food enthusiasts. The mind behind this venture is of a food photographer, Jakub Kapusnak who has made sure that all the foodies are served their favourite dishes in an ecstatic way. The licensing is similar to those of the other websites offering free commercial usage.
StockVault
StockVault is a game player with over 1,00,000 photos to choose from. Consequently, it offers an optimum collection of critically selected photos after a review of all the submissions. All the users can access the library for commercial and personal use. Therefore, it has a Commercial License as well as a Non-Commercial License along with Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
New Old Stock
Cole Townsend, a product designer created New Old Stock on Tumblr. It is related to all kinds of vintage photography. Now, the photos are aggregated from Flickr Commons listed institutions and handpicked for free usage. There are a considerable amount of photos subject to Flickr Commons terms.
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StyledStock
With ambiguity about owns the website, Styled Stock is the latest catalogue of feminine photography. These photos are just about a hundred in number, but every one of them is elegant in its own way. Women entrepreneurs, bloggers and fashionistas find them apt. StyledStock offers free usage for commercial purposes with no attribution requirements.
NegativeSpace
Negative Space is a basic website which offers a multitude of free stock images collected after a process of analysing portfolio submissions. They are of high quality and tend to cover the trendy genres. The licensing policy is similar to other websites i.e. Creative Commons Zero (CC0), with no attribution requirements.
Skitterphoto
Skitterphoto is the work of a number of professional photographers, focusing on the aggregation of stock images from their own cameras as well as the user submissions after clearing the requisites. The uniqueness of the images is what makes this website highly commendable. Creative Commons Zero (CC0) is their calling with no attribution requirements.
Startup Stock Photos
As the name suggests, this website’s core is images related to entrepreneurs and startups. Sculpt came up with this niche and all the images are under the authorship of three artists from this agency. These photos range from business lifestyle to the corporate community. Therefore, they encourage commercial usage. Also, all the photos are released under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
Stock photography is an undiscovered world in itself. These websites bring life to all its peculiar domains at their level best.
It is time to say goodbye to mainstream photography.
Niche photography is the new black.