If you’ve read our article on the importance of good photography (seen here), you might be wondering to yourself, “self, where can I get great photos for my website without hiring a professional photographer?” A good answer to that question is… online! There are dozens of great stock photography sites on the internet. Many of them are easy to browse and some of them are even 100% free! In case you are here looking for our expert guidance, here is our list of good stock photography sites.

These first three are FREE stock photography websites. Most of the time these images fall under Creative Commons licensing, meaning they are in fact free to use as long as you aren’t reselling them. Be careful however, you wouldn’t want to get caught out on something that wasn’t actually in the public domain. In our experience, it is a wee bit harder to find quality images for free, but if you’re on a tight budget, it might be worthwhile for you to check ‘em out.

1. Kozzi Images

http://www.kozzi.com/

2. Public Domain Photos

http://www.public-domain-photos.com/

3. Stock Vault

http://www.stockvault.net/

 

The following are sites that we highly recommend for companies that have small, but reasonable photography budgets. These are ROYALTY FREE stock photography websites that offer a good selection of both photos and illustrations. While they do offer a few free images, most of them come with size and purchasing options. The great thing about these sites is the quality and diversity of images available through easy-to-use search functionality.

4. iStock Photo

http://www.istockphoto.com/

5. 123RF

http://www.123rf.com/

6. Shutter Stock

http://www.shutterstock.com/

If you have any great resources that aren’t shown here, feel free to post them :)