Stock Photo Agencies

Free Stock Photo Sites: A Drift from Licensed Photography

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They say that the best things in life are free. When it comes to love, that may be true but not in stock photography. High-quality images come with a price. They’re either affordable or expensive. But, stock photo sites don’t offer them for free. After all, these images don’t just enhance the overall design of your social media marketing and online content. They also protect you against copyright infringement.

If you are a novice designer, writer, or artist, the appeal of creative commons can be irresistible. With a minimal budget, you may be inclined to get a creative commons license instead of royalty-free or right-managed. If you are running a blog or social media account for personal purposes, that’s fine. However, commercial projects and marketing require the right license for specific uses. Check more info.

The chances of getting high-quality images from free stock photo sites can be very slim. But if you really need free photos for your next creative project, do read the terms of agreement. And, keep in mind that you’ll be at your own risk using these images. Nevertheless, here are the best stock photo sites for out there.

  • PIXABAY

    Pixabay is one of the most excellent stock photo sites to offer free content. They provide images that you can download and use in various resolutions. With over 1.4 million files in their library, you will surely find an image that suits your style and theme. Their content comes with Creative Commons license, so you can use them in commercial and personal purposes. To add more safety in their safety, they placed dedicated staff members on reviewing the legality of their photos.
  • UNSPLASH

    Unsplash is a free stock photo download site with over 500,000 images from contributors around the world. They boast authentic, high-quality, and modern stock photography under Creative Commons license for personal and commercial uses. The owners use it mainly to fuel traffic and customers to their Crew services. Lately, they have also been using the stock site to develop business opportunities.
  • PEXELS

    Another one of the best stock photo sites for free is Pexels. They provide authentic and modern free stock images for commercial projects, with no attributions required. Hundreds of thousands of content are available in the library, all of which include a Creative Commons license. Pexels sell sponsored images from paid stock photo collections but offer their own native photos for free.
  • LIFE OF PIX

    Life of Pix is a free stock photography site that offers an extensive collection of high-quality photos with a strong artistic feel. They have hundreds of thousands of stock images donated by photographers around the world. All their photos are in Public Domain, so they don’t have copyright requirements. However, the stock site forbids mass distribution, limiting you to only 10 images per download.
  • GRATISOGRAPHY

    If you are looking for extraordinary, quirky stock photos, you should check out Gratisogrphy. They have a modest collection of over 450 stock images, which are unique, more intimate, and more appealing that stocky photography. The licensing is pretty much Creative Commons with a few restrictions similar to Royalty-free. So before you use a stock image in commercial projects, make sure to do your due diligence.

Free stock photography generally comes with Creative Commons license, which makes them still very risky to use. However, some of the listed photo websites have the added reassurance of an experienced reviewer, making them worthy of a second glance. Yet, we still recommend you to be cautious, especially when using these images in commercial projects.

 

The Long and Short of Adobe’s New Stock Images

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Among the general public, Adobe is possibly one of the most under-appreciated digital media companies in existence. However, among the thousands of people who use their digital tools to the fullest, such as Photoshop, Adobe is something they can’t live without. Adobe has a few key niches—with their newest niche being in stock images. Stock images aren’t exactly a new or unique service. Adobe’s images come down to preference and ease-of-use with their other software.

Adobe calls it Adobe Stock. It is a stock photo image service very much so like what you would find other commercial stock photo image sites. They don’t really offer anything new. It only makes sense that Adobe would begin to provide these images considering who they are. They are the authors of the most widely used and widely respected photo editing software on the market. No other software has come close to matching or beating Photoshop in terms of ability or features. Photoshop is the industry standard and has been for a long time.

The one thing that Adobe has is integration with its current software lineup. Pick a photo, purchase it, and download it directly into Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC InDesign CC, and any other desktop app that Adobe currently supports.

As a stock photo service, however, their image offerings aren’t anything that stands out. Don’t get me wrong, high-quality image sites offer images you can’t find anywhere else. Adobe Stock is one of those sites. If you searched for stock photos on Google Images, the quality of the images isn’t the same. And we’re not just talking about the resolution. We’re talking about relevancy, the ability to convey a message, and uniqueness. These are all factors that go into a quality stock image site.

Adobe offers 21 distinct categories in their images. The images include more than just photos they include vector drawings and illustrations. Marketers who wish to convey a very specific message are much better off relying on a stock image service to save time, have royalty-free images, and have images that are worthy to be used as a face” for their business. There are some categories that can be difficult to convey using photos particularly abstract categories such as Social Issues or States of Mind. I can go get a photo of a physical object like an apple quickly and easily, but if I wanted to convey an abstract or complex message, I’d be much better served subscribing to a stock image service such as Adobe. They may not stand out among some of the stock image giants that currently exist, but that is not mean they are not a quality site. They offer quality photos, images, vector drawings, and illustrations everything you would expect from a commercial stock image service.

Check some Adobe stock review here.

Where to buy Stock Photos from the Best Stock Photo Sites?

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As a creative professional, you may be aware of the risks of getting free images from creative commons and the public domain. Getting photos without spending a penny can get you a lot of trouble. You will not only lose your reputation but also you’re hard earned cash. To stay away from the copyright police, you need to abide by the copyright laws. This is when stock photo agencies become an excellent choice for the image source.

Stock photography sites offer high-quality stock images at affordable prices. Also known as microstock sites, you can buy stock photos on demand and through subscription plans, whichever suits your creative needs and budget. Gone are the days when you have to hire a photographer to get the stock images you need. With just a few clicks, royalty-free images are available for your personal and commercial purposes.

Now, there are a number of stock photography sites in the market. It could be time-consuming and tiresome to find the best stock photo sites to fit your needs. Fortunately, you don’t have to waste any time and energy browsing one webpage and another to find your next stock photo source. Just visit Stock Photo Secrets and hover over the Stock Agencies menu. Then, click here in this post to learn more how to buy stock photos and see a comprehensive evaluation of the best stock photo sites in the market.

Some of the best stock agency sites that you will find in the page include:

  • Adobe Stock
  • Photocase
  • iStock
  • Corbis Images
  • 123rf
  • Getty Images
  • Alamy
  • PhotoSpin, etc.

You can also skip to the best stock photo sites as chosen by the website by hovering to the same menu and clicking Best Stock Photo Sites. There, you will find the ultimate guide to the top 20 best microstock agencies in the industry. You will also see relevant information about each stock photo website, which may help you with your decision. So stay away from the public domain and creative commons, and visit one of the best microstock agencies now.

Surely, Getty Images is the best in the industry. But, your choice should be based on your creative needs and budget. Many microstock websites offer high-quality stock images at very reasonable prices. All photos come with a royalty-free license (what is this), too. So, you can use them for personal and commercial purposes.

Aside from the comprehensive assessment of stock photography websites, Stock Photo Secrets also offer high-resolution images at affordable prices. The most popular is their 99Club plan, which allows you to download and use 200 XXL images for under a hundred dollars. You can head directly to the shop by clicking the Shop menu on their webpage.

For everything stock, Stock Photo Secrets is the place to go. They are a one-stop shop for all your stock photo and footage needs. They have a huge collection of high quality, royalty-free images, and videos. All high-resolution images come with a royalty-free license, so you can use them in any project for as long as you like. You can also find tutorials, interviews and other relevant information about the industry on the website.

Who needs a photographer if you can download high quality, royalty-free stock photos from microstock websites? Since there is a number in the market, narrow down your choices to the best stock photography websites using SPS’ stock photo websites reviews.