[Reference] 30+ (free) photo resources and photo tools for bloggers

My favorite photo resources and photo tools…

Most of the photo/image resources are CC (Creative Commons) or public domain; some require attribution, some do not. Some may be limited to personal use, so be sure to check before you use for your non-personal (e.g. blog that makes money) stuff. Also keep in mind that many photographers offer some of their images under a CC license, but not all, so check the licensing for each photo or image before you use.

Give ATTRIBUTION! Even if it’s not required, it’s a nice thing to do.

1. morgueFile

A large collection of images that are free under a “morgueFile license which is specifically for designers and illustrators to use the images in a creative process creating work of their own. If you would like to use the image in a blog post, we recommend contacting the photographer and providing a by line under the photo with the photographer’s name. This is generally agreed to be acceptable.”

I often use images from morgueFile and then add my own text to them (Hullo, Pinterest marketing) so I assume that fits into the idea of creating work of my own. I also give attribution at the bottom of blog posts when I use these (altered) photos in blog posts.

Here’s a sample of the images that I’ve found at morgueFile (keyword search: object):

2. Lime Lane Photography

Photographer Kelli of 74 Lime Lane offers a small but beautiful collection of stock photos, “a free stock photography service specifically aimed at bloggers and their websites.” The images are offered under a Creative Commons license which requires attribution (Kelli provides a handy little code snippet for you) and prohibits remixing (adding to, building upon, transforming). Thus, these are lovely images for a blog post, but don’t DO anything to them. Use as is. And they’re quite lovely as is. Here’s an example:

3. Unsplash

Unsplash is my favorite. An amazing collection – not huge, but growing – of absolutely free photographs. They’ve all been put in the public domain by their respective owners, which means you can modify as you will, use as will both commercially and personally, and you don’t have to even give attribution. Though I do, and I think you should to, because what a small way to say thank you to the person who did the work of taking the photograph.

I always appreciate photographers a lot more after some event at which I attempt to capture decent images of the happenings or people, or, say, lovely sunset. I do not have the ‘eye’ or the steady hand or whatever it is that they have. So I am grateful.

Here’s a sample from Unsplash (they add 10 new photos every 10 days, and you can subscribe so that these 10 amazing free photos appear in your inbox):

4. Freerange Stock

This site was “formed with the goal to provide quality stock photos for commercial and non-commercial use. For free.” It’s an ad-supported site, so you get that row of not-free images from Dreamstime or wherever across the top when you search. No big deal, just remember not to click there if you want the freebies. You need a (free) membership to download the photos. There’s quite a variance in image quality as far as usefulness for strict blogging use, but use that search tool and bookmark the photographers who offer work you really like.

You don’t have to give attribution (no legal requirement) but they’d like it if you do, and, of course, why not? Be nice. Credit where credit’s due.

And here’s a preview of images you’ll find there (keyword search: fruit):

5. Stock.XCHNG

 SXC’s strength is in the sheer quantity of photos available for use. Over 400,000 at my last visit there. Of course, with many contributors, you’ll get many levels of quality. But if you can spend a little time sifting through it, you can find a photo (or clip-art/computer-generated image) of almost anything. Get a (free) membership to download, and use the lightboxes to save images you want to use later as you search and browse. As with the Freerange site, SXC is ad-supported (so avoid the top & bottom row of photos from a sponsored site) and if you find a photographer you love,  add him/her to your favorites for future reference.

Here’s a preview of images from SXC (keyword search: stop sign):

6. Unprofound

Unprofound offers a selection of free photos for use by anyone, for pretty much anything. As they put it: “Our photos for your ideas. Simple concept, huh? There’s no catch. There’s no art. It’s all subjective anyway, isn’t it? We feel your pain, and hopefully you’ll see ours. Use it, abuse it, just let us know where we can see it. That’s half the fun of it. Well, actually all the fun… but we don’t want to empower you too much.”

You can search by color (which is fun) and you’ll find a range of quality in the photos. Some great, some not-so-great. No registration required, and no ads on the site.

Here’s a sample (color sorted: orange):

 7. Open Photo Project

All the photos at Open Photo Project are offered under Creative Commons licensing, but the “license terms and conditions vary from image to image.” In other words, some may be fine for personal use only, some for commercial use too, some for remixing, some for use as-is only, some with attribution required, some without…

So be sure to check and follow the terms for each image. There’s a nice-sized collection, and most of the images are great. See? (Category: Photo/Macro):

8. Design Instruct

Design Instruct offers a few free stock photo packages. Not many, but they’re great quality and nice for using as backgrounds or other graphic design-y needs.

9. PublicDomainPictures.net

PDP has a large database of public domain photos, clip-arts, illustrations, etc., to use freely. There is a caveat on the front page that “If you intend to use an image you find here for commercial use, please be aware that some photos do require a model or property release. Pictures featuring products should be used with care.”

Also, though the images appear to all be in the public domain, there’s a line on each single image download page that states “If you are going to redistribute this image online, a hyperlink to this particular page is mandatory.”

I’m a fan of attribution, anyway, so why not give it?

Here’s a sample of images (keyword search: baking):

10. Pixabay

Hello, Pixabay, I love you. All the pictures here are published in the public domain, which means “You can copy, modify, distribute and use the images, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission and without paying attribution. However, depicted content may still be protected by trademarks, publicity or privacy rights.”

So watch out for brands and logos in the photos, and maybe you need to get model releases? I don’t know about that, so I’m not giving advice on it.

Here’s a preview of images (keyword search: horse):

11. Portrait Gallery

This site offers “A selection of portraits of historical figures from the Perry-Castañeda Library, University of Texas at Austin. The images in this collection are in the public domain. You do not need to ask for permission to use these images.”

Thus: historical, right? You’re not going to find a stock photo of a young business woman on a white background holding a laptop and looking competitive.

But you’ll find Daniel Boone, Charlotte Bronte, Bach, Mozart, Catherine of Aragon, Sappho, and a lot of others. Here’s Jane Austen:

12. Viintage

Nicely designed, ad-free, easy to navigate site of vintage graphics, which are all in the public domain. There’s an option for premium membership, which gets you high resolution images.

13. PicMonkey

“Photo editing made of win” is the tagline, and I’d have to agree. Premium membership option gets you more fonts and options, and it’s a bit annoying to click on something and get the “premium only” message… but after a few of those, you just notice & avoid the Crown icon. Nice filters, fonts, effects, and easy to use.

For that matter, premium is only $5 a month or so, and if I used this a bit more regularly I would pay for it. Right now I only use PicMonkey a few times a month, and take advantage of the other services listed here the rest of the time.

14. LunaPic

LunaPic is a free, online image editor that I use primarily for the ability to make images (or parts of images) transparent. The interface is not at all smooth, and getting from one edit to another tool can be confusing. I’ve lost multiple versions, but there’s a revert option, so you can (usually) get back to your last revision.

15. ProQuoter

Not a beautiful user interface, but wow: simple, quick, and a nice variety of backgrounds. If all you want to do is make a graphic quote you can be proud of, this is a good place. Quick… did I mention quick? It’s great to have the options and tweaking that more robust editors will give you, but sometimes the details just take too much time.

Bonus: a bookmarklet you can install for making quote images from websites.

15. Pinstamatic

A Pinterest-oriented tool (obviously) though of course you can use it for other purposes. A nice selection of abilities: take a screenshot (from any website), make a graphic quote, a sticky note, add a caption to a photo you upload, or create an image (linkable) for a date or map location.

16. Pinwords

A very simple, basic way to create quote graphics. Four backgrounds and six style options. Upload your own photo and choose a font style, pin it or download it or share it otherwise, you’re done.

17. Quozio

A graphic quote creator that is simple and quick, but has enough background options (20+) to keep it from getting boring too quickly. No registration needed.

18. LiveLuvCreate

Create graphic quotes (and fan fiction, apparently) at this site. Just ignore the Twilight memes and the typos. You have to register, but you can keep all the images you make private and simply download for your own use. The interface is kind of klunky but there are quite a few nice backgrounds.

 19-25. CC Photographers on Flickr

You can look through the Commons on Flickr for publicly held photos (no known copyright restrictions). You can also find photos with Creative Commons licensing (or search for them using CompFight). Always make sure you check the terms of the CC license before using, and don’t assume that ALL of a photographer’s images are under the same licensing. Check the individual photos.

Here are a few of my favorite photographers on Flickr:

• Emilian Robert Vicol
• epSos .de
• Nate Steiner
• whologwhy
• Rory MacLeod
• Albastrica Mititica
• Luz Adriana Villa

26-30. Free Clip Art Sites

I don’t use a lot of clip art while blogging, but I do fairly often for homeschool purposes (forms, charts, worksheets, so on). Here’s a quick list of some sites with free clip art:

• OpenClipArt.org
• Free-ClipArt.net (terrible navigation but lots of images)
• Absolutely Free Clipart
• ClipArt ETC – for educational purposes only. Great quality, historical/vintage clip art images.
• SweetClipArt

31. Canva

Canva has become one of my favorite graphic + design tools. It’s free to use, with plenty of basic design elements. If you need more, there’s a large library of purchasable photos and graphic elements ($1 each). The pre-set design sizes for social media and other Internet uses are handy (saves you going back to that reference sheet of how big your FB header is supposed to be). You can easily put together snappy graphic quotes, blog graphics, social media headers, and more. Definitely worth bookmarking.

I’ll add to this list as I find more great resources and tools. Do you have any great recommendations? Please leave them in the comments for others to enjoy.

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