Free stock images

July 10, 2013 11:16 AM

Any sites that offer royalty free and free images?

I am looking for free images that I can use on my website. Hopefully professional looking. Can you all recommend some sites for free images. (if not completely free then maybe a low cost alternative would be good too). Thanks all

posted by ladoo to Computers & Internet (19 answers total)

sxc.hu is pretty great.
posted by SugarAndSass at 11:21 AM on July 10, 2013

sxc.hu

Many have licensing agreements but they are free
posted by randomination at 11:21 AM on July 10, 2013

I'm not trying to be snarky here, but have you tried googling this? There are literally thousands of free stock photo sites out there, and it's going to be tough for people to give you specific recommendations if you don't have anything more specific in mind than "free images."

I have seen some really amazing answers here where people have asked things like, "I need a very specific image that has the following qualities: x, y, z," so that might be a good route for you to take in another question if you still can't find what you need.
posted by phunniemee at 11:22 AM on July 10, 2013

came in to recommend sxc.hu, there is also www.morguefile.com
posted by pyro979 at 11:23 AM on July 10, 2013

If I can't find what I need on sxc.hu, I can often get something from Pixabay.com
posted by sdis at 11:28 AM on July 10, 2013

I usually use Flickr and filter my search by Creative Commons to get images that I can legally use.
posted by COD at 11:46 AM on July 10, 2013

If you go into Advanced Search on Google Image Search you can specify how pictures are licensed.

They've hidden Advanced Search in the cogwheel on the results page, but it's still there.
posted by the latin mouse at 11:47 AM on July 10, 2013

Wikimedia Commons
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:20 PM on July 10, 2013

thanks all, this is great.
posted by ladoo at 5:18 PM on July 10, 2013

Morgue File. Or if you don't mind attributing, I just did a site exclusively using Flickr Creative Commons images cleared for commercial use and requiring attribution (see little camera icons). This is a great source for everything but images of people, which you should not use off Creative Commons as they will lack model releases.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:49 PM on July 10, 2013

Nthing morgueFile.
posted by mon-ma-tron at 8:58 PM on July 10, 2013

Flickr advanced search:
https://secure.flickr.com/search/advanced/?
Choose Creative Commons option(s) at the bottom. Tons of great images!
posted by 4midori at 2:53 PM on July 12, 2013

great. btw, Pixabay makes me a little nervous due to their disclaimer-has anyone actually used a pic from there for public websites?
posted by ladoo at 6:15 PM on July 17, 2013

What disclaimer? Link? Because whatever they're upfront about disclaiming is probably an issue for some of these other sites as well.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:20 PM on July 17, 2013

it is under here-see the Disclaimer
posted by ladoo at 6:21 PM on July 17, 2013

That is not specific to Pixabay, that is a public domain license. It's the most unrestricted license you can use. What exactly is your issue with it?
posted by DarlingBri at 6:24 PM on July 17, 2013

Well it just seems like they are not completely standing behind the images..mostly that they "..Creative Commons has not verified the copyright status of any work to which CC0 has been applied..." :(

I also saw Firefox (browser) icon there.
posted by ladoo at 6:27 PM on July 17, 2013

A creative commons license is applied by the person uploading the image. It is not verified ever and is always self-reporting. This is going to be true for photos from any of the sources listed in this thread. If you want zero risk images, be prepared to pay for stock from iStock or Dreamstime. They are commercial enterprises and part of what you're paying for is surety of license.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:36 PM on July 17, 2013

That makes sense, thank you
posted by ladoo at 8:38 AM on July 18, 2013