Hey hey, it’s time to talk about stock photos! This post is primarily aimed at fellow bloggers who are looking for some top-quality gorgeous free online stock photos, but of course you can use the lovely images from these sites for lots of other purposes too!
Image from goldandberry.blogspot.com (see below for more!)
When you’re just starting out as a new blogger, you probably don’t have a ton of money to invest on your new venture – right? Or a ton of spare time on your hands to trawl through disappointing free stock photography (and believe me, there’s a lot of that out there!). But you still want a gorgeous site (and beautiful pins!) that’s visually appealing to your audience – right? So, what’s a girl (or guy) to do?! Well, today I want to answer that question by sharing with you some of my all time favorite free online stock photos from some of the best free online stock photo sites around! These aren’t just any old free stock photos, I really just want to show you the ones I truly rate for style and quality every time. And I’ve included a few handy tips along the way!
Image from Ivory Mix – see below for more details!
Because most Slighlty Sorted readers are women, I tend to favor more feminine photos, but several of the sites I’ll mention (particularly Unsplash) are excellent for lots of different blog niches.
Some links on slightlysorted.com are affiliate links – please see the disclosure tab on the main menu, side bar or footer for full details, thank you!
Why Is Choosing The Right Free Online Stock Photos Important?
Before we jump right in with the photos, it’s important to have a general grasp on why it’s important to choose the right free online stock photos. Why not just lift any gorgeous image you find online? Well, basically, because you could get sued for doing that. Chances are that the beautiful image you’ve discovered is copyrighted, so it’s illegal for you to use it – simple.
But it’s important that you create a stylish blog to attract a bigger audience, so you still need great images. Unless you’re happy to take all your photos yourself, or pay for a service, you’re going to need some free stock photos. (By the way, if you’re interested in a no-nonsense blogging roadmap for beginners, check out my favorite free resource here.)
It can be difficult to find high quality free stock photos, and you also need to stay away from any sites that appear to be low quality – there are some scams out there where the photos used are actually copyrighted, so beware. I also recommend keeping a note of where you source your images, or take screen shots.
So guys, without any further chit-chat from me, let’s jump right in to some of the best free online stock photos around!…
My Favorite Free Online Stock Photos
Really Really Gorgeous Styled Stock Photos!
Wow, these images from goldandberry.blogspot.com are AMAZING. I was so happy when I came across these, as in my opinion they’re some of the most stylish free online stock photos that I’ve come across.
This site has a selection of different styles of images – most are in a similar theme to the one above, but there are some more minimalist photos on there too. I think this lady is an amazing photographer, and she’s gone to so much effort when styling these images! She also does some nice free printables.
Quick tip! Where-ever you get your free stock photos from, remember to check the terms and conditions of using them. Unsplash for example (below), like you to credit the photographer (although it’s not required).
My Favorite Free Online Stock Photos Site For Variety
I love unsplash.com and use it all the time, simply because you can find a huge variety of images on there for any kind of blog niche from lots of different photographers, including less ‘feminine’ photos. I’ve used images from Unsplash for food images, exercise, general models, animals, home decor, florals and beaches! Here are a few of my current favorites so you can see what I mean!
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
Quick tip! Most free stock photo services allow you to crop the photos to suit your needs, so for example in the photo above you could just use the fruit bowl part of the image. I often use google photos for this purpose. Just check the t&c’s when you download the image to make sure it’s ok.
Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash
Photo by Hipster Mum on Unsplash
Classic Feminine Styled Stock Photos
When you sign up with your email address on hautestock.co, not only do you get a selection of beautiful images sent to you right away, you also continue to receive monthly freebies! I love this site for high-quality stylish images, they never disappoint me. Here are a couple of the free stock photos I’ve received from them since I signed up.
Quick tip! Look out for images like the one above, which have plenty of blank space – they’re ideal for creating Pinterest graphics. I create mine on Canva.
Savvy Stock
If you go to makeupsavvy.co.uk, you can download 10 beautifully styled free stock images. Some are makeup related, some are styled desktops/boss lady style, and there are some lovely autumnal shots too. This lady has some lovely photos on her blog, and she hasn’t skimped on the style for the free ones. These two are my favorites.
Super-Stylish Muted Tones
And another lovely site offering up 10 free stock images is thirteenthoughts.com – Paula has a very distinctive photography style, which I think comes across as very sophisticated. These are my faves!…
Quick Tip! When ever you can, download your photos rather than taking screenshots. This preserves the quality, but you will often have to resize them if you’re using them on your blog. I often use around 900 x 600 px, as that size works well on Pinterest.
Huge Styled Stock Library!
When you sign up to Ivory Mix, you get access to a library of over 300 gorgeous free styled stock photos – over 300! And regular emails with new shots. What more can I say really, other than how extremely generous of Kayla to share so many lovely photos! She has lots of other free resources too, so I highly recommend visiting the site. Here’s just a little taste of what you can expect…
And that, ladies and gentlemen, just about does it! I hope you’ve enjoyed this little round-up of my favorite free online stock photos, and that I’ve helped save you some time in finding some top-quality images. Hunting down decent free images really can be very soul destroying time-consuming, so I hope this has helped you out!
I’d love to know what you think, and if you have any recommendations of your own? Let me know in the comments!
** PS! If you’re interested in a no-nonsense blogging roadmap for beginners, check out my favorite free resource here **
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I am always looking for good stock photo sites for my projects. Thanks for the great options you shared with us. Also, thanks for the tips you shared as well. I follow most of them as a matter of course but it is great to have them here in case someone else has not included them into their workflow yet.
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You’re welcome Dale, I hope you can find some lovely free stock photos from this little lot! Thanks! 🙂