Lists of the most popular photos on photobanks. The best photo stocks for earning for beginners and pros

Presents a selection of 20 free photos stocks for those whose work is texts, which means a constant search for high-quality illustrations.

1.Pixabay

One of two Russian-language free photo stocks in our selection. More than 1.4 million images and videos are available.

2. FreeStockImages

The second and last Russian-language service in our selection. Sorted by category, there are quite a lot of them. Of the minuses: not the most pleasant navigation, no search. By the way, anyone can upload an image to the site.

3.Unsplash

English-language service with beautiful and free photos. Registration is not required.
Convenient navigation: pictures are sorted into categories, there is a search.
The site publishes 10 new photos every day.

All images are freely available and may be used for commercial purposes.

4 Gratisography

Lots of interesting unusual and attention-grabbing photographs. Some, without exaggeration, are worthy of buying coffee for the author for their use.

5. Pixels

Free photo stock - Pexels is one of the best, in our opinion. Easy navigation, many useful categories. The images are published under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license and may be used for any legal purpose.

6 Picjumbo

Photos in high quality are available for free download. Convenient sorting by categories and similar images. In the upper right corner, there is a search in English. There is no prohibition on the use of images for commercial purposes.

7. Stock Snap

This photo stock is very nice looking cleanly and itself prompts you with popular search categories. There is also sorting by date, number of downloads, even by views and likes.

8. Foter

Search tool for the Flickr database. Here you can download the files you like and at the same time check the license of their use. Many categories, search, good quality.

9.SplitShire

Free photo stock with illustrations and videos from a professional photographer. There are over 964 photos on the site. And, of course, all navigation is also in English.

10. New Old Stock

If you suddenly need vintage photos, you will find them on this site. All illustrations that are posted on this photo stock are taken from public archives. It is not the most convenient navigation here, but very unusual specimens come across.

See also:

Photostocks (microstocks, photobanks) are a great way to make money by selling your photos, drawings, illustrations. What is a modern photo stock? In simple terms, a modern photostock is a huge database of high-quality illustrations and photographs that are offered for free sale on various conditions with different levels of royalties to authors. Not quite clear? Let's try to find out more then!

What is a photo stock?
A photostock or photobank is a company that provides graphic materials (content) for sale, such as photographs, drawings, illustrations, as well as audio and video materials. Those. by analogy, a bank, stock (market) - a place of storage or sale, in this case, photographic materials. And, to put it simply, a photostock (photobank) is an intermediary between the owner of the content (photographer, illustrator) and the buyer.

What are photostocks (photobanks)?
Photobanks are divided into so-called. traditional (macrostocks) and micropayment (microstocks).

Traditional photobanks (macrostocks) - large regional or world photobanks, are distinguished by a large database of photographs, in particular, reportage photography is much more widely represented. The most famous representatives: iStock, Getty Images, Alamy, RosPhoto.

IStockphoto is the world's largest photo bank. This photo bank is one of the first in the stock industry and takes the honorable 1st place in terms of the number of works posted on it.
He is very picky about uploaded works, but if you create at least a small portfolio on this photo bank, you can already get good money. Under the new commission terms, the more you sell this year, the higher your percentage of commission next year.
For buyers, iStockphoto is very interesting for its variety of work and approach to quality. This is achieved through strict requirements for uploaded works.

Microstocks differ from traditional photobanks in the amount of fees for each image - they are much lower, on average 0.25-5 dollars. But since a picture can be sold an unlimited number of times, the number of dollars you can earn from it is unlimited!

At the moment, the number of photobanks that can be used to sell photos, vectors and other things is in the tens. But based on practice, you will need only the most popular photobanks, which will bring constant profit. Later, you can expand this list with any others, but these will be enough for a successful start.

For most beginners, as well as for many professionals, the Shutterstock photo bank is in the first place. From practice, it can be noted that sales on this photo bank will be in 3-4 days after the first upload of works.
Until recently, this photo bank worked only by subscription. Buyers paid for a subscription (for example, for a year) and during this subscription they downloaded a certain number of necessary photos, vectors, videos, etc. Now Shutterstock offers to buy photo, vector, ... and boxed.

Depositphotos was founded in 2009 and has established itself very well among photo banks. For buyers, it is convenient that you can buy a photo by subscription, by the piece, as well as using sms messages. A motivating payment system is offered for the authors of the works. As the level of the author increases, the percentage deductions also increase. Initially it is 44%.

123RF is a photo bank that is perfect for beginners. Provided requirements for the work will allow everyone who wants to start dealing with stocks and enjoy it. This photo bank sells photos, vectors, videos… thanks to a wide network of sites and will bring you a good percentage of income.

This photo bank, like those described above, appreciates quality, so the percentage of royalties to the author depends on the sales of his work. Also, your income depends on the volume of your portfolio. You should not expect quick sales if your portfolio has 20 works. This photo bank should be planned as a future income, but this income will be stable.

Dreamstime is a relatively young, but actively developing photo bank. This photobank sells both by subscription and by the piece. Dreamstime uses an interesting file ranking system. The more work sold, the higher the level assigned to it. From this and a larger percentage of deductions to the author.
This photo bank, unlike many others, is very flexible in accepting vector works.

Photodune is part of the Envato Marketplace, a network of content selling sites. They opened in 2006 with a site selling flash-rollers ActiveDen. After the success of this project, they gradually expanded the scope of sales to audio, video, web content, graphics and 3D, and finally got to the most competitive part - photos. The cost of an extended license depends on the size of the photo and exceeds regular price 5 times.

Hello dear readers of the blog site! Surely you bought a camera for fun. Take a couple of pictures on vacation or with family. Then you wanted to take more and better pictures. You began to study the features of composition, exposure, focus. Bought a new lens. It would be great if your favorite business still brought money. Is it about you? Then I will show you photo stocks for making money that will help you sell your photographs and reach passive income.

What is a stock photo and why is it needed

Photostock (English photostock) - a fair of photos, drawings, videos, where you can sell your work multiple times or with copyright once.

Conducting photo shoots means you need to go somewhere every time or stand, sit for several hours in the studio. Photo stock as an addition or alternative is a passive source of income. You regularly upload works and receive income from them for months, while you rest, walk.

How does work with a photobank work? The travel agency wants to release a small calendar. For the summer months they need a girl from the sea. Through a search or directly on the site, they find a suitable image, pay and download.

Do photo stocks really make money?

Photostock stars earn up to $50,000. But here we are most likely talking about foreign photographers who have long been on the sites. They are less than 1%. What happens in Russian realities?

Anastasia earned 200 euros on fotolia.com in 2013. This is about 20 rubles per day. I posted 1 - 2 photos of landscapes, people every day.

You are not allowed to talk about your earnings on Shutterstock. Therefore, the authors simply publish screenshots with the number of shots sold and write the average price.

Irina uploads photos of children and baby paraphernalia: nipples, toys, bottles. He receives 1,300 - 4,836 rubles a month.

Egor Kamelev tried to sell photos of insects on 3 photo stocks: Pexels, Pixabay and stock. In a couple of months, he uploaded 2,000 pictures in good quality. And he earned only 2,598 rubles. It turns out that each image cost a little more than a ruble.

One of Yegor's works. Looks great. How about you? Write comments.

Photos are sold on average for $ 0.25, with a license sometimes it comes out 1 - 1.8 $. You will need 100 - 200 downloads to reach the minimum wage.

If you upload at least 3 pictures with keys per day and advertise them, then $ 20 - 40 will run up in a couple of months. But this is at first. When you unwind and dig the right niche, not excluded and $ 1,000 per month.

Pros and cons of working with a database of photos

Once I also read reviews and I wanted to trade photos. Flowers, cats and other paraphernalia were used, which are enough there even without me. Based on my own experience and other authors, I will talk about the pros and cons that await everyone. I don't want you to be disappointed because of false expectations.

Advantages of working on a photobank:

Passive income. You rest, and the money drips. Of course, you need to regularly replenish the catalog. But the idea that the same photo can be sold thousands of times without your participation is encouraging.
Acceptable investment. A Nikon SLR camera on Avito can be purchased for 7,000 - 11,000 rubles. Lighting on AliExpress costs 2,606 rubles, I bought it myself, it shines normally. A budget tripod in any online store costs around 2,000 rubles. Don't forget about discounts and cashback. In general, the equipment of a professional photographer will be released at 11,606 rubles.
You will not run into a financial ceiling. You can earn both 1,000 rubles a month and 100,000 rubles. It all depends on hard work, quality and subject matter. Nobody limits you here.
You decide when to work.
You are not held by the workplace. You can travel, move to another city. Nothing is holding you.

Disadvantages of making money on photostock:

Long wait for the first money. It rarely happens that I posted a couple of photos, and they were immediately bought. It may take several months for your work to be noticed. If they are unsuitable for a commercial path, then sales can not be expected. Patience and a passion for photography will help you get through the crisis.
There is no motivation. When you work on every frame, fall in love with your work, but they are not noticed, then the desire to take on a camera disappears.

The photographer said: “The first 2-3 months you will receive less than $100. It's frustrating, but manageable. Income grows along with your portfolio, the ability to catch a good shot and find a popular topic. When $500 hits, the minimum photo price will increase from $0.25 to $0.33. And selling photos under an extended license for $50-$100 is an indescribable feeling. Set a goal and you will succeed.”

Russian photo stocks

The best Russian photo stocks that will pay. You will learn about the costs, features of registration below.

If something does not work out, then subscribers and start earning.

Lori

Domestic photo site. For one photo, you can earn 45 - 3,600 rubles, and for a video - 175 - 4,500 rubles. The price of exclusive images that are not displayed on other sites starts from 75 rubles, and videos - from 300 rubles.

To start trading, you need to go through a special registration on Lori. You not only specify the standard data: name, place of residence, login, but also print out a form of a cooperation agreement. Fill out and sign it. Then send the document to the Moscow office of the photo bank by Russian post.

Withdrawal of money through a bank with a deduction of 13% tax. Money will be credited automatically at the beginning of the month if you have accumulated 3,000 rubles or more.

The exam consists of 20 images. The weekly sales limit depends on how much is approved. If you accepted 90 - 100%, then you can upload 100 photos. Those who have reached the minimum threshold of 60% are allowed to post 3 images.

Domestic photobank. This is good and bad. There are fewer buyers, as the foreign audience is cut off. But on the other hand, all documents for tax and accounting reporting are issued according to Russian model. Money is transferred in rubles to a current account, Yandex.Money, WebMoney or Qiwi wallet.

Registration, as everywhere. Real information: full name, registration, passport scan. 10 images are submitted for the exam. You can send 400 px previews or links to other photo stocks.

The sale of one photo will replenish the wallet by 60 - 360 rubles.

Etxt

attach a scan of the passport;
indicate the address of the place of residence;
you must be 18 years old;
pass the exam (theory + 10 high-quality photos);
provide permission to shoot from the people in the photo;
withdrawal of funds from $35 to Skrill and PayPal e-wallets.

Videos can be traded on Shutterstock. But it is desirable to shoot them at least in 4K. The picture must be clear. Like hot cakes, videos that can be used for business, advertising, clips. For example, a video of a broken vase has been downloaded at least 10 times. Under a standard license, it costs $399, imagine how much the author earned.

Another option for passive income is affiliate program. For the sale of someone else's photo, $ 0.04 is charged. There are authors who live off of this.

All photos and drawings are sent for moderation before sale. Even after passing the exam. Standard and low-quality photos on a soap dish (amateur camera) are screened out immediately.

Selling a standard license with a limit will bring $0.83 - $1.24 to the piggy bank, without limits - up to $2.9. It is difficult to talk about income with an extended license. Here they pay 20 - 30% of the cost. Someone gets $ 100 for one picture.

Adobe Stock

When the stock was bought by Adobe, sales increased. The site is more loyal than Shutterstock, but there are also rejections. Suitable for beginner photographers and artists. Simplified registration. There is no exam. You can upload photos for sale immediately after registration. Even a photo taken on a soap dish is missed.

What is required of you:

passport scan;
filling out tax form W-8BEN in order not to pay America 30% VAT;
permission to shoot from the people in the photos.

A photo with a cheap standard license will bring $0.66 to your wallet. Max $3.3. 4K video pays $69.65.

Image moderation on Adobe Stock lasts from 3 days. But it depends on the speed and desire of the moderator. Sometimes 3 photos are missed in a minute, and sometimes you have to wait a week.

The minimum payout is $25 on Skrill.

Cons: Lower earnings and fewer customers than Shutterstock.

Vitaly Milevich gave away a night landscape with the building of the Hungarian Parliament for $0.59. He made $1.74 in the first month.

Depositphotos

Depositphotos is a capricious photo stock. The percentage of deductions from the purchase depends on your status. You can go to the next level after uploading a certain number of images.

Must be of legal age.
Submit a scan of your passport.
You need to pass the exam by uploading 5 pictures or 3 videos. Usually check 7 - 10 business days.

The minimum wage is $50. Pay out to WebMoney, PayPal, Skrill, bank card Visa.

Earnings:

photo or illustration (standard license) - from $0.24 to $5.20;
video (standard license) - from $5.28 to $6.24;
photo or drawing (extended license) - from $35.2 to $41.6;
video (extended license) - from $35.2 to $41.6.

He pays generously. For one photo, you can get $ 0.68 - $ 3. And if you still prove that your work is published only on Dreamstime, the fee for one picture will increase to $ 40.

What is beneficial:

Images are easily moderated. Low-resolution copies remain behind. I do not recommend using a soap dish and a 5-megapixel smartphone.
The more sales, the higher the deductions for images.
You can upload your work through the mobile app.

A nice bonus for buyers is the first 5 photos for free.

Disadvantages:

Verification takes 3 business days.
Fewer sales than Shutterstock.
It's hard to hit the $100 minimum. Transfer to PayPal, Skrill, Payoneer.
The photo is deleted if it is not sold for 4 years.

Simplified registration. There is no need to sign documents and pass the exam.

Suitable for pros. Not every beginner can handle a difficult exam, consisting of a theory and passing 3 photos. The reward for passing the test will be a good fee and a sufficient number of buyers. From one photo you can earn 1 - 40 $, from a video - 5 - 50 $.

Peculiarities:

the minimum withdrawal amount is $100;
money is transferred to PayPal, Skrill, Payoneer;
as the rating grows, so does the income.

You can retrain as exclusive authors. To do this, you need to upload 250 works and gain an approval percentage of “50%”. You will have to forget about other photobanks. As a perk, you get a 10% increase in fees, an increase in your weekly upload limit.

123RF

On photostock 123RF, in addition to photos and videos, you can also sell audio files. The site is beginner friendly. You can fail the exam if the content wheezes, hisses, or is difficult to see due to noise.

pay 30 - 60% of the cost of content to the author, how much depends on the rating;
you can order a payout from $50 to PayPal, Payoneer;
the site cooperates with Microsoft, Apple, Amazon.

Sales on 123RF are slow. But it's good as a backup.

It will please beginners with the fact that you can do without tests and a scan of your passport. Site in English. Without knowledge of the language or Google Translator not enough.

Deductions start at $0.2 and end at $15. And you can request a payout from $100. Lags behind Shutterstock in terms of sales.

People go to because it's easier to get there. No need to take an exam, show documents. Register and upload photo works, vectors or 3D models.

The work costs 1 - 15 $. How much exactly depends on the type of license and your rating.

Website on English language. You have to deal with the dictionary. But deductions in dollars are worth it.

To withdraw earnings, you need to sell 200 - 250 pictures. All of them are checked up to 3 working days. It may take several months to accumulate the minimum wage.

What to shoot to make good money

Shooting your favorite scenes is, of course, cool. But without a commercial vein, no one will buy them. The photographer also needs to earn his bread and butter. To switch to passive income, you need to get into trends. We will talk about them.

Photos that can be used for calendars will remain popular. There are seasonal requests. In summer they are looking for: girl, beach, summer, sea, bikini. In winter, they willingly take photos by subject: santa, christmas tree, snowfall, snowman. All-season calendar trends - family, business, wedding, travel, cosmos.

This family photo has been downloaded over 100 times. It is suitable for calendar, real estate advertising and social projects.

Top Shooting Themes on Shutterstock

Collage contemporary art(Zine). Rough combination of shapes and colors. As if several photos were glued together and circled with a marker.

Prints, textures of the 80s.

A world without plastic + green tourism. Images with a bunch of plastic things in everyday life, as well as without it, are gaining popularity. You can replace synthetic things in the frame with natural ones.

Vintage romantic style.

Such shots are suitable for everything: posters, advertisements, calendars, blogs, video previews, etc.

World tourism.

Transport.

Elephants.

What to publish on Depositphotos

Everybody more people work remotely, so this topic is in the top demand. Freelance workspace photos are needed for blogs, motivational groups, magazines.

Photos taken from a drone.

Everyday life.

Retro style. Technique, clothes and everything that reminds of a distant era.

Adobe Stock Trends

People and nature.

Objects on a plain background or with contrast.

Children and family. A story that is always in demand.

Sport. Frames on a white background are often bought.

Which theme would you choose? I wonder who likes to work with what. Write comments.

What illustrations sell well on photo stocks

Pinup and pop art. If you learn to draw in this genre, provide yourself with money. I almost bought this picture myself. Although in principle I take everything from free sources.

This is when one silhouette contains another picture.

3D design with an unusual combination of shapes in vibrant colors.

Infographics. Explaining complex things simply with pictures is becoming a trend.

Icons with objects of the same subject. For example, an image of rattles and bottles on the theme “Children”.

All in kawaii style. Cute little animals, ninjas, little men are being bought up like flowers on March 8th.

Why didn't I pass the exam?

We will understand the reasons for the refusal of artists and photographers.

Most photobanks have relaxed the requirements. And if already 15 - 20% is approved, the moderators open access to the download. But anything happens. I will introduce you to common mistakes, which block the path to the photo stock.

Artifacts, noises, blurring where not needed

No matter how hard you try, dots and stripes come out? Reduce the sensitivity of the matrix (ISO), do not greatly increase the exposure and brightness, shoot in RAW mode.

Some cameras automatically take sharp pictures. Because of what they start to ripple.

Such a photo with noise will definitely not be accepted.

No commercial use

A simple photo of a leaflet or a neighbor's cat is unlikely to be in demand. Look at the most popular photos on the site and focus on them.

Agree that such a photo is suitable for a family archive, not sales.

Wrong selection of keywords or their overabundance

I would like to write 30 tags to the photo so that the moderator understands your idea, and sell it better. But it works the other way around. The reviewer gets confused and can hack your work in the bud. Therefore, we stick to 10 keywords that describe the plot.

No filming permission

Photobanks respect copyright. If a person is in the photo, and you do not have permission from him (Model release), then immediately refuse. Some sites even require approval from the owners of the buildings that are in the frame. Glow in photos popular trademarks I don't recommend either.

How to start making money on photostock: step by step instructions

We have moved on to the most important thing for which we have gathered today - making money on a photo stock. It's better if you start right now.

Step 1. Decide on a site. I have already introduced you to the top photo exchanges. The choice is yours.

Step 2 Register on the desired photostock. Provide real information about yourself: full name, place of residence, email and phone number. Upload a scanned copy of your passport if necessary. The confirmation email may fall into the "Promotions" category of your mailbox. It happened to me with gmail.

Step 3 Select a photo for testing. Give them a buyer's eye. Do they have commercial value? Check for technical defects: are there any noises, artifacts. If necessary, remove the background, retouch. Focus on popular topics. Don't forget about composition: the good arrangement of objects and people in the frame.

I really like subject photography. I often experiment with sneakers and vases.

Step 4 Pass the exam. Submit 5 to 10 of your works for review. The amount depends on the site.

Step 5 Fill out the W8-BEN tax form to avoid overpaying. Russian photobanks are asking for our tax form.

Step 6 Upload the remaining works and wait for sales.

Register on 2 - 3 banks and follow the one that will bring more income.

Take note of the video about 10 photos that passed the exam.

Tip 1. Study your target audience. Usually on photo stocks they make purchases:

designers;
content managers;
bloggers;
advertising agents;
marketers;
SMM managers;
media editors;
wallpaper developers;
manufacturers of textiles and floor coverings;
printers who deal with calendars, business cards, posters.

Tip 2. See through the image search how your work is being used.

A photo of a girl with an umbrella near the shore has been used more than 10 times for the cover of romance novels.

Tip 3. Take live photos, not staged ones. People with money in their hands on a white background are a thing of the past. home furnishings, real life- that's what professional marketers, bloggers are interested in.

Tip 4. Capture the familiar from unusual angles. You never know what will really hit.

Tip 5 Take more bright, sunny shots. Leave the gloomy, heavy shots for yourself. Positive is in fashion.

Tip 6 Pick the right one keywords. Think about what words and why they can search for your work. Promotion on the photostock is 70% of success.

Tip 7. Don't neglect Photoshop. You can correct the exposure, contrast, change the background, remove shadows. Spend 2-3 weeks learning the program. I advise you to remove minor noises using the Imagenomic Noiseware Professional plugin.

Tip 8 Don't be afraid of Shutterstock. Most of the profit will come from him. And now the exam is easier to pass.

Tip 9. Minimalism rules. Photos overloaded with details are not allowed in the exam. Enough 2 - 3 objects.

Tip 10. Learn the basics of composition and the golden ratio.

Conclusion

Trading on photo stocks is real, even if you are a self-taught amateur. For some authors, a breakthrough begins after six months. The number of downloads exceeds thousands. The main thing is to work on quality and be patient.

In the meantime, you are waiting for money from photo stocks, I advise you to study. Maybe something will come up.

Have you tried making money from photography? It's interesting to know how it turned out. Write comments.

I really want to help you get out of your unloved job, make your hobby your income. But without your desire, I can not cope ..

See you soon!

Photos remain an integral part of the design. After spending a lot of time to select high-quality illustrations that reflect the main idea of the project, you can find that they will be very expensive.

Fortunately, free photobanks have long appeared and continue to develop - sites with stock photos. The pictures in their database are categorized and free from copyright restrictions, they can even be used for commercial purposes. Anyone who from time to time has to select illustrations for designing projects is familiar with such services.

Unlimited graphics for your projects

Review of 30 photo stocks with free photos, vectors and videos

1. allthefreestock.com - combines many stocks

The project of seo consultant Seijo George. Allthefreestock streams content from popular photo stocks and other content sites using iframes. Thus, links to illustrations, mockups, fonts, patterns are available in one place. The service allows you to speed up the search for the desired content by narrowing the list of suitable web resources.

freephoto.cc

2.

Free photo bank containing 40,000 illustrations in high resolution. All photos are licensed Creative Commons Zero, which means they can be copied, distributed, edited and even used on commercial sites.

3.

A large-scale creative community that will be of interest to those who are interested in where to get photos and videos without paying a fee for their use. The site content is licensed under CC0. Pixabay has been translated into Russian and is also available in the format mobile application.

4. pikwizard.com

Free photo bank with pretty high quality photos. The site has over 100,000 absolutely free images, over 20,000 of which are exclusive. The library is updated daily with new images, the immediate goal of the developers is to get more than 1 million images. All of which are free to use without attribution.

pikwizard.com

5.

Portal with free images created by a photographer and designer. Stocks rejected the photos he took, citing the lack of high resolution images as the reason. Over the 2 years of the project's existence, users have downloaded more than 2.5 million photos from the site. Premium content of the portal is available at several paid subscription rates.

6.

Search engine for free and paid stock images based on algorithms artificial intelligence in beta. Visitors to this site with a convenient search can also check the quality of any photo through a neural network by uploading it to the site or providing a link.

7.

Photobank with HD quality videos and images, free to use. The slogan of the portal is “Give life to your pictures!” The service regularly accepts photos from users and awards the title of "Photographer of the Week". On the site, you can create a profile with a portfolio and subscribe to other photographers.

8.

A good photo stock created by a photographer who wants to share his work with others. The only action prohibited by the stokpic license is the resale of the photo in its original form. By subscribing to the newsletter, you can receive 10 premium images every 2 weeks.

9.

Base of free photos, focused on people of creative specialties. Since launch, the site has published 3,000 images under a CC0 license, while the database continues to grow weekly. By becoming email subscribers of the site, community members receive a newsletter of fresh photos.

10.

A web resource offering search and download of stock photos. The main interface of the portal has been translated into Russian, the photo bank is free. Freephotos works with third-party content source APIs to make images available for download on a single site.

11. burst.shopify.com

Free photo bank powered by Shopify. The goal of the project is to support designers, developers, entrepreneurs and bloggers in creating quality websites and marketing campaigns. All photos are recommended for commercial use.

underground

12.

A photo bank with over 300,000 free photos generously donated by the community of photographers. The portal specialists daily compile a selection of photos, and the site also has a search for specific requests. You can track the work of photographers by subscribing to them.

13.

One of the top stock content resources that has been supplying thousands of free photos to users for three years. The project also gladly accepts quality works for placement in its library.

14.

A photo blog that publishes daily editor-selected "photo of the day". Archived posts form an extensive database with a search by category and colors prevailing in the picture.

15.splitshire.com/topbestphotos

Popular photobank with beautiful photos and video, the main content of which is free. On the main page of the site there is a selection of top photos. The service offers to download photos separately for free or help the project by paying for downloading an archive of 500+ photos.

16.

This photo bank differs from others by the presence of non-standard content, which often does not fit into the concept of aesthetic. If you're looking for a shot of a person dressed as an Easter Bunny in the desert, this web site is for you.

17. cupcake.nilssonlee.se

Free blog-style stock photo by Swedish photographer Jonas Wimmerström. The HD quality images posted on the blog form a voluminous portfolio divided into categories.

18.

Stock storage of free stock photos intended for public use. At the moment, the library contains 400 thousand images and continues to be replenished with new ones.

Photobanks by category:

19. travelcoffeebook.com - travel

20. photos.bucketlistly.com - selection by country

A collection of 5000+ geo-tagged travel photos. Thus, the site allows you to search for photos by country in which they were taken. When entering the site, auto-location is triggered, and the user sees a selection of photographs taken in his country.

21. - food photo

22. - food photo

A project of food photographers who are interested in transforming the Internet space with food content. Thanks to this photo bank, it became easier for gourmets to find high-quality free images for a food site.

23. superfamous.com/Images - nature

An online collection of free photos featuring natural phenomena and macro texture of natural elements. The site is designed in a minimalist style, its main page is a tile of images.

24. - still nature

A blog dedicated to life and work, including a gallery with HD photos in nature. The founder of the blog is an American photographer, designer and developer Adrian Pelletier. As part of the CC0 license, he shares the photos he has taken.

25. nos.twnsnd.co - old shots

A web resource that regularly publishes old free photos collected from publicly available sources. All images are free from copyright restrictions. Photostock is ideal for those who need a retro look.

Free vector pictures (vector):

26.

Volumetric royalty free photobank of vector graphics, which has accumulated more than 8 million images. The start page of the service shows pictures on relevant topics, for example, “ New Year". Thousands of pictures are added to the site every day.

27.

The largest vector graphics community in the world. By joining it, you can no longer think about where to get pictures in vector format for the site for free. Photobank allows you to download images even to unregistered users. Registered community members get the right to discuss the submitted work.

Free videos for websites and videophone:

28.

A stock portal where free HD videos are available for download. The CC BY 3.0 license allows them to be used in commercial projects. When downloading a video, you get a zip file containing videos in .mp4 and .webm formats. The video bank accepts requests to add videos on a specific topic.

29.

A library of photos and videos contributed by enthusiastic photographers and cameramen. The system uses integration with twitter account to provide the ability to add videos to favorites and repost on social networks. Users return to the site to borrow free videos to decorate their project.

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One of the sections of the Split Shire stock already mentioned above is completely devoted to video clips. They can be used both as a supplement to the text and as a background screensaver. All videos are marked with tags, which makes it much easier to find the content of the desired category.

Can you take another 5 minutes to educate yourself? I advise you to read and template for a subscription

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. For a quarter of a century, we have been where you have to pay for everything. If in terms of material values this statement does not raise any special questions for us, then in terms of intellectual values, everything is a bit more complicated. Most of us understand that there is a law about and massive defense of it in court. However, to really start pay for something that can be easily found and downloaded in the open spaces of the network, it is not so easy psychologically.

Thus, the owners of many sites (or) are faced with a moral problem when searching for and using photos (or pictures, icons, icons) found on the network for text design (as you know). What to do? (squinting his eyes) or look for something in paid photostocks or photobanks, strangling your “toad” for a while?

Today I propose consider a compromise when both the wolves are full and the sheep are safe. We will talk about free photo stocks and photo banks, where photos can be downloaded legally and use them on the site or in your information product without fear of consequences.

I repeat once again that the option is a compromise (the choice of photos is seriously limited, and it will be easier for someone to pay money on a paid photo stock than to delve into a free one), but nevertheless it gives a solution to the problem described above. See if you like it...

8 best free photobanks

The problem with free photo stocks lies, as I said, in the fact that the choice there is by and large not great. Yes, there are many free photo banks themselves, but they are still not as full of photos as the same paid Shutterstock and the like.

Let's run through list of photobanks and stocks, where you can legally get hold of free photos for your site (we’ll talk about icons and pictures a little lower - so far the number is for pictures):

Pexels— cool photos in a good and conveniently designed online service. Everything is very simple and concise. There is a search, tags, tops, etc. things. You can even upload your own photos. The image database is quite large with a decent coverage of topics. All photos are distributed under the CC0 license (free use):
Photos can be downloaded without registration - just select the resolution you need:
stocksnap is another great source of free beauty. The photos collected there are distributed under the same license as in Pexels, and do not require attribution. The service has the ability to sort images by date added, views, added to favorites, trends, or by number of downloads. In general, it is very convenient, as in my not very demanding opinion:
stock vault— a free photostock with almost a hundred thousand photos of various subjects (really a lot) and other images distributed under a free license (although it’s not entirely clear which one). There is an advanced search with additional filtering tools, which is very convenient:
pixabay one of the interfaces the biggest free photo stocks(and maybe the largest - about half a million files) supports the Russian language, which is good, because it is not necessary to enter queries in the search bar.
All photos are licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 license (can be posted without attribution), which is again good, and in addition to photos, you can also find vector images here, as well as videos distributed for free.
Freeimages- one of the largest free photo stocks (repositories) in the world (almost 400 thousand images). Fully supports the Russian language and has a sophisticated filtering system. True, you will have to register to download the photos you like, but it's worth it.
Unsplash- if you need large high-resolution photos that are distributed for free (CC0 license), then you have a direct road to this photo bank. The format for presenting photos is somewhat different and you can just go in and admire the wonderful creations of various professional photographers. Here you can find the most beautiful wallpapers for your desktop.
Morgue File- You will find several hundred thousand free photos in this stylish photobank. Attribution of the author is not required when using them.
Life of Pix- free photos from professional photographers (there is also a video stock, and also free). In my opinion, in an attempt to make an original online service (and they succeeded), the authors of the project lost a little in the speed of work (but it is possible that these are temporary problems). And so everything is fine - advanced search, categories, etc. Perhaps there are not too many pictures on this stock.

10 free photo stocks

There are dozens more small drains and microstocks, which often represent the work of just one photographer or studio. However, this does not in the least implore the quality of the photographs presented there and the fact that it will be free to receive and use them for your own purposes:

6 More Sources of Free Stock Photos

Above I have given those photobanks with free images that I use myself (and tried to briefly describe them), but I also want to remind you (or “discover America”) that google image search has among the many filtering tools and one that helps to distinguish among the total found mass photos distributed under a free license("Tools" - "Use Rights").

found in this way photos can be quite safely used on your website or in an information product (according to the type of license chosen) without fear that someone will make claims against you and make you pay for copyright infringement.

When installing such filters, Google most likely conducts a search in the databases of free photo banks and some services, which accurately indicate whether the image belongs to free or paid content. It is convenient here that legally free photos are thus combined into one large common database.

Although it’s not a fact that there won’t be something on a free photo stock that Google doesn’t know about. In the end, photos may be closed from indexing or added recently. All in all, Google Images is a good option. free receipt legal photographs, but far from the only and not exhaustive.

In addition, there are stock search websites, microstocks and other photobanks (including free ones). Probably, you have already encountered many of them, but nevertheless I will give examples:

Flickr- one of the most popular photo hosting sites in the world (cooler and even more so), owned by the slowly dying Yahoo. In order for you to be given in the search results only those photos that can be used for free for your own purposes, check the corresponding box in the search filter settings:
Photo Pin- search for photos distributed under a free Creative Commons license (mostly searches are carried out on Flickr). Very convenient implementation. Recommend.
Freepik is the largest search engine for free vector images (about 150 thousand in the database), pictures, PSD (more than 5 thousand), photos (200 thousand pieces), icons and badges (about 100 thousand). It's nice that you can work with the service in Russian(including entering requests in their native language).
They earn on affiliate programs of paid photo stocks, so pay attention to the distinction between search areas for paid and free photos, as well as other types of images.
LIFE photo archive hosted by Google- historical photos (in fact, this is a kind of filter superimposed on top of Google Images), which you can use on your website for free. It goes without saying that if you need such passages for registration, then there are a dime a dozen of them and everything will be quite legal.
Dreamtime— search for free legal photos in photobanks. Again, the interface is in Russian, but, in my opinion, you still have to search in English. In addition, you will have to register to download, which makes the process not so much comfortable and carefree.
Wikimedia Commons— a very large database of photos (more than 35 million), video and audio materials with the possibility of obtaining and using them for free. It is essentially (I already wrote about this in the above article).
When downloading a photo or other media file, it will indicate whether you need to mention the author.
New Old Stock- retro (historical) photos in the public domain (take and use for your own pleasure). Not a bad addition to the Google LIFE mentioned above.
IconFinder- if you, then this service will provide you with an indispensable service.
Here you can find a lot of images on the subject you need (various formats and sizes). Personally, I use it quite often and described it in detail in the article linked to.

Free photos from paid stocks and photobanks

I don't mean any kind of dishonest partnership. No, everything is legal. The fact is, paid photo stocks to attract the attention of interested users quite often, for example, give away a little bit of paid photos for free if you subscribe to their subscription. I don’t know if all photobanks do this, but I will give an example of those who do this. In such a simple way, you can receive a dozen photos as a gift on an ongoing basis.

Let me just list the popular ones. photo stocks that distribute photos by subscription:

Also from some paid photo stocks photos are allowed to be used free of charge, if they were inserted in the way provided for this (usually these are either tags or ). In any case, this is possible in a paid one.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the decision to legalize the graphic materials used on the site (or anywhere else) is made by you. There is a chance that no one will ever catch you by the hand, but they can catch you. It will be difficult to get out then, because paid drains have lawyers in the state who specialize in this particular business (this is their bread and butter).

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site