5 places to get copyright-free images
Images are an important visual aspect that can be used across social media to represent your brand or business! But did you know most images on Google aren’t copyright free? This means that you can’t legally use them for your online presence.
There is even an organisation dedicated to helping overcome legal obstacles to the sharing of knowledge and creativity, this non-profit is known as the Creative Commons (AKA. CC). The CC provide Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools that give every person and organisation a free, simple, and standardised way to grant copyright permissions for creative content.
So you need legal images to use on your website, social media and more?
Here are 5 places I recommend searching to get high-quality, copyright-free images for FREE! Trust me there are millions of images just waiting for you, so if you’re on a budget or just need a quick asset for a social media post, make sure you check these places before paying to license a photo.
This is a really powerful piece of online software that can benefit marketers or business owners in a variety of ways, one of which is free to use images! To find an image you want to use start creating a design with a premade template, use the recommend sizes or create a custom size image.
Then find the photos tab located on the left-hand side for desktop uses and along the bottom for mobile. Search for what you want, check out the different categories and scroll through trending to see a variety of images. Some will require the paid version but many are free!
2. Pexels
One of my personal favourite websites is Pexels, this is a simple to use site that doesn’t require a login in to get access to image downloads. Every time I’ve needed an image for personal use or a freelance client I’ve been able to find a great, high-quality image quickly.
Another great feature of Pexels is that along with millions of pictures you can also find, free, stock video to help bring your website or social media to life with moving assets.
3. Unsplash
Not sure what images you want to use on your website? Unsplash has a variety of categories that you can browse to find images that accurately represent your style.
Similar to Pexels, you won’t need an account to download images from Unsplash making it a quick and easy way to build a bank of copyright-free images that are ready to use across your digital platforms.
4. Pxhere
Potentially the best platform for gathering inspiration if you don’t have a clue what you are looking for. The home page endlessly generates images, allowing you to scroll through looking for something that grabs your attention.
Whilst this is a great platform for finding images downloading them does require an account. Whilst the accounts are free to create it does add an extra step to the process.
5. Pixabay
Very similar to Pxhere is Pixabay, however, I prefer the style and branding of Pixabay. This platform also has copyright-free video, music, illustrations and vectors.
I really like this platform and use it quite regularly, however, you do need to be logged into an account in order to download an asset.
