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One way to improve your blog is to add images. Adding stock images to your site will give your readers something else to look at other than text. When adding images to your site or project, make sure you have permission from the owner before you start adding their work to your site.  If you do not get permission or if you do not have permission you violate copyright laws and may be held liable for lose of income and damages. When looking for images for my work, I look for Creative Commons licenses that the author has attached to their work. Depending on what type of (CC) the author uses on his or her work, they may allow others to use or alter their work for others to use.

What Does Royalty-Free Mean?

Royalty-free simply means, you purchase the image once and then you can use it as many times as you want. You do have some restrictions. You will have to check terms of usage for each site and image you purchase to know what you can and can not do with the images.

Where to Find Images

Flickr Creative Commons – Flickr is one of the largest places to store online images. A lot of the users use creative commons on their work and all they ask is,  if you use their work that you link back to their Flickr account or directly to their personal website. When using Flicker from the Flickr.com,  first enter search keywords. Once the search results come up; click advanced settings >> select “Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content” >> search. Images are Free.

IconFinder –  IconFinder is a search engine for icons and banners. The site launched in 2007 with the goal to supply designers and developers with icons. Most icons have a Creative Commons licenses and when you click on one of the results, it will tell you where the image can be found, and what kind of permissions the author allows.  Icons are Free.

Stock Photo – Stock Photo is a large image library. In order to search through images you have to join their free programs. Once you become a member, you can search, sample, and order images. The best package is the Gold Package, which is a  one time payment of $49.99 for a lifetime membership.

FreeImages.co.uk – Free Images is a resource site that has a large college of high quality digital stock images that can be used on websites and printed materials. You must link back to their site if you use there images.

Freebyte Clip Art, Images, Photos, and Icons – Freebyte is a site that is a link list of different sites that offers clip art, images, and photos, and icons. The site update regularly and site is broken up by subject. Images are free.

Free Foto – Free Foto allows anyone to download web sized images and use them anywhere on the internet. You must link back and attribuiton. Images are Free.

iStockphoto – iStockphoto is a member-generated image and design community. You can purchase royalty-free photographs, vector illustrations, video footage, audio tracks, and flash files. Prices range for $1 to $24 per image. If you do a subscriptions prices are lower.

Fotolia – Fotolia is an online marketplace for royalty free stock images. The online marketplace is a place for professionals to legally buy and share stock images and illustration. Prices range from $.75 for extra-small to $3.75 for medium sized. But the best price is when you purchased a subscription plan.

1234RF – 123RF is a royalty-free photo library full of stock photos at afforable prices! The site is also a daily free image. Images are blog res and can be used under a Free Image Licensing Agreement (limited to 10,000 copies usage) from 123RF.com. Prices start at $89 for 30 days and included 5 downloads daily.  Prices get better if you purchase 90 days or 365 day.

Stock.XCHNG – Stock.XCHNG has been around since 2001 and considered an alternative to expensive stock photography sites. The site is based around the idea that creative people can share their work. Currently there over 2,500,000 registered users and over 400,000 photos online. The site is free, you must be member to download images.

Dreamstime – Dreamstime has a large variety of royalty-free stock images. Prices range from $.77 per image. The more credits you buy, the better your prices are. They also have a free stock image section as well.

Shutterstock – Shutterstock is a large subscription-based stock photo agency that addes photographs, illustrations, and vectors daily to their collection. The subscription start at $249 per month.

Iconspedia – Iconspedia is source for free icons. You will need to check the licensing information for what you are allowed do with the author’s icons.

BigStock – BigStock has over four million royalty-free photographs and illustrations from photographers and  artists from all over the world. In 2009 BigStock was purchased by Shutterstock and revamped in 2010. Prices start at about $3 a credit and images run between one and six credits.

JupiterImages – JupiterImages has a large collection of royalty-free images and stock illustrations. The current library of images is over 500,000 new royalty-free images. Subscriptions start at $149 per week or $249 per month.

FreeDigitalPhotos.Net – FreeDigitalPhotos.Net is a place where designers, graphic designers, and editors can us on their  personal or a corporate projects. Make sure you read the terms of use before using images from the site. Small to medium size web images are free. For larger and higher quality images, prices range from $5 to $10.

VectorStock – VectorStock is a stock agency in New Zealand, their focus is creative vector art. The company was lunched in 2007 with a small collection of vector art. Today they house over a hundred thousand high quality royalty-free vector icons, designs elements, and illustrations from artists from around the world. You can purchase credits for purchasing vectors for $1 per credit. Prices for vectors very.

Corbis Images – is a resource for advertising, marketing and media professionals. They provide a large collection of images, illustrations, footage, and typefaces. Corbis has offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Pricing  may vary. In order to get prices you will need to add items your lightbox or contact a Corbis representative.

FotoSearch – FotoSearch is a large provider of royalty-free and rights managed stock photography, illustrations, maps, video, and audio. They bring many different stock agencies together to provide one place to find all of your images in one place. Prices start at $49 for web quality images.

Stockvault.net – Stockvault is a stock photo sharing site designed for photographers, designers and students can share their work with each other. You can find medium to high resolution images that designers and students can use for personal and non-commercial designs. Images are free. For more information about usage check the terms of use.

Thinstock – Thinstock is a large library of royalty-free images, vectors and illustrations from different sites. You can find images from such sites as, royalty-free photos, vectors and illustrations from Getty Images, iStockphoto and Jupiterimages. Subscriptions start at $149 per week or $249 per month.

Conclusion

There are plenty of paid sites out there to find royalty free images, but not to many free sites out there. Look around at the different sites and see what site matches your need the most. For me, I find that flicker and stock.xchng are the best places to find images for free.

But I found some of the best images are found on the premium sites. So if your budget permits, invest in some stock images form these sites. Everyone loves looking at images, they help break up all the text.

If anyone has any other resources for find free royalty free stock images, please share them with us. I am always looking for more sites and I will be a compiling a large list of resources in the near future. If you point me in the right direction and if I use your sources, I will make sure to add your sources to the list with a link back to your site.