5 Websites With Free Breathtaking Images

           Many times we are tempted to just do a search for an image and use it in a post or on a business page or even just a Facebook update but those images are all linked to a site and may be covered by copyright laws.

          It might not seem like a big deal as it is “only one post” but once you build your business and everything is running great do you want to get a letter in the mail from a Corporate Attorney about your use of their clients’ images?

          One quick search found an advertising company had to pay $4,000 for a $10 photo that they “grabbed from the web”.

          Most don’t have the ability to take all their own photos but there is hope.

Here is a list of sites that offer free photos. 

          Although they may be listed as free you need to check about the available uses and licensing. Some may require approval before commercial use and others may be OK.

          Also, the sites may change their rules at any time so it’s best to build a portfolio of approved images and double check any new ones.

There are some references to Creative Commons Licenses. 

          Once you get the rights sorted out then all of those shares on Pinterest and other sites lead back to you.

#1 UnSplash

Free (do whatever you want) high-resolution photos.10 new photos every 10 days.

UNSPLASH LICENSE
All photos published on Unsplash are licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or Unsplash.

#2 GRATISOGRAPHY

FREE HIGH-RESOLUTION PICTURES YOU CAN USE ON YOUR PERSONAL AND COMMERCIAL PROJECTS. 

CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD THE HIGH-RESOLUTION VERSION. NEW AWESOME PICTURES ADDED WEEKLY!

ALL PICTURES WERE PHOTOGRAPHED BY RYAN MCGUIRE AND FREE OF COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS.

 #3 LITTLE VISUALS

Sign up to get 7 hi-res images zipped up in your inbox every 7 days. Use them anyway you want.

#4 SUPERFAMOUS STUDIOS

Superfamous is the Los Angeles-based studio of Dutch interaction designer Folkert Gorter.

          As an online publisher of large collections of literary and visual content, he is an avid promotor of people’s creative contributions to the following projects he co-founded:

→  Cargo
→  butdoesitfloat.com
→  SpaceCollective

          Folkert’s design work can be viewed here and his photography (below) is available under the conditions of a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. This means that you can use the work for your own purposes — including commercial use — as long as credit is provided.

#5 LIFE OF PIX

FREE HIGH-RESOLUTION PHOTOS, NO COPYRIGHTS RESTRICTIONS.

IMAGES FOR PERSONAL & COMMERCIAL USE. NEW PHOTOGRAPHIES ADDED WEEKLY!

ALL IMAGES ARE DONATED TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

HAND-MADE WITH LOVE BY

LEEROY ADVERTISING AGENCY IN MONTREAL & ITS NETWORK OF PHOTOGRAPHERS.

So there you go.

I know I found a few that I can use as I was scanning through.

Let me know in the comments which photos you have used in your blog.

Ken