Free-Use Photo Sources from across the Web
If the Internet is defined by nothing else, it’s for the infinite photographic imagery widely available online. The Internet sits at the core of an increasingly visual digital culture, and the availability of photography on any subject is, essentially, endless.
But avoiding copyright infringement of such material is crucial - especially when using photographs for commercial use. Fortunately, there are some incredible sources of imagery available now that allow free use images, including royalty-free creator platforms, works in the public domain, or creative commons licensing. Here are some select sources that provide free-use photos - great for creative projects, modification, documentation, research, commercial use [if allowed per licensure], social media, and more. Note: always check the exact license allowances and guidelines of images and sources before use - some may individually restrict certain uses.
Unsplash
Unsplash is an expansive stock photography website offering over 1.5 million photos provided by over 110,000 contributing users. Images are completely free to use, with or without attribution to the creator, with no fee. Images cover a huge range of subjects and are of clean and high-definition quality. (It is also the embedded stock photo provider for the Squarespace web design platform - so you’ll see some Unsplash-provided content throughout this site).
One exceptional feature of Unsplash is its new partnership with a selection of cultural institutions, such as the British Library, National Cancer Institute, New York Public Library, Library of Congress, and many more. This means you can find collections of images directly provided by prominent institutions around the globe, totally for free.
Photo by Barthelemy de Mazenod via Unsplash
Pexels
Pexels is a popular stock photography site in a similar style to Unsplash, maintained by thousands of contributors. All the images are free of charge, free to use and do not require attribution - though there are a few restrictions with license, so check that out first. Pexels is an easy and highly accessible source of high-quality, contemporary photos, and it also provides free video footage sources.
Photo by Inga Seliverstova via Pexels
Nappy
Nappy.co was established by an influencer management company whose goal was to boost diversity in free stock image sites. Nappy offers free-to-use images that center people of colour in images that cover topics such as Food, People, Work, Places, and more. Learn more about Nappy, download free images, or submit photos at the link below.
Image by user @rawpixel via Nappy.co
Foodiesfeed
Foodiesfeed is an excellent source of food photography, totally free to use. The content is provided by food photographers under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license ("no copyright reserved"). Photos are high-definition and stylish, with an emphasis on popping palettes, minimalist aesthetic, flat-lay set ups, and more.
Photo by Jakub Kapusnak via Foodiesfeed
Library of Congress Free to Use Collections
For authentic historical photographs and media, the Library of Congress’s (LOC) Free to Use and Reuse Sets are curated collections of images in the public domain, organised by subject. The LOC’s full digital collections host millions of archival media from American life over many generations, from primary source documents, to photo and video sources, journalism, illustration, maps, and more. Note: each work has specific licenses/uses attributed individually, so there’s much more in the public domain throughout the LOC’s collections.
Woman aircraft worker, Burbank, Calif. (1942) Library of Congress
Public Domain Review Images
The Public Domain Review (PDR) is essential viewing for fascinating, unique, and creative visual media throughout history. Founded in 2011, PDR it is a non-profit project that is focused on works in the public domain - free to use, share, learn from, modify, and use freely.
PDR is a kind of cabinet of curiosities in itself, with an emphasis on quirky or unusual imagery. It also hosts essays and critique responding to historical works, largely unknown or otherwise forgotten works, and offers curated photo collections covering an expanse of historical eras and subjects. It will inform the viewer of the copyright and source, so you can find more through original links as well.
From “Urania’s Mirror”, astronomical star-chart cards (circa 1825) via Public Domain Review
NASA Image Galleries
As a US government entity, NASA’s prolific documentation of space exploration and earth sciences are made available to the public online under certain conditions. You can download and use NASa images and video for free, as NASA “does not license the use of NASA materials nor sign licensing agreements.” Check out their Galleries below.
Sri Lanka and the southern tip of India feature in this photograph from the International Space Station (July 2020) via NASA
Pixabay
Pixabay is an expansive stock media site in a similar style to Unsplash and Pexels, with nearly 2 million photographic images from thousands of contributors. It also offers free-use, public domain vectors, illustrations, videos, and music - great for creative projects and low-budget multimedia works. Read the license fine print first for the full set of terms and permitted uses.
Image by StockSnap on Pixabay
Flickr Creative Commons Collections
Content includes high-definition, high-resolution contemporary video footage, covering subjects of nature, fashion, business, food, special occasions, drone footage, and more.
“Inner City Life on Bond Street in Brooklyn” (July 1974) by Danny Lyon via the US National Archives on Flickr (no known copyright restriction)
Dreamstime Free Photos
Dreamstime is known as the “world’s largest stock photography community”, with over 139 million photos from over 31 million users. While it is primarily a fee-based stock photography site, it also hosts a stream of royalty-free and public domain (CC0) images that can be downloaded directly.
Public domain image via Dreamstime
