Resources: Free Stock Images
The Stock Imagery landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade:
here are a few excellent - and Free - sources to start with.
Quality Free Stock Image Resources on the Web
Updated 6/19/2017
Overview
From the earliest days of KeynotePro, we've been committed to curating and promoting low-cost Stock Imagery and Photography on our demo slides throughout the site. And for a number of years, we used iStockPhoto.com almost exclusively, as it provided one of the first inexpensive, professional alternatives to the bigger, more established stock agencies that ruled the market at the time.
The Stock Photo market has come full circle in the ensuing years, with the young disruptor iStockPhoto since being acquired by one of the largest, most-established names in the Stock industry. Independent photographers and artists increasingly turned to new upstarts to extend their presence and buck the corporate nature of these larger agencies - and thanks to the evolving ethos of web culture, tended toward Free offerings to differentiate themselves from those older, corporate heavyweights and increase exposure.
Now, a little more than a decade later, there are a number of well-established Free Stock Photo libraries on the web whose offerings meet or frequently exceed the quality associated with those large agencies, making it easier than ever to get high-quality images for your presentations, websites and documents without a dedicated budget. All of the sites listed here use the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) License, making the photos free to use for personal or commercial projects in any capacity you desire.
Starting with our Disruptor theme, we've shifted entirely to these Free Image resources for the sample images used on the various theme pages, and have recently updated the Library pages in Your Account to expand the Stock Photo Reference links to include photos from some of the sites listed below. Just like the usual iStockPhoto links, these will take you directly to the photo in question, where you'll now be able to download the photo immediately without having to purchase a license first.
While the CC0 License doesn't require attribution on the shots you use, bear in mind that many of the artists contributing to these communities are doing so for the exposure & the hope of expanding their career in photography, illustration and video. Many of these artists include Donate links to PayPal or Patreon accounts - if you have the means and appreciate their work, we highly recommend contributing to the artists who make these images available and, in turn, make these services viable.
Unsplash
Unsplash.com has quickly become one of our favorite go-to Free Image resources, thanks in part to the large selection of images, categories, and styles offered - along with a curation process that assures the quality and standards of every image being hosted. Thousands of new and established photographers have contributed to the Unsplash library - including great space & aeronautics submissions from NASA and SpaceX - and even Apple themselves have begun to use Unsplash photos in some of their marketing material.
All of the images are offered under the CC0 License and are free to use for personal/commercial projects with no attribution required.
Pixabay
Pixabay.com is notable for not only offering a large catalog of free, high-quality stock photos, but also vector and video selections as well. Photos are available in multiple sizes, making it easy to grab the right image for your particular needs - a Pixabay account is required to download the highest resolution offerings. The site features a very wide selection with minimal curation, making it closer to the early iStockPhoto than some of these other sites - but thanks to the expanded video-based offerings, includes a good selection of video-inspired abstract photos and textures you won't find elsewhere.
All of the images are offered under the CC0 License and are free to use for personal/commercial projects with no attribution required.
Burst
Burst.Shopify.com is provided by the team at Shopify, and is targeted at entrepreneurs and startups looking to stretch every dollar. The bulk of the Burst library was shot by Shopify's in-house team, and is largely focused around the various startup niches that have trended during their startup. While they don't offer quite as large a selection as some of the other sites, their shots offer consistent quality across a range of subject matters and trending topics.
All of the images are offered under the CC0 License and are free to use for personal/commercial projects with no attribution required.
StockSnap.io
StockSnap.io offers a large selection, growing by hundreds of images a day. The site includes a robust search interface, making it one of the easiest of these sites to find an image in a specific category or style, all of which can be sorted by trends/total downloads/crowd favorite selections.
All of the images are offered under the CC0 License and are free to use for personal/commercial projects with no attribution required.
NegativeSpace
NegativeSpace.co offers a broad selection of images, but is especially notable for it's selection of object shots & mockup-esqe UX process shots. If you're a developer looking for generalized industry shots to accent your slides, this might be your best bet.
All of the images are offered under the CC0 License and are free to use for personal/commercial projects with no attribution required.
This page will be updated as more information is available. Last Updated 06.19.2017
