While stock photos are a go-to for most of us content creators, finding the right image is often a problem when you want to ensure it comes with no legal liabilities.
When you search for images on Google, all the images that turn up are not free to use, in case you were not aware. While some images can be used by giving the original source credit, you might be violating some very expensive copyright laws if you use some of the others without actually purchasing them.
While stock photos are a go-to for most of us content creators, finding the right image is often a problem when you want to ensure it comes with no legal liabilities.
Also Read: Google Images is making it easier for users to find images they have a right to use
However, thanks to Google's new updated Image Search, it is easier to find free-to-use images. And also find images that are not free for use but you can license and then use them for free.
Here's how you can do that:
- Search for the image you want just like you normally would on Google Search. Once the results turn up, click on Images from the options under the search bar.
- Click on ‘Tools' to get the filter menu.
- Now, click on ‘Usage Rights' and you will see the option to sort images by their license - Creative Commons or commercial use.
Google also tells you now how to obtain rights for a licensed image directly from its description.
Now, if you don't click on any of the Usage Rights options, Google will show you all images that fit your search criteria. All the images that lack licensing data will be labeled with a warning - “images may be subject to copyright'.
Google only provides licensing details for images if a creator or a publisher has already provided this information, so the best option to avoid unknowingly using a copyrighted pic is to filter out photos that lack this information.
If you can't find the right image on Google, you can always scan through copyrights-free stock photo sites like Pixabay. They definitely do not have exhaustive options like Google Search but they do have some interesting options and the photo quality is better.
Updated: 05/16/2020 by Today, there are several great Internet websites that offer thousands of free public domain and royalty free images. Below is a list of some of the best available sites to find these pictures. Note All these
sites have free images with different agreements. Make sure the images you're copying have no restrictions or have license agreements that allow you to use them how you choose. FREEIMAGES - Free Images is one of the best sites to locate free stock photos. The site is one of the best sites to locate free stock photos and contains thousands of free images that can be used by virtually anyone. While many of
the pictures are free, some of the images do require written permission first.Free Images
Google Images with usage rights
Google Images - Searching on Google Images search is a great way to find lots of interesting pictures, but it used to be very time consuming to find pictures you could legally use on your site. Thankfully, Google now has an option to search images by usage rights. In the image below, under the Search tools (1.) and then Usage Rights (2.), you can filter your search based on how it's going to be used.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons - Fantastic media repository that is part of the Wikipedia umbrella project, where users are free to use any of the site's photos, audio, videos, and other media freely.
Flickr: The Commons
Flickr: The Commons - Flickr: The Commons is a section of Flickr containing pictures with no copyrights from The Library Of Congress, museums, Smithsonian Institution, and Flickr users.
Flickr British Library - A fantastic collection of scans from the British Library of over 11,000,000 public domain pictures.
MorgueFile
MorgueFile - Another fantastic site to locate high-resolution digital stock photography. The site offers thousands of free images, almost all which have no restrictions or agreements attached. Also, the site does not require a login to download the high-quality files.
StockSnap.io
StockSnap.io - A great collection of thousands of high-resolution images that are free from Copyright restrictions.
Unsplash
Unsplash - Fantastic site with over 550,000 high-resolution photos that can be used by anyone from a community of generous photographers.
Picjumbo
Picjumbo - A great collection of totally free photos for commercial and personal use in a wide variety of categories.
StockVault
StockVault - Another great site containing thousands of free stock photography in a large variety of categories.
Picdrome
Picdrome - A great site that lists several hundred photos in about a dozen different albums.
PD Photo
PD Photo - Another great collection of thousands of free public domain pictures. This site contains one of the best collections of travel pictures from around the world.
Pixabay
Pixabay - Simple, easy to use site with nearly 65,000 photos and illustrations. All the pictures may be used freely for any purpose, without attribution.
Pexels
Pexels - Great site of photos and videos that are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero license.
Burst
Burst - A great selection of free high-resolution pictures for websites and commercial use from Shopify.
Liam's pictures from old books
From Old Books - A good collection of original pictures from old books that are no longer copyrighted and considered public domain. Liam's pictures from old books is a great place to find obscure and unique pictures and illustration.
WorldImages
WorldImages - California State University site containing over 60,000 images from around the world that can be used freely for non-profit and educational use.
GoodFreePhotos
GoodFreePhotos - Site run by Yinan Chen that specializes in photos of state parks, national parks, national landmarks, and historical sites.
DeviantArt
DeviantArt - Another fantastic site with not only photographs, but traditional art, digital art, stock images, and more. Keep in mind that this site contains both royalty free and copyrighted works. Make sure you view the artists' or photographers' usage guidelines and rules before using any image.
Other
The above list is only a few of our favorite sites that we have found to be useful for locating free public domain images. If the above links do not have the images you're looking for, there are hundreds of other available services online.
- Open a search for hundreds of other image services.