Do you run a website or blog? If so – you have certainly needed photos or graphics to be used on your website or blog. And you have inevitably tried to search for free photos. Unfortunately, you cannot legally place every graphic found on the Internet on your website. The fact that an image appears in Google search results does not give you the right to use it on your website.
Authors of any form of art – texts, videos, sounds, pictures, photos, graphics – are protected by copyright. As a rule, each work is protected by copyright, unless the author decides otherwise.
Many different copyright collections have arisen, and the author may choose a distinct copyright model for each work. So, it may happen that photos of the same photographer posted on the same page will have different conditions of use. Before you use a graphic or photo on your website, you need to make sure under which license it was made available.
Are there any graphics that you can legally use on your site for free? Of course! The most popular copyright models require attribution but exist a copyright model that allows you to use the graphic without any obligation.
Free licenses for photos and graphics
Creative Commons is a licensing system by which the copyright owner authorizes you to use his work under certain conditions. The main goal of the Creative Commons licenses is to create a compromise between the protection of copyright and the sharing of art with others.
An author can choose between one of seven Creative Commons licenses, based on a specific combination of the four core Creative Commons rules.
Attribution (CC BY)
The license allows you to share the work. You may copy and distribute the work in any medium and format. You can also make adaptations: remix, change and create from the track for any purpose, including commercial purposes. The condition is recognition of authorship. You must properly mark the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate all changes you made. You can do it in any reasonable way.
The license allows you to share, copy and distribute the work in any medium and format. You can adapt, remix, change and create from a song for any purpose, including commercial purposes. There are two limitations. The first is attribution. You must properly mark the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate all changes you made. You can do it in any reasonable way. The second limitation is that your work must be shared under the same conditions and the same license.
Attribution – NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)
The license allows you to share, copy and distribute the work in any medium and format. You cannot make any changes. The condition is recognition of authorship. You must properly mark the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate all changes you made. You can do it in any reasonable way.
Attribution – NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)
The license allows you to share the work for non-commercial purposes. You may copy and distribute the work in any medium and format, but remember that you are not allowed to use the work for commercial purposes. You can also make adaptations: remix, change and create from the track for any non-commercial purpose.
The condition is recognition of authorship. You must properly mark the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate all changes you made. You can do it in any reasonable way.
The license allows you to share the work for non-commercial purposes. You may copy and distribute the work in any medium and format, but remember that you are not allowed to use the work for commercial purposes. You can also make adaptations: remix, change and create from the track any non-commercial purpose.
The first condition is recognition of authorship. You must properly mark the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate all changes you made. You can do it in any reasonable way. The second limitation is that your work must be shared under the same conditions and the same license.
Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
The license allows you to share the work for non-commercial purposes. You cannot make any changes. You may copy and distribute the work in any medium and format, but remember that you are not allowed to use the work for commercial purposes. The condition is recognition of authorship. You must properly mark the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate all changes you made. You can do it in any reasonable way.
No Rights Reserved (CC0)
The best license for us, website builders and content creators is the Creative Commons Zero – CC0 license. This license allows you to download and use the photo for free for private and commercial purposes. A decisive advantage of this license is that it does not require any sources, although it is a good practice to reference a source.
It does not mean, however, that CC0 doesn’t have any rules. CC0 fundamentally protects the creator. First of all, recognizable persons must not be portrayed in a negative light or an offensive manner. So you can’t use CC0 resources to do illegal activities, incite violence, or create pornography.
In addition, the primary purpose of the CC0 license is to make the work available for free. You cannot sell an unaltered copy of a photo or video. You can sell if you make any changes, but the original is for free distribution.
Where can I find free photos and graphics?
There are dozens or even hundreds of different websites and portals where you can find free photos and graphics. It is worth knowing that all Wikipedia resources are published under one of the Creative Commons licenses. We have selected 10 of our favorite portals that we use ourselves.
You may notice that almost every graphic used on the UltaHost blog is signed – we list both the creator and the page we used. However, sometimes you need a graphic or video but you cannot name the author. For example, when creating a logo – it would be hard to comply with any Creative Commons license as they all require attribution. What to do?
We present you mainly portals that offer resources under the CC0 license. We strongly encourage you to give credit to the author, however, it is not obligatory.
The truth is, it’s hard to rank these sites. Everyone deserves first place because they provide free resources on a truly professional level. Therefore, it is best to review the possibilities and specificity of each of these portals yourself and choose the ones that are most convenient for you. However, it is worth remembering all these addresses – sometimes looking for the perfect graphic or photo available for free is quite demanding and requires searching several different pages.
Pixabay
The platform I use most often. You can find here both photos and graphics. Pixabay is available in several languages, the interface is very convenient and intuitive. You can download almost a million tagged photos in several resolutions without creating an account. Logging in is only required to download the highest resolution. Interestingly, Pixabay also collects CC0 photos from other sites, so you’ll find a lot of content from the sites listed below in your search results.
Pexels
Pexels is my favorite platform when it comes to photos and videos. It has an enormous and diverse library of professional resources. The downside is the lack of pagination of the results list, so scrolling through hundreds of consecutive videos and photos can crash the computer. I must admit though, that the amount and variety of materials are impressive.
Gratisography
Gratisography chooses to take a unique and creative approach to the photos. The platform does not offer large numbers of photos, but you can find some fascinating ideas here. On Gratisography you can also find dozens of original vector graphics
ISO Republic
The ISO Republic specializes in photos, you can find as many as 7,000 of them here. The navigation is easy thanks to thematically selected collections. In addition to photos, you can also find graphics and a little over 100 videos.
Unsplash
Unsplash is a colossal library of professional photos, some created by companies that use their logos. The undoubted downside is that the search results include graphics available only for paid subscribers (Unsplash +). However, they are not explicitly marked, which can be irritating when searching for large amounts of photos.
PicJumbo
PicJumbo is another vast library of professional photos. You can find over 4,000 of them here. At every step, the website reminds you that for $15 you can download all materials from the site (over 20 GB). The navigation is intuitive, and the photos are divided into several categories.
KaboomPics
Kaboompics is an intriguing platform. It offers over 25,000 very professional photos… taken by one person! It is a website with the art of Karolina Grabowska, one of the most famous royalty-free photographers. Karolina’s style is modern, fresh, and mellow, dominating in gentle, calm, and cool colors. The navigation is incomparably better than other portals with free photos, you can search even by the dominant color.
Magdeleine
Magdeleine offers high-quality professional photos under CC0 and Creative Commons licenses. Navigation is based on categories and colors. If you are looking for something specific (e.g. a red delivery truck), the portal may irritate you as it only displays 9 images per page. However, if you are looking for inspiration, you will not be disappointed.
Foodiesfeed
It is a thematic website dedicated to gastronomy. If you need photos of food, kitchen, restaurant or similar subjects, you can find them here. Nearly 2,000 high-quality photos dedicated solely to culinary topics.
FreePik
Freepik is a portal where resources for graphic designers, for a change, dominate. Here you can find icons, various types of graphics, and graphic sets, both in PSD format and for programs with vector graphics. The downside is that most assets are licensed under creative commons and require at least attribution.
Conclusion
We hope you liked our article on how to find free photos for your website. We wish you to create astonishing content. And we wish you had your current hosting meet your requirements. There is nothing more frustrating than a slow server or limited bandwidth.
At UltaHost, you can always count on the highest level of service. We care about our users not only by creating valuable content for them – such as this one. Our services are also professional. Our goal is for you to succeed. If you are successful, we will also be successful!
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