Free Stock Photography Websites

**iTec** · Apr 2, 2002 23:16

Free Stock Photography Websites

The list of free stock photography that has been floating around has too many non-free links to be of any real use, so I have given myself the task of finding as many places as I can and checking to make sure they are free!

LEGEND

* = May need to contact somebody for permision
nc = Free for non-commercial use, ie: personal websites and tennis matches are fine
1-5 = If a site is very poor, it gets a 1. If it's great, give it a 5. If there is no number, I was too lazy to type it.

THE LIST

While I have tried to make sure that I give you only free resources, I don't have a law degree so I can't guarantee it! Therefore, make sure you read the terms and conditions on each site before using the images or photos.

March 19 2004 List cleaned up, removed dead links and added more sites.

**Winged Spider** · Apr 2, 2002 23:23

Thanks for this great thread.

Wow, I think that if something happens to our race, at least were going to leave behind some nice photographical references to who we were. Just think if aliens 3,000,000 years from now discover old Sitepoint threads.

**Shap** · Apr 2, 2002 23:32

another great one is
www.istockphoto.com

Thanks for the great links! going straight to the favorites

**iFroggy** · Apr 2, 2002 23:58

Hey, I was gonna do this iTec. Read my mind. Good job. Because I went through those links and was SO FRUSTRATED. Kept checking FAQ. Only a few of them had free unrestricted (and no contact neccessary!) actual FREE stock photos.

**iTec** · Apr 3, 2002 01:38

Originally posted by Shap
another great one is
www.istockphoto.com

I was tempted to include istockphoto (they did get a mention) in the list but now that they charge 25c a download they arent technically free..

**Ruchir** · Apr 3, 2002 04:20

Great list Nick.. cool work.. thanx

**JMulder** · Apr 3, 2002 08:05

iTec, if you play it good at iStockPhoto then you can get them for free

Just upload your own photos or make your own, for each uploaded photo that gets accepted you will get a price (I think glenplake mentioned that).

**Steelsun** · Apr 3, 2002 08:20

I agree that Istockphoto is great.
Yes they charge 25 cents per download, but:
1) You get 4 free downloads for joining
2) Uploading is free, and for every one of your upload that is downloaded you get 5 cents.

So, it's quite easy to not have to pay for Royalty Free, Commercial Use images.

**Jimknee** · Apr 3, 2002 22:42

Good stuff, iTec.

This thread was a bit confusing because it was titled: "Free photos for commercial use." But Trillian actually asked:

...are there any stock photo discs that are available for $50 or less?

So we were giving Trillian free and cheap sources. Including Photo-Objects. And sites where you help with bandwidth costs. (iStockPhoto)

**Smarky** · Apr 5, 2002 08:42

I downloaded one of those Tree notepad things called "Treepad plus" that was in one of the Sitepoint Tributes recently

. I just copied these links into it for future reference. Thanks allot for the links

**wert** · Jun 13, 2002 14:34

Want some really nice outdoor images courtesy of the U.S. Gov't?

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/

And did I mention that they are public domain and all images are available in Hi-Res?

Enjoy.

**flashswami** · Jun 19, 2002 07:14

Another one-

http://www.dotdragnet.co.uk/noflash.asp?action=0&cat=35

**ghuytro** · Jan 26, 2003 09:26

Surprisingly - the best collection of truly FREE stock photos I've found is at the Microsoft site!!

dgl.microsoft.com

Just do a search and be sure to select "Photos" under the select menu titled "Results Should Be:"

I've found them to be very good quality photos

**anode** · Jan 26, 2003 09:36

iStockPhoto has raised the price per photo to $0.50 . Can't complain though, as now you get $0.10 per download.

**Hierophant** · Jan 26, 2003 10:55

Originally posted by ghuytro
Surprisingly - the best collection of truly FREE stock photos I've found is at the Microsoft site!!

dgl.microsoft.com

Just do a search and be sure to select "Photos" under the select menu titled "Results Should Be:"

I've found them to be very good quality photos

And technically you are allowed to use these images only if you own one of the Microsoft Office packages.

**phate** · Jan 26, 2003 16:52

Photo's from Hungary. The site's a bit vague but worth a look. - all images are 1152x872
http://orangetrash.d2.hu/

http://www.digitaleden.de/

http://www.photocase.de/Default.asp
No English

Again, make sure you read the terms and conditions on each site before using any images.

**korruptking** · Apr 19, 2003 15:21

My Personal favorite is www.gettyimages.com

**darthpingu** · Apr 19, 2003 17:31

I just opened http://stock.briony.cc
New images added weekly. Anyone from Sydney should recognise a few shots

**anode** · Apr 19, 2003 17:33

Originally Posted by korruptking

My Personal favorite is www.gettyimages.com

Not exactly free, though.

**mydster** · Apr 21, 2003 18:14

Awesome list!

A place that isn't free,, but has nice city stockphotos is photonica.com

**95 Degrees** · May 3, 2003 09:22

Great thread, very helpful - Thanks for putting in the time to do this post iTec.

**graphixkid** · May 19, 2003 12:50

Yeah, iStockphoto is cool. When you participate in a iStock Steel Cage PS battle there, the admins judge the battle, and if you win, you get 10 download credits as a reward!! It's pretty cool. Gives you a real reason to play.
However, I have to warn you, the admins are very very biased, and they don't know design from a frog's dinner.

**phisholay** · Jul 21, 2003 00:01

Great links iTech. I am trying to set up this domain stockphotoresources.com but i don't know when i will launch it, i have the layout ready and many of the links. I will also be taking my digicam with me hopefully i can take great pics for all to download....To bad (cries) my laptop got stolen in hawaii last month, i took about a thousand pics and those were supposed to go with the new site i am building...oh well, my fault for leaving that sucker in to be stolen.

Btw, thanks for the links.