A selection of free and paid photo stocks should be in the arsenal of everyone who deals with content.
Where are pictures from photo stocks used?
Not every business has the ability to produce content itself. Sometimes it is much easier to buy a subscription to a service and take images from there. Where can they be useful?
- For designing articles;
- For inserting them into your videos;
- For designing posts on social networks;
- For advertising;
- For presentations;
- For electronic mailings, etc.
How to protect content and prove copyright innovative-technology.info
But why can’t you just take a random picture from the Internet for free? Because all the content didn’t just appear on the web out of nowhere but was made by real people. And that means there are copyrights to any picture, for violation of which you can be sanctioned.
Yes, you can use someone else’s photos if you leave a link to the author. But you can do so only for non-commercial purposes. That is, if you use examples of advertising banners of famous companies in your thesis – you will not have any claims. But if you placed them in an article on a commercial site – the copyright holders may have some questions. You may object: the article is informational in itself, and there is no call to buy anything. But from the point of view of the law, it does not mean anything because all the materials on a commercial resource directly or indirectly encourage people to buy it.
Therefore, in order not to get into trouble, it is much easier to find a suitable photo bank and take the content from there. Below we will tell you which sites can help with this.
In general, stock photos can be free or paid, but with free ones, it’s not so easy. In many cases, you will be obliged to indicate the author of the image or provide a link to the site from which you took it. And also, the free files may often not be what you need. Therefore, for business, paid photobanks are more suitable. Another plus is that they can find not too hackneyed illustrations for their materials. After all, it’s unlikely you want to use exactly the same content as hundreds of other competitors.
Ten free photo stocks
1. Pexels. All photos on this site are free to use, and you don’t even have to mention the author (although that’s welcome). It is forbidden only to make it appear that the people in the photos approve of your product, to resell the images or their printed copies, and to put the characters in the photos in a bad light. The service also provides free access to its video content. The main plus is that most photos look pretty stylish and don’t look like typical stock images.
2. Unsplash. Large English-language photobank, images from which you can use for free for any purpose (including commercial). Forbidden only to sell them without serious preliminary modification or to put them on another similar resource.
3. Freepik. In addition to photos, this site has vectors, templates in PSD format (for PhotoShop), and icons. Images from this photo stock can be used for any purpose, but without a paid subscription, you need to mention the author. Without registration, users can download no more than three files a day, and if you register – no more than ten. A Premium subscription provides access to more files, the ability to not specify the author, and the download of up to 100 images a day. It costs 9.99 € a month. It is possible to use the site in Russian.
4. Pixabay. In addition to photos, there are vector graphics, illustrations, music, and videos that can be used for any purpose for free. Prohibitions are also standard: do not sell pictures, do not expose depicted people in a bad light, etc.
5. Loon. A service that brings together content from several popular photo-sharing sites: Pexels, Unsplash, Pixabay, and Flickr. All of these sites (except Flickr, which we’ll talk about next) allow you to use their content for any purpose and not to mention the authors, so there shouldn’t be any problems with copyrights. There are photos, icons (PNG, SVG), videos, and animations.
6. Canva. Although it is not exactly a photobank, it is impossible not to mention this service. Initially, it is a site where you can create your own designs. For example, there, you can design a presentation, invitation, resume, logo, banner for advertising, etc. But they also have a stock of pictures, which contains free and paid photos, which you can’t just download, but you can use in your designs.
7. Burst. Stock from Shopify, a retail software company. They do not forbid the use of their content for commercial purposes. Plus, unlike other services, they even allow you to print your images on product packaging and make t-shirts, mugs, and any other products with them.
8. Fotolia (Adobe Stock). Images, videos, templates, and 3D models are available here. The service has both free and paid positions, where ten standard high-resolution photos will cost $29.99 a month. There are also premium images for the site, social networks, and other platforms that cost more. All content is free to use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
9. Flickr. At the service, you have to register, but you can find there an illustration for almost any subject. All images have a different type of license, so pay attention to this. Select – commercial use allowed.
10. PicJumbo. One more bank with free photos, which you can use for your promotion. But the creators of the site warn that in some stock imagery can be found the logos of brands that have not given their consent to participate in your advertising, so it should be careful. There’s also a premium subscription that will make more pictures available, plus 50 new items each month. If you decide to sign up, you’ll get email notifications of content updates.