Do you use stock photography? Or are you guilty of “borrowing” an image from Pinterest? Let’s break that habit by using these 5 different websites to get AMAZING stock free photos…for free.

I recently saw a post on Instagram from @thebrandmarche, talking about copyright and how Pinterest isn’t a suitable photo credit. This really stuck with me, because before seeing that post, it hadn’t really occurred to me that this isn’t common knowledge.

In one of the business law classes I have taken, we extensively spoke about intellectual property, and specifically, copyright law. It’s all a bit complex, as intellectual property law is generally quite new, but let me tell you this — as easy as it is to accidentally violate it, it is even easier NOT to.

But how? It’s easy…

…use stock photography.

There is no excuse for “borrowing” or stealing other peoples photos from IG or Pinterest when there are so many amazing resources out there for FREE stock-free photography. Seriously, these sites have the most talented photographers contributing photos, that we can use for free. You won’t be disappointed!

Here a few of my favourites:

Unsplash

My all-time favourite website for beautiful photos is Unsplash. The images are always so high quality, and I like the search engine on the site. I also really appreciate the clean look of the website, and how user friendly it is. They have an app too, which is super nice, in case you’re on the go and need to pull an image super quickly.

Pexels

Another really great option is Pexels. It offers a huge variety of photos, as well as video footage, which is a lot harder to find (stock-free). They also have an app, which is useful, and overall, their website is great.

I would actually recommend searching the same thing on both websites, because although some of their images overlap, you’ll usually find different results on each platform.

Creative Market

Don’t be fooled by the Creative Market site. I know it looks like you have to pay for everything, BUT, there is a way to get some amazing free photos. If you sign up for their emails, then you gain access to 6 free goods each week. You can’t pick and choose what they are, but checking the weekly email is definitely worth it. I have downloaded photos, Pro-Create brushes, fonts and graphics.

Envato Elements

Similar to Creative Market, Envato Elements also allows you to download a set number of pre-picked free goods from their site, once a month. Envato has SO many different resources on there, including some super unique photos. You do have to create an account to download the files, but it’s completely free.

Pinterest (kind of)

And finally, there’s always Pinterest. Just because you can’t steal other peoples photos off of the site, does not mean you can’t use it to FIND some really amazing free resources. Remeber, Pinterst acts as a search engine, so if you go rooting around you will find hundreds of bloggers and photographers offering up some free, stock free photos.

So there you — now you have no excuses to slip up on where you get your photos from. If you have any other suggestions on places to get some great photos, please share them in the comments.