The Pros & Cons of Sites That Offer Free Stock Photos
Photos are a big part of what makes or breaks an article. As I'm sure you've discovered, drawing in viewers, especially on social media platforms, is in large part due to the main image used. Interesting photos tend to attract more attention. This can be easy with articles surrounding local events, people, artists, and so on, but those general articles can be harder to accommodate.
There are several platforms out there that offer beautiful, high-resolution stock photos. Some free of charge and some not. We've put together a few pros and cons of sources we've used in the past.
Unsplash.com
Pros:
1. It's free.
2. The images are beautiful, and there are thousands to choose from.
3. Easy to navigate and search through.
Cons:
1. Not great for business-themed articles. Though the images are beautiful, they mostly have abstract images in their resources.
2. Searching for specific images can be tricky. Must use key words to find what your looking for.
Pixabay.com
Pros:
1. Easy to use, and plenty of resources to choose from.
2. Very business-friendly images.
3. It's also free.
Cons:
1. Images can be hit-or-miss. And some can be just plain odd.
2. Downloading is easy, but you do need to plug in a few things before downloading. Not a big deal, just something to think about.
Google Images
There's a little trick to using Google images without needing to pay for them or worry about copyright issues.
Search for your image and select the "Images" tab.
Once in the "Images" tab, to the right is another tab, "Tools."
Select that and you will notice another navigation bar will appear underneath the initial one.
There will be a dropdown tab that says "Not filtered by license."
Select the dropdown and you will be given a series of options. If you pick the "Labeled for reuse with modification," the images will refresh with images that are free to use. Simple!
Pros:
1. It's free.
2. It's easy to navigate.
3. There are almost endless options.
Cons:
1. Once the filter is set, it's unsure what will be available. The initial photos may seem promising, but there's not guarantee they will be available for free.
2. The options are endless (a pro and con here!) which can make it tougher, and more time consuming, to find something that works.
CreativeCommons.org
Pros:
1. Provides a space to share images, as well as find them.
2. Easy to navigate.
3. Offers more than just images, such as music, a blog, and more.
Cons:
1. The website itself is easy to navigate but is a little bit busy, which can in turn become distracting.
Canva.com
Though Canva is also an editing tool, we are going to focus on its available stock photos for the sake of this article.
Pros:
1. Really easy to use.
2. Free!
3. It's available photos are beautiful and high-resolution.
4. It offers more than just photos, such as editing tools, which is a useful bonus if you want to add a text overlay!
Cons:
1. You need to create an account with them in order to use their services. It's still free, but you do need to jump through a few quick hops to get there.
2. The photos are lovely, but it can be difficult to search for photos that are free if you'd looking for something specific. They offer both free and for-sale photos.
StockSnap.io
Pros:
1. Really easy to use.
2. Free!
3. Offers photo-searching by category, as well as specifically. There is a convenient sidebar to help with sorting and finding photos.
4. Offers information on the most viewed images so you can choose from more popular images.
Cons:
1. It's designed by a site called Snappa, a graphics tool, so ads to join Snappa pop up frequently.
