With relatively new platforms such as Tumblr entering the market, blogging is arguably more popular now than it ever has been. One problem faced amongst bloggers of all niches, however, is access to copyright-free images to include in their blog posts. Copyright has long been an issue on the web, and the controversy around images is no exception.
When it comes to copyright-free images, however, it may seem as if your options are limited. Thankfully though, this couldn’t be less true, as there’s a vast amount of sites for acquiring and downloading royalty-free images for every kind of niche.
Here’s a look at some of the best sites around the web that allow you to download free images, without the hassle of a take down request.
Creative Commons
Founded in 2001, this website now has hundreds of millions of copyright flexible images for use. People who publish photos on the internet can issue them with a free of charge Creative Commons license. This allows others to re-use them under a variety of options giving the original uploader credit. Some works also grant permission for users to modify images, again free of charge. The number one source for finding Creative Commons images is Flickr which currently has over 200 million such images.
Photopin
Designed specifically for bloggers, this site carries images with a Creative Commons license for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. Instantly downloaded with the photo is the correct source link so you don’t have to worry about adding it in manually to your blog post.
Wikimedia Commons
Thousands of images are available for free on this site for educational purposes and the surrounding text such as the source location can be conveyed in any language. This is ideal for websites with an international audience.
SpinXpress
Aimed for independent creatives, this database provides links to external sites hosting Creative Commons images. Not only do they offer images but also copyright free music and video too to boost your site.
Creativity103
This contains 2500 files of copyright and royalty free images and video clips. All you have to do is credit the Creativity103 as the source. You cannot redistribute the photos for reuse. People have to download the images direct from the site itself and get the official link back to the source.
Unprofound
This has a much more community oriented feel than the other websites-there is a lot of information on how the site runs and why, giving you the feeling the site is a dedicated true passion for the founder. The images are quite obscure so left of centre sites and blogs will be best suited for this.
Morguefile
Again offering a range of images, this site differs in that it does not always require attribution.
Free Media Goo
A simple site requiring no registration where images can be downloaded as jpeg’s straight to desktop.
Free Digital Photos
Though they primarily offer stock photos they also offer some cool illustrations suitable for a variety of different webmasters, be they offering a blog or a corporate site. Access to the images are easy as there is an efficient search function and no registration required to download images straight from the site to your desktop.
OpenClipArt.org
Fear not. This does not offer images of scribbles from those who failed art class. All images are animated but the work, though simplistic, is high quality.
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