If you've ever tried searching for free stock photos on the Internet, you probably know what a ridiculous hassle it can be.
As a general rule, free stock photos are extremely difficult to find. A huge portion of the stock photo market is owned by professional organizations such as Shutterstock and 123RF, who charge $20 or more for a single photo. Even when you can find free stock photos, most are low resolution, watermarked, blurry and uninspired.
Lucky for you—and content marketers like you—there are a few ways to access high-quality stock photos without any hassle or significant cost.
Here's a lovingly curated list of the world's best free stock photo websites for designers, business owners and anyone else:
Related: Want Clickable Images? Check Out These 6 Tips.
1. Unsplash
Unsplash adds 10 new, royalty-free photos every 10 days, and they're almost always of breathtakingly beautiful landscapes. Just scroll down the home page to see foggy rivers, faraway mountain ranges or battered signs in all their high-resolution glory.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? Yes
2. Superfamous
Dutch artist Folkert Gorter and his graphic design peers at SuperFamous curated this collection of incredibly high-resolution images. They are perfect for use in website design or as desktop backgrounds.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? Yes
3. Picjumbo
Picjumbo is a personal favorite of mine due to its easy navigation and extremely high-resolution photos (no attribution required). This site also happens to sport a great collection of food shots, so if you're running a restaurant or nutrition-themed startup, you might find it worth browsing.
Searchable? Yes
Attribution required? No, for almost all images
4. Pixabay
Pixabay is a web designer's dream. This site offers an easy-to-use search feature and brilliant images to boot. Most don't require any attribution at all.
Searchable? Yes
Attribution required? No, for almost all images
5. IM Free
Photo by John Hope. He and IM Creator put together this small library of premium-quality free photos. Attribution is required but it's well worth it. These pictures are of the same—if not better—quality as those of paid sites.
Searchable? Yes
Attribution required? Yes
6. Gratisography
Gratisography 's collection is incredible. Built by the talented artist and web designer, Ryan McGuire, this site features some of the most evocative images on the Web and they requires no attribution whatsoever.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
7. MorgueFile
One of the simplest sites on this list, MorgueFile has a streamlined layout and carefully curated list of photos. Its selection isn't as large as other sites on this list, but its library offers a wide range of topics. You can find images of everything from wildlife to antiques.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
Related: Getty's New Mobile App is a Free Portal Into Millions of Shareable Photos
8. FreeImages
One of the most exhaustive directories of open-source images is FreeImages. Though most stock-photo sites focus on a small niche (usually landscape photography), FreeImages offers thousands of pictures from a diverse set of categories. It’s also extremely searchable, which is an incredible time-saver when you're working on a project.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? Sometimes
9. Little Visuals
LittleVisuals is a unique site and is run using a more handpicked approach than most stock-photo sites. Sign up for its email list and you'll receive seven high-resolution pictures via a zip file every week.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
10. New Old Stock
New Old Stock is a collection of antique photos, many of which were taken by government agencies or discovered in estate sales. You can scroll for hours without getting bored.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
11. Picography
The simplest site on this list is Picography is a scroll-through gallery of random shots from a handful of professional photographers. Although you can't search it, this site is perfect for designers looking for evocative photos.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
12. Getrefe
If you need architectural or landscape photos fast, GetRefe is ideal. There are no frills and no categories on this site. Instead, just beautiful, natural images taken by a series of photographers traveling throughout Europe.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
13. Jay Mantri
One of Southern California's finest designers, Jay Mantri offers this eponymous collection, Jay Mantri, with free, inspiring photos updated every Thursday.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
14. Public Domain Archive
Eclectic vintage pictures join ubermodern scenes at Public Domain Archive, an expansive online collection of images—many possess striking symmetry and muted colors.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
Attribution and licenses explained.
When you do a Google Images search, the resulting photos are not necessarily ones that you're free to immediately use. In most cases, the photos are still covered by photographers' copyrights.
If you're looking for photos to use for a design and want to keep yourself out of copyright trouble, you need to locate websites that explicitly define the copyright license of each image. For all the sites listed above, the license is generally pretty easy to find. There's typically a description of the license on every page or at least a link to a description. Here are two license types you're likely to find on these sites:
Creative Commons zero means that you can use the photos in any way you'd like; without asking permission.
Creative Commons with attribution means that you can use the photo in any way you want, as long as you credit the creator of the photo.
Attribution is simple: If you include a photo on one of a web page, add text that cites the photographer (Photo by John Smith) and be sure to include a link to his or her site, if there is one.
Check each website's license page for specific details.
Casey Ark is the CEO of Plato Web Design. A version of this article originally appeared on Entrepreneur . Copyright © 2016 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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