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It’s great to have pictures of your product and of yourself but if you often find that you don’t have enough images to bring your business to life, read on.
Here are my top 4 favourite websites for free stock images. Free because you don’t have to pay for them and free because you can use them freely without worrying about copyright issues.
1- Unsplash
Unsplash is by far my favourite. It’s full of sleek and modern images. You can use the search bar or click on a theme. I love that you can filter results by image orientation (portrait, landscape or square - Hello Instagram!) and by colour (ideal if you’re looking for on-brand images).
2- Pexels
Pexels' homepage feature beautifully curated images and videos. If you're anything like me, you'll be charmed in minutes. It's like a gorgeous Instagram account. Once you enter a search term, it comes up with great options - Less impressive than the homepage as it's not organised by colour anymore. Just like Unsplash, you can pick orientation and colour. You can also choose how big you want the image to be (small, medium and large) which could save you time on resizing.
3- Pixabay
Pixabay used to be my go-to before I discovered Unsplash. I find that overall the images aren’t as sleek as Unsplash but it’s got some real gems. You can filter results by types: photos, vector graphics, illustrations, videos or music. The first row of images at the top are sponsored by Shutterstock and not free. More often than not, they’re better than the free ones. Just ignore them. Keep scrolling and you’ll find what you’re looking for.
4- Canva
Canva is a graphic design platform. It’s perfect for people like you and me who aren’t designers. It has beautiful templates and tons of images available for free under its photos section. You can’t download them out of Canva but if you’re designing a visual, why not design it on Canva? Some of the images on Canva can only be accessed with a paid plan (they have a little crown icon in the bottom right corner) but there's lots of free ones. If you’re already on Canva, using their photos bank will save you the few minutes it would take to download an external image and upload it onto Canva.
When you’re choosing an image for social media, your website or any other marketing material, always keep in mind your brand values and how you want your brand to come across. It's important to keep a consistent style so your brand looks its best.
Happy image hunting!