An image says a thousand words, but finding that image can sometimes make writing a 1,000 words seem like a speedier thing to deliver. For example, what on earth do you use as an image for a feature on image libraries? We went for cute - sorry we couldn’t help ourselves! You must have been there; you've got something great to say on social media or you’ve written a blog post that The Huffington Post would salivate over, but you just can’t find that one image to really entice your audience. Whilst we’d love to have the budget, skills or time to commission a photoshoot - it’s just not a viable option. We want that great picture and we want it now, oh, and we have a meagre budget. Here are some top free image libraries…

Here are our top free image libraries

Pexels

We love that Pexels is so straightforward - you don’t even have to register. Every image on their site is 100% free for any usage, they all have a Creative Commons Zero License (CCO) and with 3,000 photos being added each month it will only get better! All the royalty free images can be doctored till your heart's content - in fact their ethos is “Empowering Creators” - so feel empowered! They’ve also got a host of plug-in’s for MS Office, Photoshop and Apple and Android Apps etc. What’s not to like? The search, that’s what. You have a basic search, but there is no ability to add any filters. They have categories to search by, but if you’re looking for something specific, it can be limiting - with an open mind you’ll find something and remember it’s 100% free! 

StockSnap

Much like Pexels, StockSnap is a very simple site. If you just want to search and find a picture you don’t need to register. Registering allows you to add favourites which can be useful for later use. Again the search is a little clunky but they do have popular searches, trending categories and the ability to order your search, so some improvement on Pexels. Once StockSnap’s library has increased this will be a great site, and with new images being added all the time this won’t take long. And as with Pexels all the images are 100% free for any use (CCO), so no need to double check complex licensing agreements for each image. You can also sign up to receive a weekly newsletter with their top pics from the week which could be useful to spark your creative juices - or it could be a distraction, sending you on a wondering imagery library tangent! 

Gratisography

You’re not going to find the specific girl using her iphone in a coffee shop, but you will find some high quality creative CCO royalty free images which are 100% free with no accreditation required. All the photos are taken by one very talented photographer, Ryan McGuire who in his own bio explains he likes to inject a bit of humour, we like that! It does however does mean the library does not have the volume of the others, but don't write him off just yet, why not sign up for his new picture alerts as a way of keeping Ryan’s work on your radar - it's free. 

Pixabay

We’re liking Pizabay a lot at the moment and the main reason is the search. It’s much like Shutterstock’s search, but without the price tag. All the images are 100% royalty free with a CCO license which is great. They have a lot of the same images as Pexels, but the search has some more options - orientation, size, colour and image type - which can really speed up your search. You can also select what size image you want to download - a thumbs up from us! Just make sure you’re not lured in by the Shutterstock sponsored images that run across the top, you will have to shell out for those. 

There are some amazing sources for royalty free images. You've got no excuse, all your content can be as visually as engaging as your words. Remember you can also use one of our freelance photoshop gurus to tweak pictures if they're not 100% what you need. Also, armed with these free images it might be a good opportunity for our freelancers to check out their services and see if  a fresh image might just help set them apart from the crowd.   

We’re doing some research and will be spilling the beans on how to streamline your image searches. We going to let you know how stop losing hours of time scrolling through 1,000’s of images. Loads of fun we know, but not great when you're on a deadline!