There is no better way to attract viewers to your social media content than with an eye-catching image or two attached to your posts. That said, not everyone has a talented designer on hand, and blindly searching through copyrighted photos and low-end clip art for the perfect free-to-use image that perfectly complements your message isn’t the most productive use of your time. Good news for you though, as we’ve pulled together nine massive resources for brilliant public domain images, and you now have billions of high quality pictures at your fingertips for use on Twitter, Facebook, your blog and beyond.
Can’t get enough free stock images? Our friends over at Canva have created a list of their own! Check out Canva’s list here.
Bing –
Microsoft’s search engine sports a gigantic supply of copyright-free photos; simply click on Images, and from there, select an option such as “public domain” or “Free to share and use” from the License tab to see what’s available.
Wikimedia Commons –
Wikimedia Commons has well over 20 million public domain images in its expansive archive, and it’s just as easy to search for visuals on Wikimedia Commons as it is to research a subject on Wikipedia
Pixabay –
The great thing about Pixabay is that their 420,000+ images are all completely within the public domain, and it is extremely easy to find exactly what you need with the site’s search features.
Flickr –
We’ve already praised Flickr as a valuable photo-sharing platform, and unsurprisingly, the site is a huge resource for public domain photographs snapped by its thriving worldwide community of shutterbugs. Be sure to pay attention to the license posted on the photo’s page to learn what you are allowed to do with the uploader’s images.
Morgue File –
Geared towards designers and illustrators, Morgue File offers over 300,000 high resolution images that are free to use for creative purposes, but not all of their pictures are public domain. If you intend to use Morgue File’s unedited images on your website, we suggest contacting the photographer for permission first.
Getty Images –
Getty Images hosts over 50 million incredibly high-end photos for free, and as an added bonus, this site makes sharing images on your favorite social media profiles and embedding them onto your website nearly effortless.
Free Images –
There are nearly 400,000 pictures, illustrations, graphics, and other visual content offered on Free Images, and while you need to create an account to download them, all of their artwork is completely complimentary, and can be used for almost anything.
New Old Stock –
Although it isn’t easy to search through this stockpile of vintage photos to find exactly what you are looking for, all of New Old Stock’s pictures are public domain, and free to use for whatever you need. Whether you are looking for a certain style of retro-photograph, or want to kill some time browsing the Tumblr site’s pages of dated images, it is certainly worth a look, as you’ll never know what you may find!
Raumrot –
Although Raumrot isn’t the largest depository of public domain photos online, all of their stunningly picturesque images are some of the highest quality pics around, and they are completely free for both personal and commercial projects.
We certainly hope that the enormous variety of quality public domain images hosted on these nine websites will help shave some time off of your platform building routine from now on!
*Please note that each website has its own set rules regarding the sharing, commercial use and editing of their content, and we highly recommend that you become familiar with your preferred site’s rules and regulations.
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We’ve written about Flickr before. Check it out below:
