I’ve talked a lot about how you should optimize your images and how to use them on your sites, but I have yet to discuss where to find quality images that are worth using.

There are plenty of free image resources out there for you to use - and not just free, quality. Just because something is free does not mean it is cheap or shoddy, but you do have to sift through those rotten apples to get to the good ones.

SearchingSome stock photography sites that offer free images are high quality images, but not very good pictures. Maybe the photographer was an amateur, or someone professional has put their rejected pictures up on the site. You’ll also run across good pictures, but low quality images. In these pictures there will be a fine composition, but when you go to download it or save it, it’s either too small, really grainy, or it’s been blown up so it appears larger (you can tell if this has happened if the whole image is kind of blurry). You’ll really just have to use your own judgment on this. Most of the time you’re not going to need an enormous stock image, but for those times you do need something bigger, take special note of those sites.

Before I list out these wondrous free image sites, I’d like to point out that you need to check out the user agreements on each of these sites before you go yanking the images and do whatever you want with them. Most places would like a link back to where you got the image or to the artist for credit. It seems easy enough, but it’s also easily overlooked. Oh, and remember… if you’re going to be creating a piece of art that is going to be sold or is going to specifically bring in money, it’s generally better to purchase the rights to the image through a paid site. This way, you avoid any sorts of copyright infringements and you can pay for the highest quality image or the lowest one, depending on what you want.

And without further adieu, the list:

Please, if you have any other free photography/image sites, please leave a comment! It’s always good to expand your resources.