Need Creative Commons Licensed Imagery?  

Well yeah, nearly every business owner does. Except for you, photographers, I see you. You do not need this. Please feel free to carry on and look at other things that aren’t this.

BUT IF YOU ARE NOT in that business category, and you DO need creative commons licensed imagery, this is for you.

Firstly though: what is Creative Commons Zero licensing (CC0)?? Simply put, this is a copyright designation that indicates the original copyright holder relinquishes those copyrights and allows the item to exist in the public domain. You can use it for ALL the things, personal or commercial.

My FAVOURITE Sources of Free Stock Images

Taking images for your brand isn’t always something you can do yourself, and… well… neither is hiring it out.

As someone who started in photography, I cannot overemphasise the power of hiring a branding photographer. Like, seriously. If you have the capital, and the time – HIRE SOMEONE.

Do it. You won’t regret it.

BUT THAT BEING SAID – I understand that that’s not always a possibility. So, when that’s the case, where do I go to get images??

The answer: It depends on the content needed.

1. Canva
   • Canva has a library that’s built into the system. For Pro users, it has more license free imagery than for free users, obviously, but you can access a pretty wide library in their either way.
2. Sparkpost
   • Adobe Spark Post has a similar library built into it, that’s really straightforward to add images from!
3. Unsplash
   • This is my personal favourite among the license free stock sites. It’s pretty modern, meaning those more trendy images are gonna pop up on there.
4. Pexels
   • For moody images, I tend to hit up Pexels. I don’t know why, but… their library is bangin.
5. Rawpixel
   • This one is confusing. Like, the images are BANGIN. Truly, LOVE them. Tons of options. But, this is a platform that mixed paid and free tools, so you might see things you love that aren’t actually free. However, what you can do to get around this a bit, is make sure that you have “free” selected in your sidebar.
6. Reshot
   • This one is much smaller than unsplash or pexels, but has the same trendy feel to it. High quality images, that I can imagine on a site without any further modification.
7. Stocksnap
   • This one is better than pixabay and those below, BUT I don’t personally think it outpaces Pexels. However, the images are pretty nice, high quality, and there are definitely a ton of gems in there.
8. Pixabay
   • This one I like slightly less, but it has more options in the business realm. And also vector images, if you need that sort of thing!
9. Gratisography
   • If you’re looking for the quirky and weird, you’ll likely find it here. This is where I go for…. Out-of-the-ordinary images.
10. Picjumbo
    • This one was actually started by a photographer who was tired of getting their work rejected from stock imagery sites. It’s not a massive library, but if you’re looking for textures or things like that, you’ll find a bunch of options!
11. Morguefile
    • Morguefile is… weird. It’s weird. Honestly. Photos come from everyone and anyone, and it’s kiiiiinda a mess. BUT occasionally you’ll find a gem!
12. Freeimages.com
    • This one is in here as a bonus for if you want a giggle. It is really rare that I find something I actually like in there, however, the really cringe ones give me a giggle!!

Hopefully this helps!

Now, go curate images! It can definitely be less-than-straightforward to use these stock photos to create a specific mood though, so I actually ran a training specifically on that topic in the Facebook® Group, the Strategic Female Entrepreneurs! 

To check out the replay, just join us!