All ~ In your opinion, what are the best sites for stock images? I prefer free, but would also like a list of paying sites, too. I work in the K-12 environment (online) so anything that is cheap would be great because I do not have a budget for buying graphics and images. Thanks for your feedback!
We use http://www.fotolia.com - prices are very reasonable for most pictures (though you have to be careful -- occasionally one picture will be priced very high).
Many of the stock photo sites have the same pictures -- but nowhere near the same prices. We have found fotolia.com the most reasonable and always lower than other sites for the same photo.
Connie's list is extremely well-organized and pretty comprehensive.
If you just want a list of the FREE sites, you might take a look at this post, which I found helpful.
I will also say that I recently subscribed to a site called "Presenter Media". I have no financial interest in the company, or in referrals, but they were much more affordable than many of the other stock sites, and you don't have purchase each image. You have unlimited access to downloads - at any image size - throughout your subscription. They don't necessarily have the variety that site like istockphoto does, but they have a nice selection of the kinds of things I like to use ... like those 3D stick figures. It's a new favorite of mine.
We are currently looking at Shutterstock it is a subscription photo site that allows 25 downloads per day. It look really economical and has excellent search features (this is essential for me).
The other site we use is Getty Images. They have a free preview option and I also appreciate their search features.
This is definitely one of the more popular questions we get. It's also great to see more free stock image sites springing up. Here's the list we've shared with folks who ask about stock image sites. There are probably some more sites we can add, but this should be a good start. I hadn't heard of Presenter Media so I added it to our list. Hopefully we can grow the list and prune when necessary
Thanks Randy. We normally share pieces of this list since it can be overwhelming.
Regarding Pixmac, it appears they offer both free and paid images with the free images located here: http://www.pixmac.com/free-pictures. I'm sure that's how a lot of the free sites will evolve if successful.
Do you agree with the Main Sites list? Would you add or remove any? I'm a big stock image consumer and have had subscriptions with all of those except Fotolia. After reading the comments here I think I'll try it next time.
Randy - It would be interesting to see how sites balance free vs paid over time. To your point on Pixmac, it looks like they're leaning more on the paid side than before.
Please add iclipart.com to your list--it's the one I subscribe to, as well as Anistock (its sister site for generic animations, usually in Flash). it's not the same as clipart.com.
David - In my head, I clump the "free" stock sites into two categories: Those who have categories and those who don't JK
Really- the first is "sharing-oriented" sites that mostly host public domain images or user-contributed content. It seems that most of these don't really morph into commercial sites - they just collect whatever they can from donations and advertising revenue.
The other is the commercial sites with "free sections." For the kind of work I do, the photo images (as opposed to clipart, illustration or vector) are mostly not useful. Even the non-photo stuff (in the free section) is real "hit-and-miss" -- mostly miss. For the most part, I have stopped trying to keep up with their content because it's rarely relevant to me.
That's not a criticism of the commercial sites with "free sections." It's business. If they can draw some people in with free offers, fine, but otherwise they have no obligation to provide their cool content for free.
So, over time, I gotten into a pattern of just following a few of the "sharing-oriented" sites for new content. But comprehensive lists like yours are very helpful because it prompts me to re-visit and re-evaluate what's out there.
Gerry - Thanks for the tip on iclipart.com - large selection, very reasonably priced subscription, and (looks like) unlimited downloads. I like that much better than having to manage "credits", differential pricing for image size, or conducting a transaction each time I need an image. Quick question - do the animations (Flash or otherwise) from Anistock seem to run when produced in Articulate Presenter?
@Randy I like your distinction between public domain sites and commercial freebies. It might be worth breaking the lists up to include those two categories.
@Gerry - added iClipart. I never used that site but it looks great.
So far the animations have worked just fine for me. Have not used a lot of them but the ones I have used have worked (with fingers crossed ).
As far as unlimited downloads, there is a limit to how many one can download in a single day. Only ran into that once--and I can't remember how many. Not a showstopper for me.
@Gerry - Thanks for that update. I'd like to try to integrate some animations, but I'm always concerned about their operability within Presenter.
One thing I'll mention that I have liked about Presenter Media is that you can customize the images BEFORE you download them.
So let's say, I found an image I like of a guy drawing, but he's drawing in BLUE and I've got a GREEN theme going with my presentation - I can just slide the hue and saturation controls over a little and POOF! it now is a better fit for my theme. I attached a screen shot of the download interface, for those who are interested.
Hey Everyone - www.pixmac.com specializes in first time user of stock photography, and makes it really easy to buy 'legal' images to use on webstites etc - with great images from a couple of dollars
Is there somewhere we can (or do) keep this list of resources, where it can (or is) updated as people share? That way instead of having to keep up with the different things being thrown out in the thread we can just refer back to the master list when needed.
You can get templates, solo graphics, or PSD files for your editing pleasure.
Free for non-profit use (although you need to submit a form first on the terms of use page - since the author says that no reply means you're approved, I took a screenshot of my form and highlighted that sentence for my records).
49 Replies
http://www.elearningart.com/Default.asp?Redirected=Y
That site has a nice, free, download with useful images!
This is another cool graphic option that I got from one of the elearning blogs: http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
I'll be checking back for more suggestions as well!
stock.xchng is a free stock photo site you might like (be sure to read the license agreement).
istockphoto.com is also good site with a nice search feature, lots of images to choose from, and pretty reasonable prices.
Connie Malamed posted a pretty comprehensive list here:
http://theelearningcoach.com/resources/stock-photo-sites/
We use http://www.fotolia.com - prices are very reasonable for most pictures (though you have to be careful -- occasionally one picture will be priced very high).
Many of the stock photo sites have the same pictures -- but nowhere near the same prices. We have found fotolia.com the most reasonable and always lower than other sites for the same photo.
Connie's list is extremely well-organized and pretty comprehensive.
If you just want a list of the FREE sites, you might take a look at this post, which I found helpful.
I will also say that I recently subscribed to a site called "Presenter Media". I have no financial interest in the company, or in referrals, but they were much more affordable than many of the other stock sites, and you don't have purchase each image. You have unlimited access to downloads - at any image size - throughout your subscription. They don't necessarily have the variety that site like istockphoto does, but they have a nice selection of the kinds of things I like to use ... like those 3D stick figures. It's a new favorite of mine.
Oh - and I see this is your first post here Amber, so "Welcome."
We are currently looking at Shutterstock it is a subscription photo site that allows 25 downloads per day. It look really economical and has excellent search features (this is essential for me).
The other site we use is Getty Images. They have a free preview option and I also appreciate their search features.
Thank you, everyone! I have lots to look over and have added them all to my bookmarks
Much appreciated.
another vote for fotolia here, we use the subscription offer, thanks Zara for the heads up on shutterstock, they have some great anatomy pics
Phil
This is definitely one of the more popular questions we get. It's also great to see more free stock image sites springing up. Here's the list we've shared with folks who ask about stock image sites. There are probably some more sites we can add, but this should be a good start. I hadn't heard of Presenter Media so I added it to our list. Hopefully we can grow the list and prune when necessary
Most popular stock image sites
Free stock image sites:
Pay-per-image, bundle or subscription:
@David - Awesome list. Thanks. I'm not sure Pixmac is still a "Free" site, but maybe I just missed their free section.
Thanks Randy. We normally share pieces of this list since it can be overwhelming.
Regarding Pixmac, it appears they offer both free and paid images with the free images located here: http://www.pixmac.com/free-pictures. I'm sure that's how a lot of the free sites will evolve if successful.
Do you agree with the Main Sites list? Would you add or remove any? I'm a big stock image consumer and have had subscriptions with all of those except Fotolia. After reading the comments here I think I'll try it next time.
David - Thanks for that pointer on Pixmac - I just missed it.
Randy - It would be interesting to see how sites balance free vs paid over time. To your point on Pixmac, it looks like they're leaning more on the paid side than before.
Hey, Dave!
Please add iclipart.com to your list--it's the one I subscribe to, as well as Anistock (its sister site for generic animations, usually in Flash). it's not the same as clipart.com.
Best.
David - In my head, I clump the "free" stock sites into two categories: Those who have categories and those who don't
JK
Really- the first is "sharing-oriented" sites that mostly host public domain images or user-contributed content. It seems that most of these don't really morph into commercial sites - they just collect whatever they can from donations and advertising revenue.
The other is the commercial sites with "free sections." For the kind of work I do, the photo images (as opposed to clipart, illustration or vector) are mostly not useful. Even the non-photo stuff (in the free section) is real "hit-and-miss" -- mostly miss. For the most part, I have stopped trying to keep up with their content because it's rarely relevant to me.
That's not a criticism of the commercial sites with "free sections." It's business. If they can draw some people in with free offers, fine, but otherwise they have no obligation to provide their cool content for free.
So, over time, I gotten into a pattern of just following a few of the "sharing-oriented" sites for new content. But comprehensive lists like yours are very helpful because it prompts me to re-visit and re-evaluate what's out there.
Gerry - Thanks for the tip on iclipart.com - large selection, very reasonably priced subscription, and (looks like) unlimited downloads. I like that much better than having to manage "credits", differential pricing for image size, or conducting a transaction each time I need an image. Quick question - do the animations (Flash or otherwise) from Anistock seem to run when produced in Articulate Presenter?
@Randy I like your distinction between public domain sites and commercial freebies. It might be worth breaking the lists up to include those two categories.
@Gerry - added iClipart. I never used that site but it looks great.
So far the animations have worked just fine for me. Have not used a lot of them but the ones I have used have worked (with fingers crossed
).
As far as unlimited downloads, there is a limit to how many one can download in a single day. Only ran into that once--and I can't remember how many. Not a showstopper for me.
@Gerry - Thanks for that update. I'd like to try to integrate some animations, but I'm always concerned about their operability within Presenter.
One thing I'll mention that I have liked about Presenter Media is that you can customize the images BEFORE you download them.
So let's say, I found an image I like of a guy drawing, but he's drawing in BLUE and I've got a GREEN theme going with my presentation - I can just slide the hue and saturation controls over a little and POOF! it now is a better fit for my theme. I attached a screen shot of the download interface, for those who are interested.
Hey Everyone - www.pixmac.com specializes in first time user of stock photography, and makes it really easy to buy 'legal' images to use on webstites etc - with great images from a couple of dollars
Is there somewhere we can (or do) keep this list of resources, where it can (or is) updated as people share? That way instead of having to keep up with the different things being thrown out in the thread we can just refer back to the master list when needed.
Wow, I currently have a lot of sites to familiarize myself with... hmm...
Thanks, guys.
And I agree with Chantelle, wish these were all in one fancy list for easy access. But this will do for now.
MorgueFile provides free photos too..I have used it when posting my blog on building a shed and am happy with it.
I have just recently discovered with immense joy the following website (don't think it's been listed yet):
http://www.psdgraphics.com
You can get templates, solo graphics, or PSD files for your editing pleasure.
Free for non-profit use (although you need to submit a form first on the terms of use page - since the author says that no reply means you're approved, I took a screenshot of my form and highlighted that sentence for my records).
They can also be purchased for commercial use.
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