How to Find Free Stock Photos

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By Regina Paul
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Your own digital camera can be a great resource for free stock photos not just for yourself but others.

As a writer, I use stock photos quite a lot in different projects. I like to use them to illustrate articles, make my own stationery and create video book trailers. There are tons of stock photo websites that will be more than happy to sell you their photos for a dollar or more a piece. Sometimes, you can pay one large fee and get unlimited stock photos. Either way, you are paying for them. While this can be one route to use, there are ways to find free stock photos so that you don’t have to pay for them. Read on to learn more.

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Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Digital Camera
Computer
Internet connection

Step 1

One way to get free stock photos is simply to take your digital camera and take your own pictures. If you have the time, and a digital camera, this can be the best route to go by far.
Step 2

Talk to your friends and family about either taking pictures for you, or allowing you to use pictures they have taken for your projects. This is another great way to get free stock photos. Sometimes friends and family--particularly if there is an amateur photographer in the group--can have the best selection of pictures to choose from.
Step 3

If you don’t have the time to take your own photos and none of your friends or family have pictures you can use, do a search online. While this can be time-consuming because there are far more stock photo websites that want to sell you photos than there are ones which have them free for downloading, it is still worth the time to do the search.
Step 4

If you don’t have the time to take your own photos and none of your friends or family have pictures you can use, do a search online. While this can be time consuming because there are far more stock photo websites that want to sell you photos than there are ones which have them free for downloading, it is still worth the time to do the search.
Step 5

If you can’t find what you are looking for in the first 3 to 5 websites then search for a second set of 3 to 5 until you are able to find the stock photos you need for your project from a combination of free stock photo websites.

Tips & Warnings

If you enjoy taking photos and are able to take them yourself, consider uploading your photos to some of the free stock photo websites. This is a great way to start an online portfolio. If you use a combination of your own photos with photos from free stock photo websites, this is a great way to give back to the free stock photo community.
Most free stock photo websites require that you give credit to either the website or the photographer or both. Be sure and read the license so you know what you can and cannot do with stock photos.