Any website owner knows the struggle of trying to find the perfect image to pair with their content. We especially want to be mindful that we are not using any images illegally.
Here are 8 of my personal favorite websites to acquire license free images:
Most of these websites operate the same where you can download the images in different sizes, donate and attribute the artist. But there are a few that are unique and stand apart from the rest.
How to Get Free Copyright Images Legally
There are many websites you can use to get license free images, but here is an example using Unsplash.
- Search the keyword of the image you need
- Select the image you want to download
- Select the file size and dimensions you want to download
- Optional – Donate or Attribute the Artist
How to Use Google to Search for Copyright Free Images
Google is actually a great resource to search for images you can (legally) use for free!
There is a nifty setting called “Creative Commons license” which displays only images that are free and legal to use! No need to worry about any copyright issues. The final step we suggest is to double check and read the copyright language on the website you download the image from.
Here are the steps below to on how to get free images to use from Google:
- Go to Google Images and search for an image
- Click on “Tools” then on “Creative Commons licenses“
- Do your due diligence and read the copyright language on the website
- Choose an Image to Use
As you can see, it’s pretty easy to find free images that aren’t copyrighted.
Our last and final tip is to be mindful of the image size and optimization. We avoid using the original size of the photo as that can be very large and may slow your site down. We suggest a few of these websites to resize and optimize your images:
