Stunning Image Sites That Make Blogs Stand Out

Last Updated on May 3, 2024 by Nadim Alamuddin

Have you ever wondered where bloggers get stunning images to use on their blogs? A minority of them use their own photographs, especially if they have photography blogs. The majority, however, use stock image sites, some of which I will write about today.

I will first write about some of the stunning image sites that I have used or am using today. I will detail their features as much as I can. For those I haven’t used before, I will list them for your own references providing as much information about them as I can.

Why Should You Use These Sites (and Not Google Images)?

A common newbie blogger mistake is to search for and download Google Images to use on their blogs. Unfortunately, many of the images available on the internet have copyright restrictions, and, if you use them, you may be subject to legal actions. You need to be cautious and avoid using search engines for your image downloads. Instead, you need to use royalty-free images.

Royalty-free or stock photos are available on many dedicated sites. Some of these sites require you to register with a valid email address and others will require you to subscribe to their services. Either way, you’ll be safe from copyright infringements and will have a few sites at your disposal where you can get high quality images for your blog.

By the way, your blog is not the only use for these stock images. You can use these to customize your Pinterest pins, your Instagram pictures, or any of your social media or other hobbies. I’m focusing on blogging here as this is what this blog is about.

Unsplash: High Resolution Images Free Download

I’ve been using Unsplash as my go-to image site for most of my blog sites. They have a repository of thousands of high resolution photographs and a great search engine to find them. Your creativity is your only limit there.

It is free to join Unsplash. You only need to register with a valid email and confirm your email address. Once registered, and logged in to the site, you can search and download any image you want.

Unsplash Search Options:

There are different ways to search:

• By Orientation: You can search images that are Landscape, Portrait and/or Square. If you don’t choose, images of all orientations will be displayed in your search results
• By Color: You can search Color, Black/White images or images with certain tones. If you don’t select any color, all images will be displayed
• By Relevance: You can also search by relevance to your search terms or by the newest uploaded images.

Once you have a list of results, there are categories displayed just below your search terms where you can click to limit your results further, as in the screenshot below:

Once you have searched for and like a certain image, you have other choices. You can add the image to your own collection, to come back to it later. You can also click on the heart to like it (see screenshot below).

Unsplash Download Options:

If you want to download the image, you have a few options, if you click on the small arrow to the right of the Download button (if you click on Download, you’ll get the original size of the image, which is usually huge in size).

• Small
• Medium
• Large
• Original Image size – sometimes, if the original image size doesn’t match any of the other sizes, this option is available.

In the download options, the actual pixel dimensions are displayed in parentheses next to the size of the download. Of course, these depend on the image to be downloaded and on its orientation.

Here’s a screenshot of an example:

Before downloading the image, you can click on the Info button on the bottom right of the dialog box. This displays how many views the image was downloaded, as well as a lot of information regarding it. You can also click the Share button to the left of the Info button to share this photo directly to your social media platforms.

On the left of the dialog box, the photographer’s name and handle appear, as links. You can click on the name and follow them. If you click on the handle, you’ll be redirected to their profile page, where you’ll see their interests and all the photos they’ve submitted.

Unsplash License And Credits

Unsplash.com is a high-resolution image site for free downloads. This means that any image downloaded from the site can be used for commercial or non-commercial uses. Photographers submit their photos to the site and, as a token of our appreciation, Unsplash asks us to credit the photographers whenever possible.

On some of my blog posts, where I have used Unsplash images, I have credited the photographer, by using a link to their submission. An example of this is on the first image I used for the Unsplash badge. I am crediting “Josh Carter” for his submitted photo and linking back to unsplash.com.

So, while crediting the photographers is not mandatory, once you download the image, unsplash has a small dialog box with instructions on how you could credit them. An option is to do so by embedding a credit badge on your website. The other is to copy a link to insert within your blog or social media post.

Wow, all this was only for unsplash.com. Next up, is Rawpixel.

Rawpixel: Stunning Free And/Or Premium Images 

This is another site that I use often in my blog posts as well as my social media. Its interface is very similar to that of Unsplash. Like Unsplash, Rawpixel needs you to register to its site. But, unlike Unsplash, it also offers a premium subscription as some of its collection is only limited to paid membership.

Rawpixel Subscription Options:

For the free subscription, you are limited to 5 downloads in a calendar day. This is usually enough for most users, especially with the availability of similar free sites. However, Rawpixel does offer certain options other sites may not.

To access premium images, you need to upgrade your free account to one of two options:

1. Casual Option – this is to download free and premium images for your personal use
2. Business Option – this is to download free and premium images for commercial use

Luckily, the free images on the site are plentiful and you may not need to upgrade. There are reasons people choose to upgrade. One such reason that I’ve experienced is for Pinterest Pins. On Pinterest (and some other platforms), you can search portions of an image. If you do such a search on an image available as a free stock image, chances are good that you’ll notice other pins using that same image. If you use a premium image, the chances of this happening would be lower.

Rawpixel Distinctions

In my experience with the two sites, Rawpixel offers a dimension for my blog posts that Unsplash doesn’t. There are more business oriented images, as opposed to photography oriented images on Unsplash. For example, on Rawpixel, I can find curated images with all kinds of letters for blogs, success, and key words you may be searching for your blog or social media posts. Here’s an example below:

Another distinction for Rawpixel is that it offers an affiliate program. This means that, if you register for it, then use and promote Rawpixel, anyone who uses your link to subscribe to Rawpixel will result in a small commission paid to you by Rawpixel. Of course, like any affiliate program, there are some guidelines you need to be aware of.

Rawpixel Search Options:

Unlike Unsplash, the search options in Rawpixel appear after you’ve obtained your search results. On the right of the screen, you will be able to choose a variety of options, as shown on the right column in the screenshot below:

Here are some of the search options you have – you can click one or more options, to reduce your search results:

• By Subscription Type:
  • Free – these are free images on the site. If you have a free subscription, you’re limited to 5 downloads per day. If you have a paid subscription, there is no download limit.
  • Premium – these are images available for download only if you have a premium subscription. You can still click on it and restrict your results.
  • Public Domain – these are images whose copyright may have expired or not even existed. They are under a special license that Rawpixel manages.
• By Criteria Specific To Rawpixel:
  • Golden Crown Symbol – these are images exclusive to Rawpixel
  • Likes – these are images you have liked
• By Image Type:
  • Photos – these are photographic images
  • Graphics – these are graphic design images or presentation slides
  • Mockups – these are full-size models of a design
  • Templates – these are pre-designed images or graphics that you can use by filling in custom information.
• By File Type:
  • A variety of file types are available to choose from, including the popular Jpg and png formats as well as vector and .psd image file types, which are more used in specific programs like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
• By Size:
  • A variety of sizes are available to choose from for all types of applications

Rawpixel Download Options:

Similar to Unsplash, Rawpixel has download options, as in the screenshot below:

As in the screenshot above, you have the option to select the file type (based on availability) and the download size (based on image selected). You can use the description of the image at the top right of the dialog box as the Alternate Text of your blog post image.

Also on this screen, there is a unique ID for the image (385903 for the above example). This ID can be used in the URL https://rawpixel.com/image/385903 to go directly to the image. Moreover, you can use this link to refer your readers to it and give credit to Rawpixel.

Rawpixel Photographer Credit

While Rawpixel does not ask you to credit their artists and photographers, you can check who submitted the image. On the download screen, if you scroll down, you’ll see a tiny image of the artist / photographer with their name next to it. Clicking on it will redirect you to their profile page, to check out their work.

Canva: One-Stop Shop For Your Designs With A Photo Gallery

While Canva is more known for its user-friendly design features, it also has a superior collection of high resolution stock images. I use Canva extensively, mainly for its creative design capabilities. However, recently, I’ve also used a few of its images in its photo collection.

Surely, over 30 million active users on Canva a month can’t be wrong in using this amazing graphic design tool.

Canva is available in a free or premium subscription. The free version gives you access to free photos that can be downloaded and used for personal or commercial use. The premium subscription, named Canva Pro, opens up Canva’s full features in both design and premium photo collections.

Canva Distinctions:

Since Canva is a tool to design different pictures and graphics, you can search a photo from its repository and, once selected, click on “use in a design”. This automatically brings up a dialog box to ask you what kind of design you want to create and define its dimensions. Then, you’re there, creating your design from the foundation of the selected photo. An example of this is the image above of the colorful painting. I searched for “canvas”, got a colorful picture, inserted some text, and bingo!

Canva Search Options:

The search options here are limited:

• Before you search, you have some categories you can search by just below the search bar. Think of them like keywords or collections.
• Once you entered your search criteria and got your search results, you can limit them only by free or premium photos. You also have sub-categories to limit your results further.

In my limited experience with Canva photos, I found the search engine as a weakness. For example, if you search for blogging, the photos you get have nothing to do with the topic. Check the screenshot below:

Canva Download Options:

In the screenshot below, you have the options of downloading different image sizes. The description of the image can also be used as a filename or Alt text for your image in your blog or social media post. The keywords at the bottom of the photo can be clicked to search based on them and the search keyword. Under the download option box (not seen above) are the options to “use the photo in a design”, “add the photo to a file” and/or “like” the photo.

Above the Download button, there’s the size of the original photo and under it, there’s the image source – who submitted it and from which site. In this case, it’s Andrea P. Coan from Pexel. Clicking on the link would take you to their profile.

Other Awesome Stock Photo Websites

The above sections highlighted the three amazing image sites that I’ve been using regularly, and hence, the detailed descriptions. There are lots more and here’s a list with a brief description of each:

• Pexels: Out of curiosity, I just joined Pexels, mainly because it seems their photos are predominantly shared on Canva. Their interface looks quite similar to Unsplash and Rawpixel. Pexels is more like Unsplash in that you can join for free. So, it gives you yet another avenue for high-resolution images. Pexels, however, adds videos to the mix. One great download feature in Pexels is the ability to download the image into a custom size. This is beneficial for social media posts as well as specific uses for the image.
• Shutterstock: You can join this site for free. This allows you to search from millions of images. However, if you want to download it, the image will have a Shutterstock watermark on it, unless you upgrade to one of their premium subscriptions. There is a free 30-day trial, but you’ll need to pay to download watermark-free images. This site also has videos.
• Pixabay: Another image site like Unsplash and Pexels – totally free to join and download high quality images.

For a comprehensive look at other free stock photo sites, be sure to check out 32 Best Sites for Free Stock Photos, by StockPhotos.com.

Conclusion

As stated in the beginning, this blog post was to make you aware of the various stunning high resolution image sites that offer free or premium downloads. The main distinction here is that all these sites allow you to use the downloaded pictures for your own and/or commercial use. Before you do so, however, please make sure you read the license agreements on each of those sites.

What image sites do you use? Would you share your experiences in the comments below? These would definitely benefit me as well as my readers.

Here are some posts you may enjoy reading:

• How To Optimize Images Without Losing Their Quality
• Best 7 Strategies To Increase Organic Search Traffic
• Blogging FAQs: What Are Some Topics I Can Blog About?
• 3 Myths About Blogging You Need To Know Before Starting Your New Blog

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