Free image pack from shutterstock

Following on from the collection of free stock photos at depositphotos I mentioned recently here's news that shutterstock are also now offering a free download of a zip file pack of images. This a diverse collection of useful stock photos that they're making available for free to help support businesses large and small during these difficult times. There is even an editor tool and some social media templates available to use too. It's certainly worth heading over there to see if any of the free images look useful for you now or in the future potentially.

Here's a few sample images from this free stock images for business pack.

Dog sleeping free stock photo

Barista free stock photo

Beautiful woman exercising indoors

free sexy blonde woman photo

Dreamstime come up trumps again with their excellent collection of free to use images. This beautiful shot of a sexy sensual blonde woman looking at the camera is definitely a cut above the average standard it is usually easy to find for free. The photographer also has several more images of the same model from the same shoot that could be useful and are available cheaply.

This shot is available here at a full resolution size of 1833x2750 pixels (5 MP). Click here to visit Dreamstime's free photos section.

Free stock images at shutterstock

Over at Shutterstock they've got a bit of a balloon theme going on this week with their free images. Each week Shutterstock offer a free photo and a free vector, so it's worth creating a free account so you can grab a couple of free images every week.

Visit Shutterstock.

If you're a regular blogger and / or you maintain a large website you'll be familiar with the need for a regular supply of fresh photos and images to illustrate your posts and web content. Depositphotos have a promotion that may well be of interest. If you can write a review of their site they'll reward you with a free subscription you can use for your own image needs. Get a free image subscription at Depositphotos.

Search for free RF images

Search Free stock images on Dreamstime:

Free Fall Road trip photo

Here's a lovely road shot hinting at the beauty of Autumn colours we're just heading into. Great time for a road trip! It's currently available as a free download from istock.

Delicious cherries free photo

So it's summer, almost! Well, it pays to think in advance with stock photos. Ok, I know you guys down in the Southern hemisphere will argue the point but you know you can't please all the people all the time.

Anyway, on to the photo. Even if it isn't feeling too summery where you are this gorgeous image is bound to get your taste buds salivating and warm you up. Cherries anyone?

You know the one downside to cherries? They're often so damn expensive! Well not these ones; get the full res image for free at Dreamstime's Free Images.

Free money

Free money! Now there's an attention grabber? Well it's a free photo of money, hey, what did you expect? You don't really want to find a free bag of money though do you, they always come with catches. Someone is going to come looking for you and that money surely. Remember shallow grave?

This is much safer; it's just a photo!

Grab the full size image from Dreamstime and run for it!

Birthday girl free stock photo

Love this photo! Cute kid, beautiful colour, instantly communicates birhday! It's currently available as a free download from istock.

Get 50 free stock photos

Over at glowimages they're giving away stock photos and images!

Just for registering you can get fifty free photos.

Check out the offer here; www.glowimages.com/page/422/Free-Images.html

free baby stock photo

Another great image from Dreamstime's free images section.

This nice clean shot of a cute baby is simple but a cut above a regular portrait with the child being shown holding a drinking cup.

The full size image is 2048x3072 pixels (6.3 MP) and can be downloaded for free here.

where to find free photos

Here's a useful list of sites worth looking at for free photos a Hubpages writer has compiled.

Where to find free photos.

Free rust background texture photo

Here's a useful rusty metal background photo that could also work well as a texture overlay.

Grab the full size image (2900x2175 pixels 6.3 MP) for free from Dreamstime.

Free photo of woman using laptop isolated on white

A healthy natural looking attractive young woman using a laptop computer. It's a shot that always seems to be useful and is worth having several versions on file ready for when you need to create a design illustrating any sort of online activity. This one is isolated on white so easy to drop into designs and/or work around. Better still it is available for free from Dreamstime!

Grab the full size file (3788x2500 pixels 9.5 MP) here.

If you're after images for your own blogging Flickr can be a great source. I've written previously on how to find the images that are available to use for free.

Now here is a step by step guide to finding photos on Flickr that are free to use. This is complete with screenshots to help guide you through the whole process of finding great free photos!

Free photos and vectors from shutterstock

Another great source of high quality images is Shutterstock who are one of the main microstock agencies specialising in supplying low budget stock photos,vectors and video footage.

To help promote the site and individual contributors portfolios each week one photo and one vector image are available to download for free. The images will have gone through the usual contributors submission process so are all of a high standard. All you have to do to get these great free images is sign up for a free account at Shutterstock and then check back each week to see what is being offered!

Always three free photos at istockphoto

Istockphoto have a new free photo and vector each week. These are also archived and the three most recent remain free to download. So by visiting istock's archive pages at any time you can find three free photos and three free vectors.

Free series of lifestyle stock photos

Positive lifestyle images are always in demand and it is often useful to have a series of photos featuring the same subject. These aren't so easy to find however so I'm particularly pleased to showcase this great series featuring a young woman enjoying a beautiful sunny day in a field of yellow flowers. All the images are available for free as high resolution 10mp RF stock photos from Dreamstime. Click the individual images to go to the download pages.

 

While it is great to get photos to use for free it is worth keeping in mind why the photographers behind the work might be offering their shots for nothing. Whether it is simply the desire to see their images in use or a marketing tool to promote the image or their work generally there is usually something the end user of a free image can do help and show their appreciation.

Using free photos from Flickr typically requires attribution crediting the photographer and linking back to their image on Flickr. This obviously rewards the photographer with exposure for their work and a link which in internet seo (search engine optimisation) terms has real value. For photographers who do also license their work for fees this exposure and link building can be a valuable return for distributing some images for free use. If you've used an image from a photographer on Flickr be sure to properly link to the image page and if possible to their profile and any personal website they may have. Many photographers will also appreciate an email letting them know where and how you've used their work. It is always great to know someone has appreciated your work and the 'tearsheet' can be valuable to a photographer showing their work to potential clients.

Many photographers who usually license images for a fee will also allow some limited free use of images as a way of marketing their work. This may mean giving away odd images to gain exposure or allowing the free use of web size low resolution images but charging for the full size version. The free images available on most of the microstock websites are a good example of this. They are all the work of contributors who are licensing their work for royalties but have decided to make some images available for free. Generally speaking the motivation for this will be to raise their profile on the site temporarily and promote their portfolio. The Dreamstime free images section is one of the best in the micro stock photography sector and it can be seen each free image is shown alongside images from the rest of the photographers portfolio. Often these will be related or similar images, so a great way to thank a photographer for their free image is to buy one of their other photos!

However you do it, keep in mind the value of what you've been granted in a free photo and, whenever possible, try to give something back to the photographer in return.

Beautiful landscape free stock photo

This would make a great desktop background or background for a design needing associations with nature, summer and the outdoors. The full resolution file is 3264x2448 pixels. Download it here.