Guess what? Sourcing high-quality images that are relevant to your eCommerce company is an essential aspect of setting up your online store. If you don’t have the assets to produce your own photos, you’ll need to use stock photos to boost brand recognition and project professionalism. Stock pictures are wonderful assets for placing on your website, blog entries, and product pages.
Stock photo sites provide a variety of free, priced, and creative-commons licenses. It’s worth noting that not all free options are created equal in the eCommerce world. Free images frequently necessitate attribution to the original author or creator, which can be difficult when attempting to sell certain items on an internet store.
We’ve put up this article to highlight the finest stock photo sites you can use to obtain royalty-free images for your eCommerce business. If you’re starting an eCommerce store on a budget, we’ve also included free image websites on our list to make things easier for you.
What is a Stock Image Site?
Stock images are photographs that have already been captured, edited, and are ready to be used. There are two types of stock photos: ones that need to be paid for a license and others that can be used freely (sometimes known as royalty-free images). Stock photos can be used for a wide range of needs: websites, brochures, magazines, and books. Stock photography is one of the most popular and lucrative niches within the photo industry.
Stock-photo databases like this one allow businesses, entrepreneurs, and bloggers to search through various images to discover exactly what they need. Stock photos may be used in a variety of ways, including on websites, blog articles, and social media feeds. Professional-looking advertisements that don’t cost a lot to produce are ideal for stock images sites because they provide businesses with a way to inexpensively promote their products.
In this article, we’ve discussed where to obtain royalty-free images for business use and where to buy high-quality stock photos. We’ve also included some of the top creative-commons websites and free image directories on our list of excellent sources for eCommerce companies.
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is a large, well-curated library of gorgeous photographs provided by professional photographers that has been successfully used to create great work.
The Unsplash search engine is the quickest way to discover a picture, but if you have a few minutes to kill, check out Collections — collections of photos organized by other people into categories such as Light
There’s even an iOS app for Unsplash, which aids in the discovery of stock pictures to use in creative work on an iPad or iPhone.
Unsplash Stock Photos is one of the most popular photo sharing sites on our list and with good reason: the quality of photos they offer, their excellent search engine and ease of use, and free (or paid) image download options.
2. Adobe Stock Free Collection
Adobe has announced that it will provide over 70,000 stock photos, videos, illustrations, and templates for free personal, commercial, and creative use in October 2020. Its mission is to “make the tools to create available to everyone,” according on a blog entry.
The images on this app are always of good quality. People who contribute pictures are paid. There are a lot of filters to choose from, and the photos are well curated. Adobe’s default license terms cover the majority of photos, which are extremely permissive and only restrict you from distributing the files themselves, producing items where the value is linked to the photograph (such as a stock photo printed on a poster), and transferring licenses to more than one employer or client. Always double-check before downloading a picture because there may be restrictions in place.
3. Pexels
Pexels is a searchable collection of public domain photos that anyone can upload. The website’s curators pick out the best shots from around 100 million users and make them available for browsing or searching by themes including pastimes, emotions & locations!
Pexels has a fantastic set of device photos that are perfect for displaying interface mockups. A few stock images stray into cloying territory (using scrabble tiles as an example), but the majority of the other pictures exude creativity and individuality!
4. Pixabay
Some of the best imagery can be found on Pixabay. The site offers a million public domain images, including photos and even some videos! Its landscape photography selection is particularly strong in quality for those who don’t want to narrow down their search too much- Editor’s Choice deserves an honorable mention here as well if you’re looking at something specific or have already browsed through all available option so roughly recommended for both personal and commercial use!
5. Gratisography
With Gratisography, you can find high-quality free stock photos that were all taken by Ryan McGuire. The site is designed for artists and designers to showcase their work without having to worry about licensing fees or any other costs associated with usage in commercial settings!
Free stock photos are an essential part of any successful eCommerce business. That’s why entrepreneurs should never underestimate the power Gratisography has in providing them with high-quality images they can use free of charge!
Here's the catch
Stock Photos are great to use when you need an image in a pinch. They can be used in all sorts of things, especially ads and social media posts. Stock photos are also considered “public domain” which means they can be reused in any sort of commercial project without crediting the photographer.
When you are looking to download Stock Photos, there are certain things you should look for in order to make sure they are the best quality for your final product. You should look for high-resolution images, good-quality images that are not grainy or blurry, and photos that have a variety of angles so you can see your product from any perspective. If you download Stock Photos through Google instead of an individual site, some of the photos might be low in quality or lower in resolution than others.