One question I’m frequently asked by clients is where to find good photographs for their websites.
There are plenty of stock photography websites available, some free and others that charge for individual images or subscriptions. However, finding the right photograph involves more than choosing an attractive image and downloading it.
You also need to consider whether the photograph is appropriate for your business, whether it has sufficient resolution for its intended use, and whether the license permits you to use it in your website or marketing materials.
Over the years, I’ve used numerous stock photography services when developing websites for clients. Some provide excellent selections at reasonable prices, while others are more appropriate for specialized projects.
Fortunately, free stock photography has improved considerably. Today, there are several excellent resources that provide high-quality photographs suitable for many business websites.
Let’s look at some of the options I recommend, along with a few important things to understand before using stock photography.
Free Stock Photo Websites
Years ago, free stock photography websites often had limited selections and inconsistent image quality. Many offered only small photographs, required attribution, or encouraged visitors to purchase larger versions.
That’s no longer necessarily the case.
Several established services now provide extensive collections of high-resolution photographs that can be used for many commercial purposes without purchasing a license.
These are the first places I would suggest looking when you need photographs for a website, blog article, or social media post.
Unsplash
Unsplash is one of my preferred resources for free photography.
It has an extensive collection of photographs covering architecture, landscapes, technology, business, food, nature, people, and many other subjects.
I’ve found it particularly useful when looking for visually interesting photographs that don’t have the overly staged appearance sometimes associated with traditional stock photography.
Under the Unsplash License, its free images can generally be used for commercial and noncommercial purposes without attribution, although crediting the photographer is appreciated.
Unsplash also offers a separate paid collection, so be sure you’re selecting from the free photographs if you don’t intend to purchase anything.
As with other stock services, there are restrictions. For example, the license doesn’t automatically provide permission to use recognizable people, trademarks, or other protected elements in every commercial context.
You can review the Unsplash License for additional information.
Pexels
Pexels is another excellent free resource, providing both photographs and videos.
Its selection includes business environments, products, food, travel, technology, and many everyday subjects useful for website design.
Pexels allows photographs and videos to be used for many commercial purposes without attribution, and images can be edited to suit your needs.
For example, you can crop a photograph for a homepage banner, adjust its colors to coordinate with your website, or incorporate it into a social media graphic.
However, you cannot simply resell unaltered photographs or use them in ways that falsely suggest someone is endorsing your products or services.
Visit the Pexels License for details.
Pixabay
Pixabay provides photographs, illustrations, vector graphics, and other media.
I consider it a useful alternative when Unsplash or Pexels doesn’t have the subject or visual style I’m looking for.
Its selection can be especially helpful when you need illustrations or graphic elements rather than traditional photography.
Much of the content can be used free of charge for commercial and noncommercial projects without attribution, subject to its licensing restrictions.
However, the license prohibits certain uses involving recognizable brands, misleading representations, and resale of images in essentially their original form.
Review the Pixabay Content License before using its photographs in commercial materials.
Paid Stock Photography Websites
Although free photography is often sufficient for a small business website, there are circumstances where purchasing an image makes sense.
For example, you might need a photograph of a specialized product, a particular industry, a specific type of business activity, or a subject that’s difficult to locate in free collections.
Paid stock services often provide additional search filters, illustrations, vector artwork, and licensing options that can be useful for more demanding projects.
My suggestion is to look for photographs individually rather than purchasing an ongoing subscription unless you regularly need new images.
Depositphotos
Depositphotos has been one of the stock photography services I’ve used frequently over the years.
It offers a substantial collection of photographs, illustrations, and vector graphics suitable for many website and print projects.
Its purchasing options include download packages and subscriptions, although the available plans and prices change over time.
For projects requiring only a few images, I recommend comparing the cost of purchasing individual downloads with any subscription requirements before committing to a plan.
Depositphotos offers standard and extended licensing, so be sure the selected license covers how you intend to use the image.
iStock
iStock is another established photography resource with an extensive collection of commercial images, illustrations, and vector artwork.
I’ve used it for projects where I needed a particular subject or photographic style that wasn’t readily available elsewhere.
Images are available through credit purchases or subscription arrangements, with different licensing options depending on the intended use.
Its standard license covers many common website, advertising, and print applications. Other uses, such as certain products intended for resale, may require additional licensing.
See the iStock Licensing Guide for more information.
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock offers photographs, illustrations, vectors, videos, and design assets.
It’s worth considering for businesses that need high-quality photographs or additional graphic resources for marketing materials.
One advantage is its integration with Adobe’s creative applications, which can be convenient for designers already using Photoshop, Illustrator, or other Adobe software.
Adobe provides several licensing options, including standard and extended licenses, with restrictions based on how the artwork will be reproduced or distributed.
You can review the Adobe Stock Licensing Information for details.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is another major commercial stock photography provider.
It offers a large selection of photographs, vectors, illustrations, and other creative assets.
For some projects, its selection and search features may make it easier to locate specialized subjects or photographs with particular visual characteristics.
Like other paid services, Shutterstock has different licensing terms depending on how an image will be used.
I wouldn’t assume that a more expensive photograph is automatically better than one available through a free service. What matters is finding an image that suits the project and can be used under the appropriate license.
See the Shutterstock License Information before purchasing.
Understanding Stock Photography Licenses
Before using any stock photograph on a business website, it’s important to understand what the license allows.
This applies whether you’re paying for the image or downloading it from a free website.
Some of the most common licensing terms include:
Royalty-Free
Royalty-free doesn’t necessarily mean that an image costs nothing.
It generally means that you can use a licensed image for permitted purposes without paying additional royalties each time the image is displayed or reproduced.
For example, you might purchase a photograph and use it on your website, in an advertisement, and in printed marketing materials, provided those uses are covered by the license.
Royalty-free licenses are typically nonexclusive, meaning other businesses may also license and use the same image.
Commercial Use
A commercial-use license generally allows an image to be used in materials promoting products, services, or business activities.
However, commercial use doesn’t mean every imaginable use is permitted.
There may still be restrictions involving identifiable people, trademarks, product packaging, merchandise, or other applications.
Editorial Use Only
Some photographs are marked Editorial Use Only.
These images are generally intended for news reporting, commentary, and other appropriate editorial purposes rather than advertising or commercial promotion.
For example, a photograph of a recognizable celebrity or a copyrighted product may be suitable for a news article but not for an advertisement suggesting that the person or brand endorses your business.
I recommend avoiding editorial-only images for ordinary business marketing unless you clearly understand the permitted use.
Extended Licenses
Some uses require an extended license.
These might include products intended for resale, certain high-volume printed materials, or distributing templates incorporating stock artwork.
The precise requirements differ among providers, so don’t assume that purchasing an extended license from one company provides the same rights as an extended license from another.
Can You Use Stock Photos in a Company Logo?
This is an important question, particularly for businesses that are developing a new visual identity.
Most standard stock photography licenses don’t permit images to be used as the distinctive element of a company logo or trademark.
The reason is fairly straightforward: stock images are generally licensed to multiple customers.
Since other businesses may use the same artwork, it isn’t necessarily appropriate for a unique company identity.
For logos, I recommend using original artwork created specifically for the business, with appropriate ownership or usage rights established.
If you’re considering incorporating stock artwork into a logo, check the license carefully and obtain any additional rights required before proceeding.
What About Model Releases and Property Rights?
Another consideration involves photographs showing recognizable people, private property, or branded products.
For example, suppose you download a photograph of a person working in an office and use it to advertise your own business.
Depending on the photograph and its intended use, you may need to confirm that an appropriate model release exists.
The same concern can apply to certain buildings, artwork, trademarks, or other protected elements appearing in an image.
Even when a stock website provides a broad copyright license, that doesn’t necessarily resolve every privacy, publicity, trademark, or property-rights issue.
This is one reason I recommend reviewing the license and any release information associated with an image, particularly when it will be used prominently in advertising.
And never use a photograph in a way that falsely implies the person pictured is a customer, employee, or representative of your business.
Choosing the Right Image Size for Web and Print
Another common source of confusion involves image resolution.
Years ago, stock photography websites often described photographs as either 72 DPI for websites or 300 DPI for print.
Although those numbers remain familiar, they’re not the best way to evaluate whether an image is suitable for a particular project.
For website use, the most important consideration is generally the image’s pixel dimensions.
For example, a photograph measuring 1800 pixels wide has the same number of pixels regardless of whether its metadata says 72 DPI or 300 DPI.
What matters is whether the image has enough pixels to display clearly at its intended size.
For print, the relationship between pixel dimensions and physical dimensions becomes important.
For example, an image measuring 1800 by 1200 pixels can produce a 6-by-4-inch print at 300 pixels per inch.
However, printing that same image at a much larger size would reduce its effective resolution.
The appropriate resolution can vary depending on the printing process and viewing distance, so it’s always worth checking with your printer.
For websites, I recommend downloading an image large enough for its intended use, then resizing and optimizing it before uploading.
There’s little reason to place an enormous photograph on a website when a properly optimized version will look just as good and load considerably faster.
Stock Photography Versus Photos of Your Actual Business
Although stock photography can be useful, I don’t recommend relying on it exclusively.
Whenever possible, I prefer using photographs that genuinely represent the business.
For example, a contractor’s website benefits from photographs of completed projects. A restaurant should show its actual food. A retail business can feature products, employees, and its storefront.
These photographs provide something stock images generally cannot: an authentic representation of what customers can expect.
Stock photography is particularly useful when suitable original photographs aren’t available, when a subject is difficult to photograph, or when you need an image to illustrate a general concept.
However, there’s a difference between using a photograph to illustrate an idea and presenting it as evidence of your company’s work.
For example, a solar contractor might use a stock photograph to illustrate battery storage technology, but photographs of actual installations would be more appropriate for a project portfolio.
The same principle applies to AI-generated images. These may be useful for conceptual graphics or certain promotional designs, but they shouldn’t be presented as photographs of actual work, products, locations, or customers when they aren’t.
My recommendation is to use authentic business photography wherever possible and supplement it with carefully selected stock images when needed.
Keep a Record of Your Image Licenses
One final recommendation is to maintain a record of the images you acquire.
For paid photographs, retain the purchase confirmation, image identification number, and applicable license.
For free images, it’s a good idea to save the source URL, photographer information, download date, and a copy or record of the license terms that applied when the image was obtained.
This can be particularly useful when working with client websites, where the person managing the site several years later may not know where a photograph originated.
It also helps avoid uncertainty if a stock photography provider changes its website or licensing terms.
I would also caution against downloading photographs from Google Images or other search results simply because they’re publicly accessible.
A photograph appearing in search results doesn’t mean it’s free to use.
Whenever possible, obtain images directly from the photographer or a reputable stock photography provider where the applicable licensing terms can be reviewed.
Final Thoughts
There are more excellent stock photography resources available today than ever before, and many are free to use.
For most small business websites, I recommend beginning with Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay. They offer a substantial selection of photographs that may be suitable for your project without requiring a paid subscription.
If you need a more specialized subject or additional licensing options, commercial resources such as Depositphotos, iStock, Adobe Stock, and Shutterstock are worth considering.
However, the best photograph isn’t necessarily the most expensive one.
My advice is to select images based on their relevance, composition, quality, and suitability for your website, while making sure you have the rights needed for their intended use.
And whenever possible, include photographs of your actual business, products, employees, and completed projects. Those images are often the most effective way to establish credibility with prospective customers.
For additional advice on evaluating composition, lighting, cropping, and color, see my article How to Choose Great Photos for Your Business Website.
