What I Use: Best Free Stock Photo Sites Pt. 1
Let’s talk about reference photos.
If you’re a figurative artist like me, you probably use a lot of reference images. Assuming that you don’t have the subject right in front of you, references are the only way to wholly observe a thing and to nail it’s appearance (if realism is what you’re going for).
The absolute best reference photos are ones I’ve taken myself. Pictures from trips, sentimental moments, and everyday observations make for the most fun paintings. If I’m looking to paint something in a specific angle or lighting, I’ll sometimes stage my subject matter on a few large pieces of white Bristol paper and have a mini photoshoot.
Having said that, I’m not a professional photographer with an infinite budget. Sometimes I’m painting things or places I haven’t seen. In those situations, I turn to stock photos.
Stock photography and illustration sites let photographers and artists upload their works for folks to use. Some sites require you to buy the rights to use a photo, some are entirely free. Most sites have requirements and guidelines. I’ll talk you through them, share my favorites, and give you the links.
So like… Google images?
Nope, not like Google Images.
All the photos you find online are the creative property of someone and that doesn’t mean that they’re free for us to use in our artwork, especially if the artwork will later be up for sale. The last thing I want is to be complicit in the theft of someone’s intellectual or creative property. And by using someone else’s artwork without their permission, I’d be doing exactly that.
Having said all of that, I am not an expert. I have messed up before (haven’t we all) and that’s why I want to share my resources and my lessons with you. It is so important to make sure you are using artwork in an ethical way which is why the following sites are great. They are clear with what you can and can’t do with the images you download. If you’re ever unsure, it’s probably best to err on the side of caution. My motto is: when in doubt, leave it out.
At the bottom of this post, I’ve added more info on copyright infringement, fair use, and public domain and linked to some great explanatory references in case you want to read more. Okay! Enough of that. Here we go!
To show you a real side-by-side comparison, I searched for photos with the same keyword (“cherry”) for all of the below websites. I’ve listed how many “cherry” related photos each website has so you can also get an idea of scale. Click on the name of the site or the licensing links to be redirected.
Unsplash
This site is my holy grail. Unsplash has a bit of everything and I love that. They have a lot of clean still life images which are the kind I like to use for my style of artwork. Unsplash is my first stop when looking for reference photos.
Just for reference, they have 10,000-ish cherry images.
Here are the Unsplash licensing rules for you to see how you can use their photos.
Pexels
Probably my second favorite free site. There are a lot of still life and product shots so if I wanted to find a slice of cake on a clean white background, I can do that. A very cool aspect of Pexels is that you can also search by a color hex code (I only ever use this for fun, tbh)!
Just for reference, they have 3,750ish cherry images.
Here are the Pexels licensing rules for you to see how you can use their photos.
Pixabay
Pixabay has a ton of images so be prepared to have options. I find that some of their content is good (some if it is a little cheesy for me) but for some reason their navigation is harder to look at. (They show more images per page and they aren’t always related to your search terms. If you aren’t easily overwhelmed, this is a good one.
Just for reference, they have 2,080 cherry images.
Here are the Pixabay licensing rules for you to see how you can use their photos.
Burst
This site is great if you’re looking for lifestyle shoot photography (think: beautiful people drinking coffee, hot air balloons over a city at sunset, etc.) Their search function (like Pixabay) sometimes comes up with tangentially related images first, as you can see. They don’t have quite as many options as some of the other sites have which can be both a pro and a con. On one hand, less sifting through images. On the other hand, less options!
Just for reference, they have 110 cherry images.
Here are the Burst terms and conditions rules for you to see how you can use their photos.
Shutterstock
Okay, so Shutterstock is not free; but, you get what you pay for. They have hundred of millions of images, really thorough and easy to use search filters, and all the kinds of artwork you could ever want. If you know exactly what you’re looking for but just can’t find it anywhere, Shutterstock has it.
Just for reference, they have 2,360,843 cherry images. Holy smokes.
There are different licensing options with Shutterstock since it’s a paid platform so make sure to read what you’re agreeing to upon purchase!
(Getty Images and iStock are two other great pay-to-use websites. I used both of these back in my advertising days and really liked them for their gorgeous quality and visuals. I haven’t used either for personal art use, though!)
General Recommendations:
Create an account on every website you like. That way, you can create collections of photos you like that you can quickly and easily refer back to later. I make mine really specific eg. Ice Cream Cones, Tropical House Vibes, Beverages Served in Glass, etc.)
I’ll be referring to photographs because that’s all I use these for. Many of these sites also offer illustrations or vector images but I don’t like using other people’s illustrated art as references in my own art.
Paid stock websites like iStock and Shutterstock often advertise on the free sites. They’re sneaky like that. Make sure you know what you’re clicking on!
Stay tuned for Part 2
The sites I’ve shared here are some of my favorites for general use. But I have a list of more niche websites that I also use that I’m excited to share with you. Let me know what you think and if this was helpful in the comments below!
Definition deep dive:
If you want to learn some of the vocab or explore more of the legality behind copyright and licensing, here are some resources for you!
Copyright infringement, according to the U.S. Copyright website, is: “when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.”
You may have heard about Public Domain, what’s that? Again, from the U.S. Copyright website: “A work of authorship is in the ‘public domain’ if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.” Having said all of that, there’s no concrete way (that I know of) to check if an image you want to use is in the public domain.
Fair Use is when a copyrighted image is legally copied or used as a reference for the purpose of parody (think SNL) or commentary. This article from Stanford does a great job explaining it! Often when we hear about legal battles over artwork and copyright infringement, what constitutes as fair use is right at the heart of the argument. I also really appreciate this article from the Graphic Artist’s Guild about the fine line between Fair Use and Infringement.
And there are new examples and cases popping up all the time! Just last month, photographer Lynn Goldsmith won her case against the Andy Warhol Foundation for an unauthorized use of her portrait of Prince. Read the ArtNet article here for more.