Stock Images

Stock images sometimes offer a small percentage of images for free, however most will cost you. It is important to check the license of any image you purchase.

Rights managed licensed images place restrictions on how you can use an image. For example, an image may be restricted to what geographical location it can be used in or the length of time you are allowed to use the image may be limited.

Royalty-free is one of the most common licenses. Royalty-free does not mean an image is free to download. It means that an image can be used a defined number of times without additional fees. Additional usage rights can then be purchased after that.

As you will soon see, the list of stock image services online is immense. Below is a small list of some of the most popular services online.

Getty Images

Getty Images

One of the oldest and most popular stock image services online.

iStock Photo

iStock Photo

A stock image service that has millions of premium photos on offer.

morgueFile

morgueFile

Free high resolution stock images that can be used for illustrations or designs. They have a fantastic selection of original photos.

PhotoRack

PhotoRack

Thousands of free stock images, which are categorised into dozens of categories.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock

A large stock image service that offers over 25 million stock photos, illustrations, vectors and videos.

Other Stock Image Services

I was not joking when I noted above that there are many stock image services out there. Stock Images are big business; which is why there are so many companies trying to profit from it. Note that many of the stock image services listed on the page are owned by the same company. Some specialise in particular niches, whilst others offer the same range of images.

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