Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Some of these sites I’ve been using for years, like when I was creating my most recent SlideShare deck: 7 Ways to Grow Your Online Course Audience.

Others are newer finds from some trusted resources, like Buffer blog, nu School, andBootstrap Bay.

The following sites made the list because one, the photos they share are beautiful, and two, the photos are compelling images that do not look like the typical, generic stock image. The photos make an impact. Plus searching around the sites aren’t difficult either.

Importantly, I’ve done all the hard work for you. I’ve checked to make sure that each photo site in this list falls under the Creative Commons Zero license. AKA they are free to use for your commercial and personal needs!  (Find a more detailed legal explanation at the end)...

High quality free photos in one place. We hunt for best free images from many online sources and pull them all together in one spot. Most of our photos are CC0 license (do whatever you want). Additionally we offer all Creative Commons and Public Domain photos from sources like Flickr and make it possible to embed them directly from our website.

Photo: Ian D Keating

VisualHunt is a meta-search engine designed to find only CC0 (Public Domain) and CC (Creative Commons) licensed images from tens of available online image libraries.

Pre-defined filters let you single out images by license:

- Commercial use

- Non-commercial 

- Public domain

- by pre-defined popular thematic categories

- by popularity, freshness, interestingness, by relevance and also by pre-defined colors.

All images can be downloaded and also embedded (embed code provided).100% free.

My comment: Another useful image search engine for web publishers looking for free quality images to use inside their content.

Try it out now: http://visualhunt.com/...

Free images and videos you can use anywhere

All images and videos on Pixabay are released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. You may download, modify, distribute, and use them royalty free for anything you like, even in commercial applications. Attribution is not required.

Are you searching for the perfect image for your website, blog post, advertisement, or media project, but don’t want to spend a dime? StockPhotosforFree.com has you covered, providing a selection of over 100,000 completely free stock photos that you can use in all types of projects (even commercial!), and there are never any fees.

Who we are and why we’re free:

StockPhotosforFree is your best resource for high-quality free stock photos. Most of the free stock photos found on our site originate on our parent sites, GraphicStock and VideoBlocks. It is because of these two sites that we are fortunate enough to provide you with the high-quality stock photos found on StockPhotosforFree. Explore our content and check out our parent sites to find amazing free stock images and build your collection.

Where our free stock photos come from:

Most of the original 100,000 photos on our website are from still frames pulled out of HD videos on VideoBlocks.com. That said, we are constantly adding new photos to our site. This includes super high resolution shots provided by professional photographers from around the world. Everything is free, so check back often!...

The New York Public Library just released a treasure trove of digitized public domain images, everything from epic poetry from the 11th century to photographs of used car lots in Columbus, Ohio from the 1930s. Over 180,000 manuscripts, maps, photographs, sheet music, lithographs, postcards, and other images were released online Wednesday in incredibly high resolution, and are available to download using the library's user-friendly visualization tool. It's a nostalgist's dream come true....

Whether you promote content that is fresh or seasonal, evergreen or topical, your endeavor will be meaningless if it doesn’t make your readers sizzle and pop with excitement. How do you capture the attention of your audience without crafting content from scratch?

Perhaps all you need is a high-quality photo. Not a bland, lifeless image, but an attention-grabbing picture — one with a story behind it. Maybe you need a series of compelling images if you’re marketing a lengthy content piece.

Research shows that:

• Color visuals increase a person’s willingness to go through a content piece by 80%.
• Posts or articles with images receive 94% more views than posts or articles without images.
• Understanding of content jumps from 70% to 95% with the integration of images....

“Humans are complex and unpredictable, and there’s no reason why brand visuals can’t be, too.” – Lauren Catten, Art Director at Getty Images

Imagination is one of the four factors that make for a powerful image, and nothing stirs it more than Surreality – one of iStock & Getty Images’ 2016’s top visual trends.  

The reason is simple: these original and sometimes peculiar compositions trigger a feeling of pleasure in experiencing the unpredictable. The aesthetic can transform an ordinary topic into something new and exciting. It can help distinguish a brand in a sea of similarity, making for memorable content that leaves a lasting impression. And, thanks to its hyper-immersive, psychedelic visuals, it has very broad appeal.

Nature-related images work as a particularly potent metaphor in this realm, leaving room for interpretation and creating meaningful connections with your content....