Where to Find the Best FREE and PAID Stock Photos (Video)

LindsayMarsh
LindsayMarsh Posts: 437 rolemodel rank
in First-time course creation

Hi everyone! I thought I post post a few places I like to find both FREE and PAID stock photo resources.

As a graphic designer for over 14 years and now a graphic design instructor here on Udemy, I get asked this question a lot. There are several places to find fantastic stock photos and even stock footage (video).

One of the few free open license options I like to use is pexels.com. All of these images have the Creative Commons 0 license (CC0). What that means is you are free to use this photo in your videos as often as you like, and no credit is required. There is even a pexels.com that contains video footage. Although the video footage, there is not as much available as a paid site, so be aware of that.

Pixabay.com is another free creative commons stock photo website.

A few paid stock website I have come to know and trust over the years is istockphoto.com and Shutterstock. They contain a wide variety of low-priced photo options as well as stock video footage.

Another great addition to my paid stock library is Adobe stock. The photos here tend to be a little more expensive, but the quality is excellent and top notch. I use them often for professional-level projects. They also have stock video footage as well for your video lessons.

The rules for photo licensing use can be complex. I have a short video posted below that explains this in detail about creative commons and what to look for when using both free and paid photos. I thought this might be useful even though it was originally intended for graphic designers, the same rules apply. (Sorry for the audio quality, I created this video a while ago before I upgraded my microphone!)

Comments

  • İlkerErdal
    İlkerErdal Posts: 7 researcher rank

    Thank you @LindsayMarsh


    I believe there would be searchers for other assets, too in this conversation and I can suggest Envato elements.

    This is a paid option but not much expensive when you consider you can reach sound effects, musics, graphic templates (PSD, Ai, After Effects, Premiere files) beside stock photos.

    One month subscription was enough for my assets to use in my course =)

  • Unknown
    Unknown

    @LindsayMarsh

    I get almost all of my images these days from pixabay.com.

    I love their no nonsense, royalty free and no attribution required approach.

    All of my Udemy course card images are free from Pixabay.

    ---Brian

  • LindsayMarsh
    LindsayMarsh Posts: 437 rolemodel rank

    @
    The fact that they are all creative commons 0 is fantastic, I do not have to worry about licensing restrictions.

  • LindsayMarsh
    LindsayMarsh Posts: 437 rolemodel rank

    I have used Envato before it is a great suggestion @İlkerErdal
    !

  • LindsayMarsh
    LindsayMarsh Posts: 437 rolemodel rank

    @SharonRamel

    great suggestion as well. I am certified Canva Creative and teach courses on Canva. The tools are super powerful for a cloud based totally online application. Sometimes it is even quicker than using more pro tools like Adobe Photoshop etc. especially when it comes to putting together course graphics. They offer a lot of photos for free but also allow you to purchase photos for a fairly cheap price.

  • MarkLassoff
    MarkLassoff Posts: 320 visionary rank

    We just posted a YouTube video on this. We have 8 sources of royalty-free/ free to download images that we use. Hope you find it useful...

    https://youtu.be/L2KjhjFP_f8

  • EmmaLyons2015
    EmmaLyons2015 Posts: 4 researcher rank

    Thank you for sharing this information.

  • CoursesSubconsciously
    CoursesSubconsciously Posts: 4 researcher rank

    What Shutterstock license did you use for your Udemy courses, standard or enhanced?

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