How to Download Free Stock Photos and Illustrations

If working with stock photo sites has already been a long‑term routine, there is surely awareness of a Free section on stock agency websites. In these sections it is possible to download curated sets of high‑quality photos and illustrations offered by the agencies at no charge.

However, a large number of people still search for quality free images that can be used lawfully, comb through countless websites, and not always successfully.

So for everyone interested in obtaining free photos and illustrations legally from stock sites, here is a guide on where and how to find (download) quality free photos and illustrations.

Where to download stock images for free?

So, virtually all leading stock photo agencies offer free‑to‑use stock images from their portfolios. These free photo and illustration picks on microstocks are updated and rotated daily.

Naturally, the number and variety of images in such free selections on microstocks is significantly smaller than what is offered for standard purchase. And the quality of free images is often lower.

As can be guessed, the images offered for free use, or in other words free download, are those that for one reason or another do not sell at all or sell very rarely, meaning buyers are not willing to pay for them on stock sites. Although there are exceptions.

Still, if there is a chance to get images for free, why refuse it?

By the way, many will wonder why stock sites engage in this kind of generosity. There is nothing unusual here. It is a standard marketing move to attract new buyers.

A person who comes to a stock site for free images and does not find anything suitable in the free section may well turn to photos and illustrations that are offered for purchase.

Or, after downloading something from the agency’s free section, next time when a need arises to buy a photo or illustration on a microstock, that person will return to this trusted site.

Also, it should be interesting what the benefit is for the content author, and why free photos and illustrations can be advantageous for contributors.

This is fairly simple and practical. Adding photos and illustrations to the free download section helps the author promote a portfolio, since someone who wants a free photo or vector may check the rest of the author’s images and even purchase something.

Also, by adding free images for download, a contributor slightly boosts a ranking on the stock site.

And beyond that, it is another way to earn for authors. For example, Adobe Stock pays contributors $0.50 for photos and illustrations included in the free download section.

The only limitation for contributors when adding images is that the free section can include photos and illustrations that have been in the author’s Adobe Stock portfolio for at least 2 years and have not sold even once in that period.

There is also an important nuance. If a file was rejected by reviewers, an author can try submitting it for inclusion in the free image library. In this case the image will also go through review, though it will not have to wait 2 years like files accepted into the paid collection.

For example, on Crestock a contributor can propose an image for the free section and receive a one‑time payment of 5 dollars. However, each such image must be pre‑approved by Crestock reviewers.

On iStockphoto, adding images to the free section is also quite difficult. There are many applicants, but only the best are selected. Therefore, if there is a desire to add a photo or illustration to iStock’s free section, a request must be sent to the reviewers via the site’s contact form and approval obtained.

One more clarification: since everything is free, it is logical that stock sites impose certain restrictions on the use of such free images, such as:

• Limiting the size of the desired image
• Restrictions on how the free image may be used
• Limiting the number of free images available for download, even if the agency’s free library contains many more free photos and illustrations.

Today not all top microstocks offer photos and illustrations for free download. The sites that have sections for downloading free photos and illustrations include Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, iStockphoto, Dreamstime, 123 RF, and Crestock.

But, as mentioned above, each stock site imposes its own specific restrictions for working with images in the free section.

And one more important point: to download images from a free section, registration on the stock site is required. Below are overviews of agencies that offer free stock photos and illustrations.

How to download from Shutterstock for free

On Shutterstock, one photo and one illustration can be downloaded for free each week. There is one caveat – there will be no option to choose a free image independently, meaning the stock site Shutterstock selects the free photo and illustration of the week.

However, the free selections are high‑quality images pre‑approved with the content author.

To download free photos and illustrations from Shutterstock, as with all stock sites, registration as a buyer is required.

If any questions arise about the sign‑up process, refer to the information on buyer registration on Shutterstock.

By the way, the free photo and illustration can be downloaded in any resolution and then used under the standard Royalty‑Free license terms!

To see the free photos and illustrations available for download this week, simply go to the service’s home page. Free photos and vectors of the week are shown on the homepage, at the bottom left.

Here is an example of a free photo from Shutterstock:

To download free illustrations and photos from Shutterstock, registration is required. Details about registration can be found on the blog in the Shutterstock section.

Free images on Depositphotos

Depositphotos offers a fairly substantial selection of quality photos, vector illustrations, and videos for free download.

The free section of this stock site is here: Great Free Photos, Vectors and Videos. Deposit does not impose special size limits on free images. Both photos and vectors can be downloaded for free up to XL resolution.

Things are good with videos too: videos can be downloaded for free in resolutions from 240P up to 1080P under the standard license in MOV format.

Here is an example of a free photo from Depositphotos available at the time of writing:

To be able to download these free photos, illustrations, and clips from Depositphotos, registration and then logging into the account is required, as on other stock sites.

Photos and illustrations from Dreamstime for free

Dreamstime provides a very large free library of photos and illustrations for use. All free images available for download are of good quality.

The Dreamstime free section is located here: Free Images. Images in this section can be searched by keywords.

In the search results not only free images will be shown, but also paid ones that can be purchased on the stock site. If a paid image appeals, it can be bought.

Dreamstime imposes no size limits on free images, though there is a circulation limit for using a free image. Here is an example of a free photo from Dreamstime:

To download free photos and illustrations from Dreamstime, do not forget to register on Dreamstime.

Download for free from iStockphoto

Starting with the most reputable stock agency, iStockphoto. The images in the free download section are refreshed weekly.

There is also an archive of free photos and illustrations on iStock’s site. A buyer can download 4 free photos or illustrations. To download, registration on the stock site via istоckphоtо.cоm is required.

The photos and illustrations offered in the free section are high‑quality. All free images on iStockphoto are provided under the standard Royalty‑Free license. Here is an example of a free photo from iStockphoto:

To get free photos and illustrations from iStockphoto, be sure to register on this microstock.

Adobe Stock photo agency

The popular European stock site Adobe Stock offers a very extensive and constantly expanding free library of photos and illustrations.

For photos and illustrations from the Adobe Stock free library there are no size limits, and the chosen free image can be used under standard Royalty‑Free license terms. However, no more than 16 free photos and illustrations can be downloaded per day.

Do not forget to register on Adobe Stock by following the link to their site. Free images can be viewed by navigating to the corresponding section on the site. Here is an example of a free photo from Adobe Stock:

Remember that to download an image from the Adobe Stock free library, registration on this stock site is required.

Download stock images from 123RF

The stock agency 123 Royalty Free (123RF) also offers a large number of free illustrations and photos for download. Notably, many free photos and illustrations stand out for good quality.

On 123 Royalty Free (123RF) photographers and illustrators decide for themselves which image to include in the free section and how long the image will be displayed there.

There are also restrictions for free images. The free image size is limited to a web size, and for print runs the number of copies must not exceed 10,000.

Note that there is no keyword search in the 123RF free library. Images can only be browsed in sequence.

Again, to download free stock photos and illustrations from 123 Royalty Free, it is necessary to register on 123 Royalty Free (123RF) as a buyer at the link: httр://www.123rf.соm/. Here is an example of a free photo from 123 Royalty Free:

To download free stock photos and illustrations from 123 Royalty Free (123RF), please register on the stock site.

Download free images from Crestock

The Crestock stock agency offers one free photo or vector illustration of good quality for download.

To keep track of which images on Crestock are available for free download, it is possible to subscribe to the RSS feed of free images published by the agency.

Again, free illustrations and photos from Crestock can be downloaded only once per day. Here is an example of a free work (vector drawing) from the Crestock microstock:

To be able to download free photos and illustrations from Crestock, do not forget to register.

This is a selection of stock agencies for downloading free images.

It is clear that when looking for something high‑quality and unique, it is still better to buy photos and illustrations on stock sites. Naturally, free images from stock sites are downloaded by thousands of people, and using such images later will not provide much exclusivity, unlike paid photos and illustrations.

Also, stock agencies usually include in their free image libraries stock photos and illustrations that do not enjoy solid demand from paying customers.

This article is available in the following categories: About Microstocks, 123RF, Dreamstime, Fotolia, Istockphoto, Shutterstock