If you’re a photo-lover and want to use stock photography, you have several options. The most popular of these sites are Depositphotos.com, Getty Images, Dreamstime, Pixabay, and Unsplash. You may also find unique photos and video clips on other sites. But which one is best for your needs? Below, we’ve listed the top four photo-stock sites for your needs. And if none of those sites work for you, try out these alternatives!
Unsplash
If you need royalty-free photos for your blog, website, or magazine, Unsplash is a great resource. It has a huge catalog of high-resolution, CC0-licensed, and public-domain photos. Searching through their photos is easy and allows you to view unlimited free stock images. This site has many photographers who share their photos with the public. These photos have been edited in specific ways and capture emotion, perspective, and specific photographic editing. Unsplash’s catalog features everything from landscapes and portraits to travel, fashion, and food services.
Depositphotos
Depositphotos.com is a fast-growing stock content platform featuring over a million high-quality music tracks and sound effects. Available under a royalty-free license, audio files are accessible after purchasing affordable subscriptions or on-demand plans. Browsing the extensive library, users can find sound effects for games, background music for the videos, and other files for their personal and commercial creative projects.
Thanks to a community of 100 thousand international contributors, the marketplace is updated with the new stock content daily. The platform uses AI-powered search algorithms to find requested tracks in seconds. The search results can be filtered by BPM, length, genre, and mood. You can also download free, watermarked samples to see how the audio fits your work.
When choosing among several music files, add them to favorites to then compare and download the most fitting ones. However, to proceed with saving unwatermarked music tracks and sound effects to your device, you need to create a Depositphotos account and buy a preferred plan.
Getty Images
Getty Images is a visual media company based in the United Kingdom that provides editorial photography, stock images, video, and music for use in a wide variety of publications. Its library contains more than four hundred million assets, and it primarily targets the media, corporate departments, and creative professionals. Among other things, it offers an extensive selection of historical images and videos. For a low monthly fee, Getty Images also offers a subscription plan, which makes it easier to purchase and use photos on a regular basis.
While many stock photography websites offer the same selection of images, Getty Images offers a wider variety of images and media than its competitors. Many of its contributors’ images are unique and cannot be found anywhere else. It also offers a wide variety of formats and resolutions. Regardless of your project’s needs, Getty Images is sure to have the right image for your project. Getty Images offers everything from wedding photographs to landscapes.
Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a leading stock photography site, which sells ordinary photos, vector files, TIFF files, and exclusive photos. Its community-based development model allows contributors to become involved in keyword development, blog article submission, and site revision. The Dream Team is continually working to improve its keyword functions, so that members can find photos that meet their needs. This approach has cultivated a loyal membership and made Dreamstime one of the largest stock photography agencies.
In the past three years, Dreamstime has awarded more than PS250,000 (about $500) in prize money, discounts, and prizes to contributors. Inga’s contribution received a special prize. Dreamstime does not pay the highest commission rates, but they have a supportive community and allow contributors to upload as many images as they want. Contributors are able to withdraw funds once their balance reaches a certain limit.
Pixabay
You’ve probably heard of Pixabay, a free exchange photography site, and have wondered how it differs from other stock photography sites. This site hosts more than 1.5 million free stock photos and videos. You can browse images by type, subject, photographer, orientation, size, and color. Pixabay also features an Editor’s Choice curation section, where a team of editors selects their favorite images. You can access this section from the Explore dropdown menu.
Before 9 January 2019, all images on Pixabay were released under CC0, the Creative Commons license, which deeds the content into the public domain. The site then imposed a custom, more restrictive license on all images. The license restricts the use of licensed works and prevents sales of unaltered copies of those works. The content can also no longer be used as stock images or wallpapers. However, because Pixabay has a skilled reviewer, the content remains accessible.
Wirestock
If you are a professional photographer, you may have heard about Wirestock, an online marketplace for photos. There are millions of people documenting their lives with their cameras online, but most don’t realize the commercial potential. Wirestock encourages photographers to sell their photos and earn a bit of extra cash. Using a wirestock account can be a great way to make some money and learn more about stock photography.
When submitting to Wirestock, you upload your files and attach release forms if necessary. Once your content is approved, you can sell it directly to customers. To sell your work, you need to create a portfolio page, which is easy to do with the help of Wirestock’s Easy Submission feature. Then you can share the link with your friends and family and get a commission. Once you’ve uploaded your work to Wirestock, you can manage your submissions and sales from one account. You can analyze your earnings across all marketplaces from one central location. Wirestock will pay you 15% of the earnings you make from each file you submit.
Freepik
Freepik is one of the most popular online platforms for stock photos and design graphics. It has over 48 million assets, including illustrations, vectors, stock images, and stock videos. Users can browse the library and download assets for free, although Freepik also offers a Premium subscription. If you get one of those, you won’t need to add an attribution line to your world, and it also gives you access to additional content.
The website is designed for easy navigation and fast downloads, and the library is organized into categories, such as nature, business, and technology. In addition, the platform welcomes contributors from all around the world and has a streamlined setup process. Freepik is the perfect place to find any design assets and stock images for any personal or commercial project.
Conclusion
You can find photos from around the world that you can use for your project, but keep in mind that you cannot use their original work for commercial purposes without the owner’s permission. The Creative Commons Zero copyright means that you cannot charge other users for using your photos. You’re also allowed to earn royalties from commercial stock photography sites, but you cannot earn any money from freelance work. So dive in stock photography websites and search for many beautiful, original images that can be used in blog posts, websites, and other media projects.
