Photos are some of the most valuable resources for creative ministry. While I’m a huge fan of using pictures that are actually taken in your church, I’ve learned that’s not always possible. That’s where stock photos come in. A great stock photo can provide professionalism, beauty, and quality that you may not have access to in your ministry.
A Google search for these valuable resources will generate an infinite number of websites with stock images ranging from a few bucks per photo to thousands of dollars per photo. (I literally think my Executive Pastor would pass out if I asked for a $1000 stock image.)
What if I told you that you could get absolutely beautiful stock photos for free? You’re not dreaming, my friend. Below are my favorite resources to download some of the best photos on the web for $0/photo. Some are even Christian-based, so they’re perfect for use inside your church.
1. Unsplash
2. Death To The Stock Photo
3. Lightstock’s Free Photo of the Week
4. StockSnap.io
5. Gratisography
6. Freely Photos
7. Life of Pix
8. No More Clip Art
9. Snapwire Snaps
10. Picjumbo
11. Jay Mantri
12. New Old Stock
Do you have any other resources for free stock photos?
Love this list!! One that our church (Grace Capital Church – gccnh.com) uses a lot is: http://magdeleine.co
Awesome! I’ll check that out.
Kendall
I like that one too Liz (has one of my photos on there!)
REALLY great list. A million thanks!
So glad you like it! I hope it’s useful to you.
Kendall
Great list. A couple I like to use are Pixabay.com & Freeimages.com. You need an account but otherwise the stock is free and typically diverse and good quality.
Awesome, Hannah! I’ll have to check those out.
Kendall
Great list Kendall!
I use http://thestocks.im/ … they offer up a bunch of collections like Unsplash, New Old Stock, Gratisography, all in one place!
I’m definitely adding No More Clip Art and Freely Photos to my bookmarks!
Very cool, Jeremiah! Both of those sites are pretty new.
Kendall
THANK YOU! I use a few of these sites, but LOVE knowing there is more out there! Thanks, Kendall!
So glad you are enjoying this post, Kathy!
Kendall
Awesome list
i use http://morguefile.com/
Awesome, Carlos! I’ll check it out.
Kendall
This will sound odd but what’s the best way to use these for your Church? Do you use them on your website, in your multimedia on Sunday’s? Sorry for the odd question, I’m just getting into managing the multimedia for our Church and am still learning :)
Hi, Terry – Check out http://instagram.com/piedmontchapel to see how I use them on our church’s social media pages. We also use them for sermon graphics quite a bit.
Great thanks!
Bookmarking this for future use! Would love to see a similar list for graphics especially ones that can be edited liked layered photoshop files.
I didn’t see anyone mention http://littlevisuals.co
Also, http://compfight.com is a great search tool if you’re looking for something specific but not necessarily free.
We were just talking about an hour ago about how our biggest challenge in creating a good church website is the photos. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Nice collection! Number 6. Freely Photos has some great photos.
Great list Kendall, well done.
I also suggest to add http://realisticshots.com
It is a great source for free stock photos, it is searchable and filterable.
Hi, thanks for you list, some sites are new for me. Here is another one: http://freepix.eu/
Hi,
Please also check out http://www.goodfreephotos.com for thousands of public domain photos. Appreciate it if you could add it to your list of sites. thanks.
Here’s another site with lots of freebies! http://www.morguefile.com
Thanks! Here is one great stock photo project from Latvia – http://www.momenti.lv/
The stock exchange http://www.sxc.hu
Kendall, It is over 10 years I shoot photos. Today I have over 20000 photos I share for free on http://www.cepolina.com. 0$/photo is also my price.
Check out allthefreestock.com
It’s basically like a hub for tons or high quality free media stuff, including photos.
Hi. I use to visite these free stock photo places too:
– freerangestock.com
– imagebase.net
– littlevisuals.co
– jaymantri.com
– thestocks.im
– allthefreestock.com
– picography.com
– magdeleine.co
– freeepy.com
I got a lot of them more (verified links). If you think they could be useful I´ll be glad to share them with you.
Hi,
Also check out http://www.goodfreephotos.com for thousands of unique public domain photos, especially travel photos. All taken by me. Appreciate it if you could add it to your list. Thanks.
A “Thank you!” a brazilian pastor.
Do you have any suggestions of websites that offer textures or other graphics that you can overlay on to of stock photos. For example, on your instagram page, I’m thinking of the white lines that are on top of the ‘Fresh Air’ series graphic, or the teal diagonal pattern that overlays the ‘Two Worship Gatherings’ graphic?
Also, where do you go for some of the fonts you use on your instagram images? Like in the image that says, “Put God first and everything else will fall into place”?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Kendall,
Just wanted you to know your list of photo resources is featured today on Create-A-Day: your daily dose of creativity from http://www.jodythomae.com
Creative blessings, Jody
Nice Article , Can you include http://www.sketchjar.com into your list for Free Stock Photos? Its a project which we have started recently and we have hand picked photos and are based on CC0 license.
Thank you so much! This list was such a great resource for our church.
Thanks so much for all the helpful info! Your site has been my go to site, we are in the process of implementing media for our screens at church, and I’ve come here frequently for your advice and handy tips. Thanks again, God bless!
Awesome! Glad that I can help! :)
Any creative commons stuff on Flickr.com & DeviantArt.com (they have a stock resources section)
This is great! I knew of some of these but not all. Thanks!
Just found your blog; thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge and resources!
I’m a web designer for ministry organizations and am always in need of quality, but most importantly free, stock photos. Here’s a site that I found not too long ago that combines several of the sites you listed above to search all in one place: http://librestock.com/
God Bless!
Great article Kendall!
I started http://fancycrave.com/ 1 year ago as a side project. The site consists of completely free stock photos all taken by me and other professional photographers. My aim for these photos is to help designers and creative alike. People can use these images for whatever purpose they please. Each image is licensed under CC0.
I keep things very simple. I list the photo, its tags, the author, and the download link. The site layout is very minimal and straight forward. We strive to publish two new images every single day.
I hope you and others will find it valuable. If you see it fit, I’d be very grateful if you could add it to this list. Cheers!
Always good to see lists like these as options continue to grow online.
I’ve found myself using video more in different ways, so just to get things started, here are some free video (b-roll) sites that might be helpful to folks:
http://video.pexels.com
http://mazwai.com
http://coverr.co
http://lifeofvids.com
plus, here’s a site that has categorized lists for photo, video, graphics, textures, mockups, etc:
http://makerbook.net
Thanks for sharing, Gene!
I just spent an hour on Unsplash + am so inspired right now – thank you!
Unsplash is the best!
Thanks for this listing :-)
THANK YOU!!! <3
Thank you x 1000 Kendall
All are excellent resources!
I love reading comments like this. :)
One newer resource I’ve been using is Wunderstock. They have a pretty large collection of Christian photos. Some of the content is heavily location-based (such as a number of Catholic images in Spain), but overall the collection is very good quality and diverse.