Free blog photos that won’t get you into trouble – where to find and how to use them

You can write the best texts, but if you don’t take care of the visual aspect of your blog, the reader will scroll past before reading the first sentence. Photos create atmosphere, capture attention, and make even simple content more valuable. But where to get free photos for your blog without ending up with a demand for compensation for copyright infringement? Google Images? Forget it. In this post, you will find specific tips on which sites are really worth knowing, how to safely use free downloadable photos for your blog, and how not to get lost in licenses.

Free Photos for Blogs – Where to Get Them Without Falling into Legal Traps?

Anyone running a blog sooner or later asks themselves, where to get free photos for the blog, that are legal and safe to use. There are plenty of places online that offer photos and graphics, but not every source is trustworthy. Using random graphics found on Google Images is a straightforward path to legal problems because most of them are copyrighted. It’s important to remember that “royalty-free” does not mean that images are free from copyright – they often may require attribution or a one-time fee, and copyright still remains with the creator.

The safest solution is to use reputable stock photo banks offering CC0 licenses or their own liberal licenses, which give you the right to use the photo freely, even for commercial purposes, without needing to attribute the author. If you’re wondering which photo download site is suitable, look for those that clearly define license terms for each photo and allow you to freely use resources without fear of legal consequences. This way, you can sleep peacefully and focus on writing content, knowing that your blog’s photos are fully legal.

Unsplash, Pixabay or Pexels – Where to Look for High-Quality Blog Photos?

If you’re looking for places that offer free high-quality photos for blogs, it’s worth checking out services like Unsplash, Pixabay, or Pexels.

• Unsplash is one of the largest databases of free photos where you can find images in really high resolution, which are perfect as post backgrounds or elements of graphics on social media.
• Pixabay, in addition to photos, also offers graphics, vectors, and short films, allowing for even greater flexibility in creating content.
• Meanwhile, Pexels stands out with an intuitive search engine and a large base of free videos, which can be useful if you’re considering video content for your blog.

Each of these services offers free downloadable photos for blogs without needing to attribute the author, which is a huge convenience, especially if you frequently use new visual materials. The advantage is also that all photos are available under the CC0 license or similar terms, giving you full freedom to edit, crop, or use them commercially if you run a blog for profit. Using these services, you can be sure that your free graphic for the site comes from a legal source and can be used without fear of copyright infringement.

Kaboompics and Burst – Free Photos for Lifestyle and E-commerce Sites

Not everyone knows that there are also specialized sites with free images that focus on the specific needs of bloggers and e-commerce creators.

• Kaboompics is a Polish platform offering lifestyle photos, perfect for blogs about interiors, fashion, beauty, or personal development. Interestingly, you can filter photos by color, which helps maintain a consistent visual style on the site and social media, a huge plus if you care about profile aesthetics.
• Meanwhile, Burst, owned by Shopify, offers free photos for blogs created with e-commerce in mind. You’ll find high-quality photos there that you can use for product promotion or as illustrations in educational content on your blog. Burst also operates under the CC0 model, meaning you can use, edit, crop, and adapt the photos for your needs commercially without worrying about licensing issues.

Thanks to these two platforms, you can enhance the visual level of your blog without spending money on paid stock photo banks.

Freepik and Flickr – What You Need to Know Before Downloading Photos from There?

Sometimes, when browsing sites with free images, you come across services like Freepik or Flickr. Both of these places offer a huge base of materials but require more attention when downloading photos.

• Freepik is a great source if you’re interested in free graphics for the site in the form of vectors or illustrations, but many materials require author attribution and have licensing restrictions, especially if you plan to use the graphics commercially. Always check the license upon download to avoid consequences, especially if you’re creating paid courses, ebooks, or selling digital products.
• Flickr is a huge platform full of photos from around the world but requires filtering photos by license type. Many photos are only available under licenses requiring author attribution or prohibiting commercial use. Therefore, if you want to use Flickr as a source of photos for your blog, you must filter search results by choosing the “commercial use” option, and verify the license type (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-NC) each time to ensure you can legally place the photo on your site.

How to Use Free Photos on a Blog Step by Step Without Problems

Many people ask how to safely use free photos on a blog to avoid legal trouble. The first step is to choose a trusted service that clearly defines licenses, like Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, Kaboompics, or Burst. The second step is to check the license for each photo – even in free photo banks, there may be exceptions that require author attribution or limit the use of the photo for commercial purposes.

After selecting a photo, it’s worth saving information about the license and author in case of future verification needs. Photos downloaded from such services can be edited, cropped, filtered, used in social media, ebooks, or advertising graphics, as long as the license does not state otherwise. Remember that by using legal sources, your free blog photos will comply with the law, and you will avoid the stress associated with copyright infringement.

Can You Use Google Images? Short Answer: No

Don’t be fooled by how easy it is to find free downloadable photos for a blog in the Google Images search engine. Most of the images you see there are copyrighted, and using them without the author’s consent can end with a demand for compensation. This is a common mistake made by novice creators who assume that if something is on the Internet, it’s free. That’s not true.

If you need photos for commercial use, such as running a revenue-generating blog, promoting products, or using the blog as a marketing tool, use only safe sources like Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay. It’s the simplest way to ensure your site’s safety while enriching it with aesthetic, legal photos that catch readers’ eyes.