Our clients need to provide most of the images for a website but stock photography can be used. Hiring a photographer and doing a photo shoot is highly recommended. You should never search for images online and then use them on your website unless you’ve purchased rights to use those image or the images are designated to be free to use (Creative Commons 0).

The best photos to use on a website usually have people in them and clearly express a certain idea or concept. Our brains first seek out people when we see an image.

Where can I find photos for my website?

There are stock photography websites you can purchase images from – make sure you can use them on the web. Or else there are a number of websites where you can download free images to use (see our Links page for a list).

There are a few kinds of images to be aware of:

• Royalty-Free: This does not mean the image is free to use, but there’s usually a cost involved. What it means is that no royalties need to be paid to the people (models) shown in the images. You can use them as many times as you care to without having to purchase more rights.
• Public Domain / Creative Commons 0: These kinds of images are ones that have their intellectual property (IP) rights released to the public or they have expired. You can use them however you want and as many times as you want.
• Rights-Managed: You can only use these images a certain amount of times.

With any image you use or purchase, make sure you understand how it can and cannot be used.