Using stock photos is a great way to add visual interest to your blog posts. I use them as part of my blog formatting to break up larger sections of text in my longer posts. In this day and age where people hardly want to read, giving readers a visual representation of what they are reading can help keep them reading your posts or on your blog for much longer. They are also great for blog graphics for your website. Upload them into Canva or Photoshop and format your text across it for custom blog header or featured image graphics. You can take your own or find them via free and paid stock photo websites. I’ve compiled a list of 5 of my favorite sites to get stock photos for my blog.
Create Her Stock
First off we have Create Her Stock, one of my favorite stock sites. I use them for most of the stock images on Capturing Fashion and even in this post. Founded by women of color, this stock site is all about creating stock photos that represent people of color, similar to the “Lean In” project by Getty Images. It’s similar to Death to the Stock Photo where monthly packs of images are sent out and then VIP customers have access to the entire library of photos. Neosha, the founder says “I admire the process of being able to create a photographic experience for my users...We curate content that feels good - for bloggers, influencers, and various creative niches. I say all the time we aren’t a one-stop shop but that’s why we are always happy to share our other stock photo site friends. It allows us to support and grow at the same time.
Creative Market
Creative Market is basically the Etsy for design and photo materials for your blog. You can get graphics, blog themes, Photoshop actions, stock photos and whatever else you need for your blog all in one place. There is a mix of free and paid materials on the site so don’t feel like you have to shell over a bunch of money to get what you need. At the end of the day you are supporting independent creators like my friend Tia of The Retouching Blog who has her own Lightroom presets on the site here.
Death to the Stock Photo
Death to the Stock Photo is a stock photo site with some ethics behind it. You can sign up for monthly packs of stock photos based on a theme or pay for the membership site and have access to all the photos they’ve compiled. Part of the proceeds from the membership pay for photographers to travel and take photos for the site or to fund their own personal projects.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that allows for content creators to share their work globally and chose how they want to protect it. They offer licensing for the creator to have to all rights, some reserved rights or no rights to their work.
According to Creative Commons, “Creative Commons provides free, easy-to-use copyright licenses to make a simple and standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work–on conditions of your choice.” You can search for music, photos, graphics and more on the platform to find works that you can use for your own content. In this case, Creative Commons has plenty of stock photos for whatever you need. Just be sure to check whether the owner of the image has all rights reserved, some rights reserved or if you have free reign to alter the image however you chose. Some stock photos may require you to attribute the owner.
Etsy
You may know Etsy as the site to get all your homemade goods from but that doesn’t stop at physical goods. Etsy is home to numerous digital goods as well such as logos, website themes and stock photography. Most of the photos come in packs or as single image downloads. You can even find ones specifically for blog featured images, flat lays and more.
Whether you find stock photos on the internet or take your own stock photos make sure they are of the highest quality and align with your blog’s brand and how that should look.
If you’re struggling with how to create quality photos for your blog or business leave me a comment below and let me know how I can help. If you’re based in Atlanta I offer a blog photography package here for fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers that need their looks shot. Don’t be shy and send me an email.