When building a website it is important to have quality images that are representative. While there are free stock photo sources, if you need images then I would suggest browsing the many commercial stock photography sites available since they will have a much larger selection, better quality, and will include varied image size and resolution formats, as well vector images and video in many cases.
It is important to note that for “web” lower resolution images will typically do fine since the web uses 72dpi, not the 300dpi used for print graphics. Of course if you are creating a portfolio or brochure to be printed, then yes, get the high resolution versions. As for the stock photo sites, each does things a bit differently, but most offer a monthly subscription of some type. In some you can download hundreds a month (shutterstock allows 750 per month), while with others you pay for images in advance and get a better pricing if you choose to buy more by their credit system (istockphoto), and a few allow for individual image purchase. Another important consideration is the size of the image. As a rule, I would suggest getting images that are at least 2000px in width. Larger image sizes will be needed for a header design using contemporary sizing dimensions. But if you know that the image will only be an accent on a page, then 800px in width is typically large enough.
You can locate stock photography by doing a Google search, yet for quick reference here are some of the better ones.
Prices last checked June 2020.
Deposit Photos
Least Expensive On Demand option: 10 images for $49
Least Expensive Monthly Subscription option: 75 images for $69
* Frequently have promotions wherein you can download 100 photos for $100 (on demand)
https://depositphotos.com/subscribe.html
Shutterstock
Least Expensive On Demand option: 2 images for $29
Least Expensive Monthly Subscription option: 10 images for $29
https://www.shutterstock.com/pricing
Dreamstime
Least Expensive Credits option: 11 images for $14.99
Least Expensive Monthly Subscription option: 5 images for $23
https://www.dreamstime.com/credits
Adobe Stock
Least Expensive Credits option: 5 image credits for $49.95
Least Expensive Monthly Subscription option: 3 images for $29
https://stock.adobe.com/plans
iStockphoto
Least Expensive Credits option: 3 image credits for $33
Least Expensive Monthly Subscription option: 10 images for $70
https://www.istockphoto.com/plans-and-pricing
Stockphoto
Least Expensive Credits option: 110 image credits for $99
Least Expensive Monthly Subscription option: 5 images for $39
https://stockphoto.com/pricing
Bigstockphoto
Least Expensive Credits option: 10 images credits for $35
Least Expensive Monthly Subscription option: 25 images for $69
https://www.bigstockphoto.com/subscribe/
Free Images
Okay, so you don’t want to pay for images, right? Well, there are a lot of free stock photo sites as well but many have a relatively limited selection so you will need to do some searching. When searching just use the search terms “free stock photos” and “public domain photos” and you will find many sites. A couple of personal favorites of mine are:
https://pixabay.com/
https://www.pexels.com/
https://www.stockfreeimages.com/
Note that these sites are free, though some will use their free status as a leader to get you to purchase higher quality versions. Other free stock sources may request that you provide a link to their website or some other form of notice, which won’t be too intrusive if your site has a “suggested sites” or other link exchange format.
In many cases, we do use the free stock photo sites on our client websites since this enables us to keep our cost down. And finally just a word of caution. There are sites out there who will represent themselves as public domain resources for free royalty free graphics content, but in some case the content they provide may not be public, but instead just uploaded by members who have purchased the content or acquired it by some other means.
