Are you planning to build a travel blog but struggling to find topnotch, royalty-free images to complement your content? Look no further!
In this blog post, we curated a list of the best sites to get royalty-free travel photos that will boost your online presence. From touristy cityscapes and countryside snaps to tropical beach wedding photos, these websites offer a range of options to suit your niche.
Whether you’re a blogger or business owner, these sites will help you source pictures that will engage your audience. So, let’s explore the best sites – big and small – for royalty-free travel photos.
Pixabay is a thriving online community that provides free access to a vast collection of images, videos, and music that you can use without seeking permission or giving credit to the creator. All content on Pixabay is released under the Pixabay License, which permits both personal and commercial use of the available images at no cost.
Pixabay employs an efficient tagging system and user-friendly interface that allows users to find exactly what they need. Additionally, users can adjust the quality and dimensions of the images they download. Before downloading images, you must register for a free account through your Google or Facebook account.
Pexels is an ideal choice for anyone seeking premium quality stock images without worrying about copyright issues. This platform has a huge collection of images categorized into themes, ensuring that you can quickly find the image you need.
All images on Pexels are available under the Creative Common Zero (CC0) license, which allows users to use, modify, and customize the images for both personal and commercial purposes. Canva acquired Pexels and Pixabay in 2019. But getting started with Pexels remains simple; you can create a free account using your Facebook credentials or through a registration form.
Recently, Pexels has also expanded to include free stock videos, making it an excellent choice for content creators looking to incorporate dynamic visual content into their travel blogs.
Burst is a popular platform with 20,000+ free stock photos. It is powered by e-commerce giant Shopify. Most, if not all, Shopify merchants already use Burst to obtain high-quality images for their online stores. But Burst’s goal is to expand their audience and be the entrepreneur’s photo collection of choice for visual marketing.
They have a pool of talented photographers who upload high-resolution images that reflect trends in retail, but they also feature a great deal of images in other categories. Their “Around the World” photo collection contains hundreds of photos organized by country for easy browsing and downloading.
Users can opt to download images in high or low resolution, depending on their preferences. Images from Burst are available for personal and commercial use at zero cost and with no requirement for attribution.
Travel Coffee Book is a small free stock photo website that specializes in “sharing beautiful travel moments,” as they say on their website.
Though this humble site does not have the largest photo library, it is well-curated and updated regularly. The website posts 10 new photos every 10 days from contributors who travel around the world. Hashtags are used to organize the photos by country and city. There are also hashtags for specific subjects like streets and food.
Some photos also bear brief captions that offer insights into the place and moment captured. There is an option to download all photos if you want to keep a treasure trove of travel photos handy. All photos use a CC0 license, so you are free to download and use any photos that suit your needs.
Like Travel Coffee Book, Realistic Shots is also one of the smaller players in the stock photography industry.
Nonetheless, the quality and diversity of the images on the website cannot be denied. Realistic Shots is a project of Commit 2 Design, a website that features free PSD web design templates by Henry Reyes. The site has a host of great travel photos, including ones that feature local food and drinks.
They post 7 new high-definition photos every week, and users can subscribe in order to get the new photos delivered to their email weekly. Nonetheless, there is no need to create an account or fill in a form when downloading a photo.
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Unsplash, a website for free stock photos, is currently the third-largest photography website in the world with over 3 million downloadable photos. It started out as a Tumblr blog in 2013, which soon became a standalone website. Since 2021, Unsplash has been owned by Getty Images.
What sets Unsplash apart is the uniqueness and quality of its photos, with numerous options to choose from. The website offers 100% free downloads of high-resolution images that can be used for various purposes, including social media, blogging, and advertising. Signing up with Unsplash is easy and free, either by using your Facebook account or filling out a registration form.
StockSnap is a widely used platform for free stock images created by Christopher Gimmer and Marc Chouinard. The website offers an extensive selection of high-resolution, eye-catching images. One of the best features of StockSnap is the ability to search for images based on image tags or filter them by trending, views, downloads, and favorites.
All of the images available on StockSnap are royalty-free and can be used for personal and commercial purposes without any need for permission. StockSnap provides top-quality images free of charge under the CC0 license.
How to choose the best stock photo website
For travel bloggers and website owners, finding an excellent source for your royalty-free photo needs is a game-changer. Choosing a stock photo website requires looking at several factors to ensure that you get the best possible images for your blog.
One of the essential factors to consider is the volume and variety of photos available on the website. Look for a website that offers a wide range of high-quality images that are related to travel. Since your readers are expecting to visualize your experience by looking at photos, it is also important to find photos that accurately represent the places, food, and people mentioned in your article.
One more factor to consider is the licensing agreement. Make sure that the website offers royalty-free images that are licensed for commercial use, and that the terms of the agreement are transparent and easy to understand. You don’t want to run into any legal issues down the road, so it’s imperative to read the fine print before downloading any images.
Last but not least, consider the user experience of the stock photo website. Look for a website that is easy to navigate, with intuitive search filters and tags that allow you to find the perfect image in minutes. A well-designed stock photo website will save you time and frustration, giving you the freedom to focus on what you do best – sharing captivating travel stories with the world.
Taking these factors into account, Pixabay, Pexels, and Unsplash are our top three picks. That’s because of their extensive library of travel-related photos, royalty-free license, and user-friendly search and navigation. Moreover, the quality and diversity of photos on these sites is guaranteed to meet your various needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Photos that appear on Google Images are usually not royalty-free. You cannot use or download a photo from Google without asking permission from the copyright holder. However, there are exceptions to this such as non-commercial research, private study, news reporting, archiving, and education.
But if you wish to use a photo from Google Images on your travel website for other purposes, a good place to start is to visit the image’s source website and find its license. For copyrighted work, you will need to ask the copyright owner for permission to use their photo.
Most royalty-free images are good for commercial use after purchase. However, royalty-free does not necessarily mean free for commercial use. It still depends on your individual license agreement. The three main types of licenses are content fully released for commercial use, content without releases that can be used for commercial purposes, and editorial-use only content.
If you are unsure whether your royalty-free photo is okay for commercial use, it is best to contact the company where you obtained your photo. Usually, photos with recognizable people, private property, and copyrighted or trademarked objects may require a release.
Many royalty-free stock photos can be used for a variety of commercial and non-commercial purposes, and that includes using photos for social media. If your photo has a creative commons license, it can be used and edited for free. You also do not need to ask for permission from or give credit to the creator or stock photo website. Overall, you can look for a CC0 license if you want to use a photo for social media.
A CC0 license means there is “no copyright reserved”, which means that CC0 images are free to be downloaded, used, modified, or displayed by anyone. These features of CC0-licensed images make them similar to public domain images. However, they are not exactly the same. Public domain images have “expired” copyrights. On the other hand, a CC0 license is granted to creators who choose to waive the copyright on their work. CC0 and public domain images are your best bet for photos you can use for your travel website.
Build your travel website today
The quality and quantity of the images on your travel website can give you an edge over your competitors. Make sure to use images with good quality so that you can command site visitors’ attention instantly. Head to Pexels, Burst, Pixabay, Travel Coffee Book, Realistic Shots, Unsplash, and StockSnap to get the best travel photos on the internet. Finally, don’t forget to install relevant plug-ins for security and income-generating functions.
Tourfic is a WordPress plug-in built specifically for hotel and travel booking websites. Use it to list your hotels, resorts, and tour packages as well as to receive payments. Tourfic comes with a dynamic search engine and a customer review system for building trust and a hassle-free user experience. Along with first-class stock photos, Tourfic allows you to give your website visitors and clients the best experience.
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About the author: Trent (IMDB | Youtube) has spent 10+ years working on an assortment of film and television projects. He writes about his experiences to help (and amuse) others. If he’s not working, he’s either traveling, reading or writing about travel/film, or planning travel/film projects.