14 of the most valuable stock photo and graphics resources online

When I first started out as a web designer, just about everything had to be made from scratch. The HTML, the layout, the graphics… it was a timely investment to build a professional-looking website, and not accessible to many.

Lucky for us, there is now a plethora of design resources available to designers and entrepreneurs alike. Whether you are a paid professional or do-it-yourselfer, I believe wholeheartedly in making use of the tools that already exist to elevate the quality of your design work.

Sometimes too many options makes it harder to find what’s really valuable. That’s why, in the list below, I’m only including websites I’ve personally used and value. If you’re looking for free stock photo sites, you can view those here.

Stock Photo Sites

iStock

iStock has been my go-to stock photo site for several years. Unfortunately they recently changed their pricing and images are no longer the “deal” they used to be. I was paying $3-$10 per image in the past, but after their price changes, I paid $20+ for the last few images I purchased. They are still well known for their diversity and quality of imagery, however.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock and iStock are relatively comparable. Since they both require purchasing credits before you download images, most designers will choose just one or the other of these sites to regularly use.

Moderately Priced Stock Photo Sites

Stocksy

Stocksy’s photos are fresh and trendy, professional and still at a reasonable price. This very well may be my new favorite stock photo website.

Dollar Photo Club

A great place for low price images

Free Stock Photo Sites

Below are two of my favorite free stock photo websites.

I also have listed out several other free stock photo sites here.

Unsplash

Unsplash has amazing, magazine cover worthy photos that are all free for us anytime, anyplace! The only hangup: there is no search feature, so you must scroll through the long list to find something that may fit your needs. Also, this site seems to have caught the eye of many designers and bloggers, and thus the photos are often seen in many places across the internet. If you want something original, you likely won’t be finding it here.

123RF

For a free stock photo site that is searchable, 123RF has quite a few good images. There are also many paid photos on this site, so stay within the free area if you really want a free image.

WordPress Themes & Website Layouts

Themeforest

Themeforest is by far *the* best place to look for WordPress themes on the internet. For web designers and DIY website owners alike, I recommend looking for a theme here that is responsive, $35 and up, and already has good ratings, and you likely won’t go wrong! The only downside is that the search results are a little uninformative, forcing you to make an extra click to actually see each item. Themeforest also has great layouts for many other platforms, HTML-only and PSD-based websites.

Print Design Templates

Stock Layouts

When it’s time to get a flyer or brochure put together, a great way to produce a professional product is to start with one of these great design templates. I usually spend about $60-$100 for these templates and they are well worth the time saved over starting from scratch.

Stock Graphics

Paid Stock Graphic Sites

Graphic River

Graphic River has a wealth of graphics for infographics, icons, vector illustrations, print layouts and more – all for a very reasonable cost.

Creative Market

Much like the above, Creative Market has many infographics, icons, vector illustrations, and print layouts for a very reasonable cost.

Icon Finder

While you can find icons at several of the above sites, this is a great resource if you really want to get a look at a lot of icon choices.

Free Stock Graphic Sites

All Free Download

Although I believe you generally get what you pay for, sometimes you just need something simple to plugin in a small spot on a website. All free download has many items in vector format so you can also use these free graphics as starters to modify and use within a larger composition.

Creative Market

Graphic Design Junction

You can find quite a few free items at graphic design junction if you’re willing to spend some time looking through their lists. Free files include Photoshop PSD mockups, brochures and fonts.

If this list was helpful, and you’re looking to grow your freelancing services by offering graphics as part of web sites, print, marketing, or social media, I’ll be sharing even more resources like this as part of the upcoming Love your Freelancing workshop – click here to find out how you can be part of it!