by AJ George
So far in this graphics series we've covered whether you should use dynamic or static images and then how to best use static images if you so choose. This week I'm going to share my favorite free image sources.
Recommended Free Image Sites
There are many great resources for stock photos and images. I'm going to focus on those that are free and do not appear to have many use restrictions.
Pixel Perfect Digital: I find that this site is pretty hit or miss. When it has an image I want to use, it is usually beautiful and easily manipulated (i.e. the background is easy to remove). The selection of images is relatively small so if they do not have the perfect image for you, you won't have to click through 30 pages of images to find out (which is why I always look here first).
Deviant Art: The selection of stock photos at Deviant Art is not only impressive, but also it is often overlooked by other eLearning professionals so you might find these images are more original than those found on other free stock image sites.
Every Stockphoto: You could spend the time to peruse well-stocked photo sites like stock.xchng or freerange stock, or you could just go to this free stock photo aggregator and let it search these sites and many more at the same time for you. Definitely a time saver.
Dreamstime: Dreamstime is a paid stock photo site, but they have an impressive free photo section. The search options aren't as fine-tuned as other sites so you may have to sift through a lot of images to find something you like, but I don't have to search long to find a great image.
Rapid eLearning Blog: It's not everyday that there are people out there that will take the time to create professional looking images and then just give them out for other people to use freely, but on the Rapid eLearning Blog this happens fairly regularly. If you are not already following this blog, you should be. The content is not geared toward stock photos, but provides a more polished approach to using clip art type images in eLearning. Check out this post with free downloadable officey elements that could prove very useable in your next eLearning course.
Recommended Free Image Sites
There are many great resources for stock photos and images. I'm going to focus on those that are free and do not appear to have many use restrictions.
Pixel Perfect Digital: I find that this site is pretty hit or miss. When it has an image I want to use, it is usually beautiful and easily manipulated (i.e. the background is easy to remove). The selection of images is relatively small so if they do not have the perfect image for you, you won't have to click through 30 pages of images to find out (which is why I always look here first).
Deviant Art: The selection of stock photos at Deviant Art is not only impressive, but also it is often overlooked by other eLearning professionals so you might find these images are more original than those found on other free stock image sites.
Every Stockphoto: You could spend the time to peruse well-stocked photo sites like stock.xchng or freerange stock, or you could just go to this free stock photo aggregator and let it search these sites and many more at the same time for you. Definitely a time saver.
Dreamstime: Dreamstime is a paid stock photo site, but they have an impressive free photo section. The search options aren't as fine-tuned as other sites so you may have to sift through a lot of images to find something you like, but I don't have to search long to find a great image.
Rapid eLearning Blog: It's not everyday that there are people out there that will take the time to create professional looking images and then just give them out for other people to use freely, but on the Rapid eLearning Blog this happens fairly regularly. If you are not already following this blog, you should be. The content is not geared toward stock photos, but provides a more polished approach to using clip art type images in eLearning. Check out this post with free downloadable officey elements that could prove very useable in your next eLearning course.
Click here for Part I of the Graphics Series, Dynamic or Static Images?
Click here for Part II of the Graphic Series, Using Static Images to Improve Learning.
Click here for Part IV of the Graphics Series, Easy Image Manipulation.
Click here for Part V of the Graphics Series, Tips for Making Your Own PowerPoint Graphics.
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About the author: AJ George is IconLogic's lead Technical Writer and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials." You can follow AJ on Twitter at http://twitter.com/andrayajgeorge.
I agree with deviantart as a good source for images, but another site which I'm surprised you haven't included is istock.com, both have a large array of e-learning and m-learning imagery.
Posted by: E-Learning | October 26, 2010 at 11:17 AM
Are the images on these sites also royalty free? Can I use these images in courses that I sell?
Posted by: Monet | October 05, 2011 at 10:19 AM
Check each image that you use. Sometimes they are, and sometimes they are if you credit the source/artist. Sometimes they are not.
Check out the link below for an alternate way to find images that you can use for commercial purposes:
http://iconlogic.blogs.com/weblog/2011/04/elearning-more-on-copyright.html
Posted by: AJ | October 05, 2011 at 11:55 AM
These sights have glorious photos thanks you!
Posted by: Gillian Walter | August 14, 2013 at 04:56 PM