by Carlie Lawson

Created on: July 13, 2008

Stock photographs are photos of common landmarks, concepts, items, people, and/or events that may be used for personal or commercial design. Sources of cost free and royalty free stock images provide an easy, low cost way to illustrate advertisements, articles, blogs, Web sites, and just about anything else for which one can imagine needing a photograph. Many photo services charge a minimal fee for stock photos, but some high quality, free services do exist. This article provides a quick look at the top ten free sites.

1. http://www.everystockphoto.com/
Every Stock Photo (ESP) takes its name seriously by cataloguing free stock images from across the Internet and making them accessible via search. Users may choose from nearly 4 million images hosted by sites such as Flickr. ESP's free membership allows users to rate, tag, collect and comment on photos. One may locate photos using a keyword search, popular searches, or popular tags.

2. http://www.sxc.hu
Stock.XCHNG hosts more than 350,000 photos by more than 30,000 photographers. The site requires membership in order to download, but its free to join. One may locate photos using a keyword search or categories. The site features a varied database, making it easy to find a photo of almost any topic

3. http://www.stockvault.net
The more than 10,000 photos at Stock Vault are free, but one might not realize that with all Dreamstime.com ads covering the page. Ignore the ads. It's pretty easy to do since they're placed on a white background versus the gray and black used for most of the sites content. One may locate photos using a keyword search or categories. Among its 12 main categories, the site has a significant collection of "Objects" photos spanning 17 sub-categories from "Art Supplies" to "Toys."

4. http://www.public-domain-photos.com/
Public Domain Photos breaks up its more than 5,000 photos into 19 categories, with sub-categories if necessary. For instance, the "Travel" category features 26 sub-categories, from Arizona to Zion. The site requires no membership. One may locate photos using a keyword search or by browsing the 19 main categories, including "Architecture" and "World" which include hard to find shots of famous locations.

5. http://free-stock-photos.com/
Free Stock Photos provides a smaller collection of about 1,500 photos, but some of the larger categories contain hard-to-find, often needed photos, such as historic and sports figures, and war photos. One may locate photos by browsing the sites 12 main categories

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