Great photography is essential for a strong online marketing presence, but original photography is also expensive.

You need at least some original photography to convey your brand effectively, but after that, you’ll find that stock photography is a great way to supplement your marketing budget. And what’s even better than inexpensive stock photography? FREE stock photography!

There are dozens of free stock photo sites today, so we’ve cherry-picked the ones that tend to be the most useful for jewelry businesses. On these sites, you’ll find ample selection of quality engagement and wedding photos, fashion, milestone event celebrations, gift-giving, diamonds, and jewelry photos.

Pexels (includes stock videos too): https://www.pexels.com/

Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/

Burst (by Shopify): https://burst.shopify.com/

Picjumbo (lots of fashion and lifestyle): https://picjumbo.com/

Picspree. This site is owned by Getty/iStock. It's sort of a gateway drug - there are a lot of great free photos here, but interspersed within your search results will be images you need to go to iStock to pay for. https://picspree.com/en

Styled Stock: https://styledstock.co/

Licensing Requirements

When using free stock sites, pay particular attention to the licensing notes that pop up when you view or choose to download an image. Most images are simply available to download and use, but be aware that some images will have additional requirements.

Some sites will require you to download license documentation for each element. Others require that you credit the photographer when you use the image. In some cases, elements are only free if used for a specific purpose, like education or editorial use.

Affordable Stock Licenses

While it’s great to find free options, you will find that the subscription-based stock libraries are generally of a higher quality. They also save you time that you might otherwise spend jumping from site to site looking for your ideal image. If you use a lot of stock photography, you’re better off using a subscription platform.

The two best platforms for high quality, affordable photos, video, audio, and vectors are Envato Elements and Adobe Stock.

Best Value for Quality and Price: Envato Elements

Envato Elements has an individual plan that starts at $16.50/month, and you can cancel at any time. This plan allows unlimited downloads of hundreds of thousands of digital assets, including photography, video, vectors, graphics, sound effects, music, 3D elements, and more. You can also find software specific files for all of the major creative software programs, including the Adobe Creative Suite. Envato also offer free access to the Tuts+ online courses for digital creatives – a great way to improve your graphic skills or onboard a new marketing team member.

Check out Envato Elements here.

Adobe-Centric Option: Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock has many of the same elements offered by Envato, but they limit their program to 10 downloads per month for $29.99. This is the same deal as iStock Photo (Getty), but you get more flexibility in types of elements (photos, video, vectors), and also have access to a vast library of Adobe-specific effects and templates.

Better visuals consistently translates to more engagement and more sales. So make your marketing as visual as it can be with these resources.