10 GREAT PLACES TO FIND FREE IMAGES FOR CHURCH PROMO // GUEST POST BY JORDAN GILLMAN (@JORDESIGN)

free-images-for-church-promo

What began as a conversation on Twitter, eventually became this guest post by Jordan Gillman! Jordan is an experienced Web Designer and Developer. He is part of the award-winning team at fervr.net and is a specialist in building WordPress websites for Churches, Non-Profits and Startups. We were extremely pleased with his work on stfaiths.net and I would recommend his work to anyone looking for quality design at a reasonable price. Keep an eye out on his excellent blog and also a new project – ChurchSites.co – that will make quality church websites even more affordable. I’ve already begun to use the websites that Jordan recommends below.

Whether you are working on a slide for a new sermon series, a flyer or newsletter – a great image can really make a difference. But sometimes it’s hard to find the right one.

There are load of stock photography around – but they’re often filled with cliched examples and can get quite expensive. Luckily there are some great places you can find free images that won’t make you cringe.

A quick note on licensing and copyright – always make sure you’re allowed to use the image. Most of these sites allow free use for both personal and commercial work – but some might require that you provide a credit in the design. It always pays to check.

Check them out…


Gratisography
A great range of high quality images of abstract objects and interesting scenes.

Little Visuals
Get great images emailed to you weekly

New Old Stock
A great collection of vintage images that out of copyright restriction.

PicJumbo
A great collection of images, categorised to make life easier

Unsplash
High Quality, slightly hipster images.

Wikipedia Commons
A collection of images from wikipedia with a creative commons license

Stock Exchange
A good collection, but make sure you check the license

MorgueFile
A great range of unused photos from designers and photographers

Death to the Stock
Images in your email monthly

BONUS:
Lightstock
Lightstock isn’t free – but they’re very reasonably priced and have a wide range of ‘Faith Focused, Cheesy Free’ images. Really great for any ministry related design work.

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Thanks Jordan! Make sure you check out his blog. Feel free to leave any other sites you know in the comments.

32 Replies to “10 GREAT PLACES TO FIND FREE IMAGES FOR CHURCH PROMO // GUEST POST BY JORDAN GILLMAN (@JORDESIGN)”

  1. Any ideas on how to organise stock photos after you’ve downloaded them so they’re easy to find again?

    At the moment I’ve just got a folder where I put the weekly free image from lightstock each week (if it’s any good) – but there’s got to be a better way…

    1. hey daniel! good question.

      i’ve been doing the exact same with light stock!

      i basically do the same for things i’ve downloaded from the above websites in different folders.

      i know that with finder on mac you can do tagging, that would be the best way if you did it along the way. i’d find it annoying to go back and do it now though!

      i also keep the original file name on my computer in case i need to find the image online again to check copy right etc.

      i’ll see if jordan has any ideas…

      hope you’re well bro.

      peace

  2. Hey Daniel,
    i’ve been thinking the same thing myself lately. Certainly the suggestion from Dave of using Finder tagging (on mac) works.

    You could also use iPhoto (mac) or Picasa (win) to tag images – or there are a bunch of paid apps out there for media management for both platforms.

      1. Thanks – I’ve made an event in iPhoto called ‘Stock Photos’ and have started tagging them now.

        And thanks for the heads up on these sweet resources.

    1. Ryan! Thanks for leaving a comment. Your work on gratisography is exceptional… Thanks for sharing so generously. Peace.
      Dave
      Ps gratis is probably my favourite of the above list!

  3. Dave,
    Thanks for these they look great, will be very useful for lots of church stuff. Just wondering if you know any free vector stock art sites as well?

    Matt

    1. hey jodie,
      thanks for the comment!
      they’re good places too.
      i find with flickr, you have to sift through average stuff, and some of the CC licenses you have to check closely for rules on attribution.
      hope you’re well!
      peace

  4. Thanks so much for this post, very useful information and a great help for working on a low budget trying to produce good quality material.

    Do you have any similar ideas for finding music tracks of similar quality on a low budget for use in short videos and testimony interviews. I often find myself in need a track at short notice and struggling to find something suitable.

    1. hey tim,
      thanks for the comment.
      i don’t have any recommendations, but I have just lined up a friend who knows a whole bunch of them. so stay tuned for another gust blog post like this one! it will take a month before it’s available online.
      keep trusting Jesus,
      dave

  5. Hi Dave,

    You have put up a great list here. You may also interested in  Creativeplatoon.com/free-photos/, a library of free stock images that I have put together. There are some great shots for website backgrounds and post images in general, and new images are posted daily.

    Cheers,

    Nick

  6. Hey Dave,

    Great article, we are big fans of a lot of those sites and use them regularly. Thought your readers and followers might like to know about our site too.

    Free CC0 images specifically for churches. Basically a cross between Lightstock + Unsplash.

    Check it out.
    God bless,
    Daniel

  7. Margaret Says
    17th June 2016
    Good evening Mr Miers (Dave)
    I am an assistant to the Editor of Our Parish Church Magazine here in Chepstow South Wales and I’ m looking for free images that I can use during the Church year. Our Church Magazine only comes out 4 times a year – Easter, Pentecost, Advent and I think Christmas . Our Mothers’ Union does a report and I re-type with all the cartoons included, so this is why I am looking for Church images I can use. Are these sites COPYRIGHT or are they FREE copyright?
    I thank you and all the other contributors for their comments.

Comments are closed.