If you’re ready to stand out online and look like the professional you are, it’s time to stop settling for average images and common stock photos that everybody is using. I’ve collected over 500 totally free styled stock photos from the most creative photographers on the web. These photographers specialize in stock photos for bloggers.

[disclosure]

If you’re new here, I teach graphic design to bloggers and online business owners. I whole-heartedly believe that great graphics have the potential to take your business to the next level. I teach ten simple graphic design tips in my free graphic design mini-course, and you can further develop these basic tips into a more robust set of design skills that you’ll use in nearly everything you do to grow your blog or biz in The Blogger’s Graphic Design Primer.

Use this massive collection of free styled stock photos to design beautiful, eye-catching Pinterest pins that get repins, tons of clicks and bring you all kinds of website traffic. Use them for your social media image needs and even create opt-in freebies that will have your audience handing over their email address. The options are endless.

Let’s turn your so-so graphics turn into b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l images your audience will notice!

Howto Get TONS of Free Styled Stock Photos

IvoryMix

Hands down, one of my favorite places to get styled stock photos! I love what Kayla offers so much, that I have V.I.P access to her entire library and use her images to create all of my Pinterest pin templates in my online shop! Long before I became a paying customer, I was utilizing her free styled stock photos that you can find right here. All you have to do is get yourself on her email list to access her free resources library where you’ll find TONS of free stock photos that she has shared since 2016.

Pixi Stock

Alicia over at PixiStock is helping bloggers from all different niches build a beautiful brand with her styled stock photos. She sends her email list free stock photos every month. All you have to do is sign up here, and you’ll get your first batch immediately! I love seeing her in my inbox. If more unique photos for your brand are what you’re seeking, Alicia offers custom photography services where she will take custom photography specifically for YOUR BRAND!

HauteStock

Another one of my favorites, HauteStock (formerly HauteChochoate) creates beautiful images that will instantly help elevate your brand. Rachel understands that online entrepreneurs are expected to deliver tons of visual content to stand out online. It’s not enough to have a fantastic website and a beautiful logo. That’s why she’ll send you a bundle of free stock photos specifically for female entrepreneurs just for signing up to her email list! Grab your free photos here.

Styled Stock Society

The free styled stock photos over at Styled Stock Society are everything you would ever want in a stock photo! The images are square-cropped and perfectly sized for sharing on Instagram – but you can, of course, use them on other social media platforms, your website, your blog, or anywhere else you market your business online! Add your own color overlays, text and elements to make them your own. Get a taste of what she offers with 10 free stock photos plus new freebies in your inbox every month! Click here.

Related: Creative Ways to Use Stock Photos

SCStockshop

Stockshop is used by big brands everywhere, including BRIDES, Lauren Conrad, and the knot, so you KNOW the images found here are amazing! Add yourself to their email list, and you’ll receive 20 free styled stock images instantly, and then monthly free images as a subscriber! Sign up here. If you’re willing to invest in stock photos, I love that you can shop by color, and collection, making it super easy to find the perfect photos for your brand.

With all of these free images coming monthly, you may want to create a brand new email address just for all of your free styled stock photos!

Join my Exclusive Pin Template Subscription

Gold and Berry

Gold and Berry is a lifestyle and design blog that focuses on DIY projects, tutorials and more. Beyond her free styled stock photos, she offers TONS of other freebies like watercolor textures, gold foil textures, mockups, desktop wallpapers and illustrations, most of them free for commercial use. Head over here and see what goodies you want to download!

atelier21co

Ingrid, the creative behind atelier21co, helps bloggers and online creatives stand out with stock photo collections, tutorials, and freebies to help them have the best-looking brand around. Sign up to her email list here, and receive a bundle of free styled stock photos. I love that she includes two mockup images that will make it super easy for you to showcase your opt-in freebie!

ohtilly.

Tilly (LOVE her name, by the way) is a styled stock and feminine branding photographer who loves sneakers and vintage Levis. Sounds like my kind of gal! Tilly offers TONS of styled stock photos for bloggers in just about any niche. She also shares tons of helpful info about using stock photos and blogging in general on her own blog. Get access to 15 free styled stock photos right away, plus more every month right here!

Download Five Free Pinterest Pin Templates!

If you’re into free goodies for your blog or business, check out my free Pinterest pin templates – the perfect canvas to drop in any one of these stock photos into!

CreateHER Stock

CreateHER Stock is one of the only stock photo websites that focus specifically on authentic stock photography that features black women. After starting her lifestyle blog in 2014, Neosha realized there was a need for stock photos featuring women of color. CreateHER Stock was born and launched in 2015. I love hearing a story like this! Grab 180+ images for FREE right here.

She Bold

Head on over to She Bold where you’ll not only find free styled stock photos but a wealth of blogging and lifestyle information! She Bold is made up of women who are dreamers, thinkers, and doers who are determined to create the best version of themselves. Jasmine has a stellar brand herself, so there’s no doubt she can’t help you with yours! Join her free resource library where you’ll get access to over 100 free styled stock photos, quotes, and templates! Click here!

Shay Cochrane

Shay is the face behind SCStockshop, but you’ll find another 20 free styled stock photos on her website here. Shay loves helping other business owners create stunning brands with gorgeous imagery and has worked with tons of impressive commercial clients like Emily Ley, Sugarfina and Pure Fiji. Her style is very clean and pretty, and I love that about her!

Helene in Between

Helene travels the world with her two dogs and husband and runs her blog while living her best life! She has a bundle of 15 free styled stock photos that you can download right here. Use them on your blog, Instagram, Pinterest, or wherever! They are high quality, high-resolution images which means you can crop, cut and zoom to fit any size that works for you. Add your own text, logos, overlays and more to make them your very own. Download them here.

Girl Boss Stock

“Wow!” Was the first thing I thought when I landed on this fun and funky website! I love what Girl Boss Stock has to offer in terms of free styled stock photos! Never hunt for an image again when you become a member of Girl Boss Stock. You can develop your own style with elements, images, branding kinds, presets and graphics all available on the website. But first, grab 10 free styled stock photos here! (And more on the first of every single month!)

Solopreneuer Sidekick

If you’ve never stumbled upon Louise’s website, you are missing out! I love what she offers: everything from Canva tips, tricks and tutorials, a free website course for the tech challenged and even 10 free styled stock photos you can use to amp up your branding. Click here to download them!  Don’t forget to take a peek around her gorgeous website while you’re there.

Dabbles & Babbles

Jamey over at Dabbles & Babbles knows that good images are a crucial part of putting together great visual content for your website, promo material or blog posts. But finding images to use can sometimes be difficult. She has you covered with a free set of strong, quality photos that ensure you’re not losing potential readers, clients, and customers. Her photos are 1200 px wide making them large enough for just about anything you want to use them for. Click here.

Wonderlass

I stumbled upon Allison early on in my blogging journey, and she seems like a super fun person! Her entire brand encompasses who she is as a person, and it’s impressive to see the characteristics of one person all shoved into a website! Anyhow, she offers some fun and funky free styled stock photos you can download right here. Check out what else she’s got to offer and try not to get sucked into her crazy antics!

A Prettier Web

Mel over at A Prettier Web teaches WordPress to women entrepreneurs. Along with 7 free styled stock photos, she offers WordPress themes, online courses, and website packages so you can look prettier, on the web! Click here to access your free photos.

Well, that’s a wrap! I hope you found this resource for free styled stock photos helpful! I know you are going to find some beautiful images to use in your own blog graphics and visual content.

I can’t wait to see what you create!

The post 500+ Free Styled Stock Photos for a Stand Out Brand appeared first on Kristin Rappaport.

There are so many different ways that you can utilize that perfect stock photo so you can use it over and over without anybody ever noticing. These design hacks will come in handy especially for those of you who are using free stock photos. It’s inevitable that somewhere, somebody else is using your exact same image and these tips are great ways to help you infuse your own style into a free image so that you stand out.

Before we get too much further, be sure to check out my free graphic design mini-course where you’ll learn simple fixes for the ten most common graphic design mistakes bloggers make when designing their own blog graphics and visual content.

Okay, so back to the meat and potatoes. Here are 11 simple yet creative ways to use stock photos in your blog graphics.

Crop it
Transform a horizontal image to a vertical image to use it in a sidebar graphic or a Pinterest pin.

Add an Overlay
Infuse your brand into a photo by adding a color overlay. Create a box on top of your image, then drop the opacity down until you have a nice balance. Sometimes adding a simple black or white overlay is all you need.

Blur it
Blurring a photo creates a subtle background with unrecognizable details. Blur it a lot or just a little to create your desired look.

Zoom in
Create a not-so-familiar background for your message. Sometimes a design calls for a subtle detail to bring life to a boring white canvas and zooming in on different areas of your photo can do the trick. The image below does not scream photography, but I was able to zoom in on part of the image to create a relevant background for the graphic I made to go along with this post.

Add a Gradient Fade
This is a good trick for creating white space in an image. Some photos come with space for your message, but sometimes you might need to make some yourself. Fade to white or any other background color by adding a solid box over an image then fading the edge of the image so it blends perfectly with the background. A color picker tool might come in handy for this one.

Flip it
Flip a photo vertically or horizontally for a whole new image! This is a quick fix for when you’re really paying attention to the placement of your text.

Rotate It
Different angles can be interesting to the eye. This is perfect trick to get a lot of uses from a single flat lay photo.

Add an Effect
Be careful with this one, effects can go bad quickly!

Isolate an Object
Just because there is a background, doesn’t mean you have to keep it. Isolate an object and remove the background to create an attention-grabbing effect.

Select an Object and Blur the Rest
Here’s another way to draw attention to something specific. Select an object, duplicate it and make sure it remains in the same exact place as the layer beneath it.

Use it as a Background
Give your image a touch of style by zooming in on an image and then dropping the opacity on it so its just barely there. This will create some extra pizzzaz and look more interesting to your viewers.

There are so many different ways that you can use stock photos within Pinterest pins, blog post images, social media graphics, email headers and all of the other beautiful graphics you’re creating for your blog. I hope these tips spark your creativity and give you some new ideas for utilizing your  You could get away with only using a few branded stock photos for your blog by switching things up with a single image. Doing this creates repetition and will help grow your brand, too!

Looking for great stock photos to represent your killer content? I’ve put together a list of the top 20 places to find stock photos for bloggers. Don’t forget to pin it for later!

1. Unsplash | 2. Pexels | 3. Pixabay | 4. Picjumbo | 5. Burst | 6. Kaboompics | 7. Plixs | 8. StockSnap
9. FancyCrave | 10. Stokpic | 11. Deposit Photos | 12. Ivorymix | 13. Hautestock | 14. Creative Market | 15. Bigstock
16. Oh Tilly | 17. Pixistock | 18. Stocksy | 19. The Hungry JPEG | 20. Shutterstock

I can’t wait to see what you create!

The post 11 Design Hacks to Make the Most of a Stock Photo appeared first on Kristin Rappaport.