As a graphic designer, I regularly have to rely on free stock photography and have a few free photo sites up my sleeve for projects.

I’ve had clients come in to my office a few times with projects due at the end of the week. So having access to any free images for commercial use is always gives me a bit of breathing room.

I try to use photos that are shot by our department or that another photographer on staff might have been able to snap during an event, but when the event revolves around an obscure topic, that’s not always possible.

One of my favorite free photo sites is Pexels. Pexels offers a wide array of free stock photography with high resolution images for any of your project needs.

How to search on a free stock photography website

If you’re new to Pexels or free stock photography websites, you might find it difficult to search for stock photography. Here are a few search tips I recommend for searching on Pexels:

Use one related keyword

Instead of searching for a phrase or a long-tail keyword, Pexels focuses on one keyword.

So try looking for “laptop” or “stress” instead of “stressed school finals.” Pexels also offers an array of related keywords to help you narrow down your search.

One word also gives you a lot more options than a long-tail keyword. It’s common for Pexels to give you a lot of different stock images to choose from by using one word. Even if you use one of the related keywords that might better suit your project, you’re bound to find a great free high-resolution photo from your pursuits.

Focus on a color preference

Pexels allows you to narrow your color preferences in your search!

It might be simpler on another paid stock photography site but it’s still an option on Pexels. All you do is add a colon(:) after your keyword and which color you want to focus on.

For example, if I wanted to find a red apple, I’d enter apple: red into the search bar. Then I’d have free stock photos with red apples and red tones dominating the photo. You will still get a few with green apples in the photo but they would also have red apples featured.

Hint: For product and social media photography, try finding lighter photos for better conversions!

Avoid Brands

Say you have no brand affiliation for your project. It would be important that your free stock photography didn’t use certain brands in the photo.

To avoid certain brands, colors, or objects, insert a dash. So if you wanted to avoid apples in a fruit photograph, I’d enter fruit -apple. I’d then find a whole bunch of free stock photography without an apple in sight.

I will say this process is not flawless. I’ve tried a few keywords without certain brands or products in them and still see a few throughout my search results. That being said, this function clears many of the options out of my query.

While it mainly avoids certain labels, you might still get the brand’s product. So if you wanted to avoid an Apple technology product, you might avoid seeing the brand and logo, but you’d still might get the tell-tale Mac laptop in your search.

While your search methods are important, how do you find the perfect free stock photo for your project?

How to find the best free stock images

Employ Negative Space

If your stock photography is going to be the flourish, don’t let it detract from your message. Look for photos with your supporting props on the outer edges to frame your text or main item.

Many positions forget about the value of using negative or white space in a project. Pexels is one of the better free stock photography sites that offer a wide array of photos that have negative space.

You might want to employ other methods in your project’s style, but Pexels is there to offer you a variety of options. Free stock photography with negative or white space allows you to create numerous options for your clients and that is one of Pexels main objectives: to give you options.

Rule of Thirds

When in doubt, use the rule of thirds for your project. Many free stock images use this tactic because of how successful it is in producing content.

Naturally, the audience’s eye wants the subject to be a bit off center. A lot of photography, in general, uses the rule of thirds. Pexels’ photographers are no different. If the subject is dead-center, it usually has enough room to be manipulated in a project to make it into following the rule of thirds.

If you find a free stock photo on Pexels that already uses the rule of thirds, see how it uses other props within the photo before starting your project. If the remaining space has clunky objects, it might be more difficult to use the photograph in the future.

Visualize the Final Product

Always keep the final product and aesthetic in mind.

Finding the best free stock image for your project, does not mean it solves all your problems. Pexels does a great job at supplying free high-resolution photography, but that should only supplement your final project, not overshadow it.

The final product you are trying to create should only need minimal support from any free stock photography you might use. If it is fairly bland on its own, try sprucing up your work before adding any stock photography. This will help you narrow your search in the long-run and identify what you need to look for when putting the final product together.

Remember, people take considerable amount of time to construct these images. With Pexels, it’s easy to style your projects with a favorite photographer or viewing popular stock photography uploaded to the site.

How Pexels shows you the best free stock photography

Challenges

Want to test your props against that other photographer who always has more views in your niche? Try one of Pexels’ challenges.

Pexels allows you to upload your content to fight for cash and other prizes. Whether you want to participate or find more free stock images or video, there’s always great content to look through for your next project.

Leaderboards

Whether you are looking at the most viewed profile for the last 30-days or all-time, the photographers behind Pexels create a varying amount of content that’s sure to impress.

Each leaderboard supplies you with a link to the photographer’s profile to get more of their free stock photography. Some profiles’ images have been viewed millions, if not billions, of times. So if you’re looking for unique photos, that might be a tall order. At least by viewing their profiles, you’re able to find inspiration behind your own stock photography or future projects.

Popular Searches

Searching or browsing through the popular searches tab will notify you which search terms are the most popular on Pexels.

As previously stated, Pexels works best with one keyword searches. When looking at the popular search topics, this becomes very apparent. These topics are some of the broadest terms for users looking for free stock images and this shows. The first one, at the time of this article, is success, which could relate to a number of themes.

Discover

I love the Discover tab on Pexels. The Discover tab covers topics a bit more specific but can still yield large results. So instead of beaches, you could search through the Mediterranean topic instead.

This tab is a bit more specific on broad search terms compared to the others. It also lets you see more creative synonyms than the normal search terms provide for you after every query.

While there are quite a few free stock photography websites, Pexels remains one of my favorites. Both the quality and search parameters are great and helpful when you’re on a quest for the best free high-resolution image for your next project.

Pexels offers free royalty photos for businesses, personal use, and more. Even if you aren’t planning to use Pexels’ free images for commercial use, it’s great to see the creativity that other photographers are able to show in their photos.

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