Looking for free images to use in your designs, without having to pay a single penny in royalties?
Then you might be surprised to know that there’s a perfectly legal way to get free photographs, illustrations and videos from leading stock library iStock by Getty Images.
iStock by Getty Images is so proud of the high quality photography, illustrations and videos on its site that it regularly gives files away for free, with absolutely no catch.
Yes, that’s free photographs, free illustrations and free videos, in high resolution, for you to use whenever you like, without paying a penny. Free photos are updated weekly, and free illustrations and free videos are updated monthly.
All you have to do is sign up for an iStock account. But don’t worry: that’s totally free, involves no commitment, and you don’t have to give any credit card details.
Here’s your step-by-step guide to getting stock files for free.
01. Sign up for a free account
It’s easy and free to get an iStock account
The first step is to sign up for a free account with iStock. Head to the homepage and click on ‘Join’ in the top-right hand corner of the page.
02. Provide an email address and password
Provide an email address and choose a password: that’s all the info you need to give
You’ll be brought to a form where you have to enter an email address and choose a password: nothing more.
03. Find your freebies
The links to the free stock files are near the bottom of the homepage
Scroll down to the part of the homepage that’s titled ‘Join iStock for free stock files every week’. Below that you’ll see three images titled ‘Free photo’, ‘Free illustration’ and ‘Free video clip’. Click on any of these and you will be taken through to the download page.
04. Check the licence
There are some special circumstances in which you might need to buy an extended licence, so do check before downloading
Each free image and video comes with a standard agreement, so make sure you read this so you know where and how you can legally use it.
In some limited circumstances – if you are printing more than half a million copies of your design, for example – you will need to buy an extended licence, so do check first.
05. Choose your image size
You can choose to download the image in a range of sizes
Now choose the size of the image you want, depending on your needs, by ticking the appropriate box above the red ‘Free download’ button. The measurements for each option appear below as you click on each box.
06. Download your image
Your free image will download directly to your Mac or PC
Click on the red button titled ‘Free download’ and then a second or so later, click the green button titled ‘Confirm download’. Your image will automatically download to your Mac or PC. Then check back to the homepage a week later to see the next lot of freebies.
5 freebies you might have missed
Free image files from iStock are only available for a week, so if you miss them the first time around, you lose the chance to download them for free. Which means it’s worth coming back every week to grab the latest free files.
To give you an idea of what’s on offer, here are five great freebies that you may have missed in the last couple of months…
Now available for purchase, this image was available for free in the week starting September 18 2017.
Special discount for Creative Bloq readers!
Along with your weekly free files, iStock also offers you the choice of millions of high-quality images at a very low cost. And to give you an added incentive, we’ve teamed up with iStock by Getty Images to offer 12% off all everything for new customers.
Just use code 12CBLOQNEW today at the website to take advantage of this incredible deal! Offer ends 31 Dec 2018.
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Tom May is an award-winning journalist and author specialising in design, photography and technology. His latest book, The 50th Greatest Designers, was released in June 2025. He's also author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity, published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine.
