Free-to-use, high quality photography for ebook covers and more

It's been a busy start to the new year, which I appreciate but means that blogging has taken a backseat to writing, editing, etc. When I get really busy, I often find that lists are a simple way to keep me in the blogging groove. 

Writers, especially self-published writers, often need to find excellent images for their covers and websites--but on a budget. Luckily, the Internet (and some stunningly talented artists!) provides. Here are 8 websites offering images that are public domain, Creative Commons licensed, or otherwise suitable for personal and commercial uses. For free.

[One of my favorite images from Spiltshire)

Unsplash releases 10 stunning images every 10 days under a Creative Commons “Do whatever you want” license. They also take submissions of photography, if you’d like to provide your own images.

Little Visuals does something similar, releasing blocks of 7 images every week.

The Library of Congress has searchable image collections on its website.

Gratisography is the work of artist and designer Ryan McGuire, who offers his surreal and dreamlike images free of copyright restrictions.

Splitshire offers free stock photos for personal and commercial use, including images of food, people, and landscapes.

The WeFunction design blog offers some free high-resolution photos of locations, textures, and whatever else the volunteer amateur (but talented!) photographer wants to snap.

Picjumbo offers free stock images in several categories.

You can search Flickr for Creative Commons licensed images—be sure that the boxes are checked for commercial use and modification permissions if you intend to publish edited images or make money off your use of them.

Some of these sites require attribution, some do not. I suggest you always err on the side of attributing, both to give credit the artist and to spread the word about the image resource!