The Tribune

If you are a web or graphic designer, you certainly use a lot of photos, pictures and stock images in your designs. Adding a few high quality photos is a great way to improve a website, article or any presentation if you wish to impress your clients or viewers.

There are dozens of great web pages that offer hundreds of thousands of free public domain, and royalty, images which are simple and safe. These alternative online libraries are packed with excellent free images that you can use for no cost at all.

I have therefore located a list of some of the best available sites for photos, images and pictures to help you create stunning designs without spending a dollar.

Stock.XCHNG

This fabulous site has a library of almost 400,000 images covering every topic, and is probably the best place to start your search for free images.

Openphoto

This site was created back in 1998, so it is no surprise that Openphoto has now built up a solid collection of stock photos. They are neatly arranged into well-chosen categories, and clicking any of these leads on to a thumbnail gallery of related shots.

Stockvault.net

Stockvault has a small but high quality collection of stock photos, as well as logo templates, clip arts, textures and backgrounds. It is the perfect site to find graphics for your website. Stockvault’s images are free for personal, non-commercial use only.

Unprofound

This site has some great photos, with no significant restrictions on their use. You do not have to register to download images. Unprofound is strictly non-profit, so you will not be hassled by the usual collection of annoying ads. Isn’t that awesome?

Free Media Goo

You can browse this tiny library called Free Media Goo in just a few minutes; he images are relatively low resolution. There are some undeniably impressive photos, along with some handy textures and audio samples, and no registration. Just download anything that appeals to you.

Morguefile

This site’s best feature is its excellent search tool. You can filter by categories, keywords, size, rating, and even colour, so it is easy to bypass irrelevant shots and zoom in on the photos you need. Morguefile’s license is generous and no registration is required.

Pixel Perfect Digital

This interesting site includes more than 4,000 stock photos, neatly organised in categories ranging from Abstract and Animals to Places and Transportation. The best part of Pixel Perfect Digital is the collection of digital art and illustrations. Stylish images are hard to find elsewhere.

Image*After

Image*After might not impress you with their conventional photos, but their more abstract efforts - from electronic components to brick walls and artistic blurs - are much more compelling, especially if you are searching for an unusual background image.

Freerange

The Freerange site search has an annoying habit of returning photos that have nothing to do with your keywords. But keep trying, and whether you are looking for animals or objects, people, places or arty, near abstract shots, you will find a suitable high resolution shot here.

Free Digital Photos

These images have relatively low resolution (around 640 x 480) versions. It does have some excellent shots and could be just what you need to spice up a personal website.

Free Photos Bank

The Free Photos Bank site provides a typical range of free photos, people, animals, landscapes and so on. They are better at abstract shots, backgrounds and digital artwork, so this is a good place to start looking for those more unusual images. There is no registration required, so downloading is easy.

Flickr

As the biggest photo sharing site on the web, used by some of the world’s best photographers, your image search is not complete without a quick check of what Flickr has to offer. Not everyone allows their photos to be used commercially.

Ultimately your pictures, images and photos should no longer be like searching for ‘a needle in a hay stack’ any longer. If these links do not have the images you are looking for, there are hundreds of other available services online. Until we meet again, fill your life with memories as opposed to regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game.

• NB: The columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com

ABOUT THE COLUMNIST: Deidre Marie Bastian is a professionally trained graphic designer/marketing co-ordinator with qualifications of M.Sc., B.Sc., A.Sc.

She has trained at institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of the Bahamas, Nova South Eastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas.