Need a free stock photo? Free … meaning you don’t have to pay anyone cold, hard cash for its use? Look no further. I’ve compiled my top 10 list of favorite stock photo sites that don’t cost you anything. Make sure you read any terms of usage, however, as you may need to attribute its source via a link or mention.

EveryStockPhoto – Excellent place for searching multiple sites for just the right pic. It also includes some nice social aspects allowing everyone to rate and tag photos. I’ll be using this one a lot from now on.

Morgue Files – Don’t be turned off by the name of this one. It refers to the name that newspapers gave to the storage area where they kept files, old stories, photos, etc. In any case, this site offers some really nice photos.

Stock Xchng is a very popular user-contributed source of photos. Definitely bookmark it.

Image*After – Has a nice collection of photos and textures, with good search functionality.
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Photogen – Nice collection of good quality photos.
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Free Digital Photos – Good quality photos for free, although their best quality pics come with a charge.
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NOAA Photo Library – This is just one example of the many photos you can use for free from the US Government sites. You’ll find more listed at the directory at the bottom of this list. This batch contains some amazing oceanic and atmospheric photos.
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BurningWell – Not the prettiest site in the bunch, but so what? It’s got what you need – free use photos.
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Backgrounds Archive – Pretty photos. Big photos. Pretty and big photos. What more can I say?
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PD Photo – Lots of travel and country-specific photos, along with some more general categories too.
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Public Domain Photos – Claims to be the largest collection of public domain photos. It also has clip art.
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WP Clipart – Speaking of clip art this site has lots of clip art to choose from, with some photos as well.
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Uncle Sam’s Photos – As promised up above, this is a nice directory listing more of the U.S. Government’s repositories of free to use photos.

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And yes, I know there are more than 10 in the list. Consider it lagniappe. If you can’t find the image you need from one of the above places, it just might not exist! Good luck, and happy photo hunting!

Affiliate Marketing Tip

Using attractive or attention-getting photos can mean the difference between making an affiliate sale or not. If you are promoting an affiliate product, make sure you show as many pictures of the product as possible. It also never hurts to add additional pics, such as the ones you’ll find at the sites listed above, that help the user envision how great his or her life will be once the product is purchased. Look for happy, smiling faces, and beautiful nature pics. These can enhance your promo article or blog post.

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Post tags: Bob Nolin, clip art, free pics, free stock photos, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Photo Library, photos, pics, prettiest site, search engine, search functionality, stock photos, ultimate search engine, US Government
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First of all, as you all know, I’m a terrible cook. So, I’m always on the lookout for sites that help me deal with that problem. When a recipe for a steak sandwich showed up after I clicked the Stumble button, and there were pictures for every single step of the process…I mean every one…I was elated. I soon discovered that she is a master of photographing the steps involved in cooking whatever dish she is posting about. (She is also a master of photographing all kinds of other interesting stuff, as well).

Although I might have signed up to receive her feed based on the recipes alone, I know the real tipping point came when I started reading her non-recipe posts. Oh man, that gal is some kind of funny. She’s a straight-shooting woman who once was a valley-girl type, and who is now a marlboro man’s wife, living on a real working cowboy ranch. Her take on life on a ranch is amazingly funny.

If you like recipes with pics of the process, subscribe to her blog.

If you like funny women, subscribe to her blog.

If you just want to be occasionally entertained, subscribe to her blog.

Thanks for making me laugh, Pioneer Woman, and for helping me cook a little bit better.

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Post tags: Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, funny woman, photos, pics, recipes
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Post tags: Global Wildlife Center, photos, pics, wildlife
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First up is a glamour shot of me when I was 30 years old. This one always cracks me up.

Next is me on my wedding day nearly 5 years ago.

Here we have a pic of one of my dogs when he was just a puppy. Awww, isn’t he cute???

Next up…my front yard…

And now…the back yard…

And this is my sweet, sweet granddaughter, McKayla…

Finally, yes, you finally get to the end, my most current pic from my vacation a few months ago.

What? You’re still awake? LOL. That’s it, folks. You can go back to whatever you were doing before I interrupted you.

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Post tags: DazzlinDonna, McKayla, photos, pics
This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this in your news aggregator/reader or on DazzlinDonna, then the site you are looking at is probably infringing upon my copyright.