The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument is one of NASA’s five Earth-observing instruments. Launched on December 18, 1999, on the Terra satellite, ASTER “images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet” by capturing high-resolution (15 to 90 square meters per pixel) images of the Earth. Since then, more than 2.95 million images were captured. The content “ranges from massive scars across the Oklahoma landscape from an EF-5 tornado and the devastating aftermath of flooding in Pakistan, to volcanic eruptions in Iceland and wildfires in California”. Users can view a fraction of the images from this website, while the rest can be accessed from a series of different tools provided.
Creative Vix provides free stock images for design. Users can browse the images by categories. Creative Vix also provides other design resources such as tips, tricks and trends.
Tookapic was launched as a platform to help users to “develop a habit of daily photo taking in a fun and addictive way”. The habit is gamified where users will be awarded with points and badges. Users are also able to share their images for reuse. The stock photos section of the website presents the pictures shared by the community. As of November 2015, there are more than 14,000 stock photos uploaded with 66% free for download. Users can search or browse by different categories.
DesignerPics.com is developed by Jeshu John, a web designer and developer based in Kochi, Southern India. Users can search by keywords or browse by categories.
Picjumbo is developed by photographer, Viktor Hanacek. Users can search by keywords or browse by different categories.
Photogen provides free high-resolution photographs for download and reuse. Users can search by keywords or browse by categories.
Texturegen provides free high-resolution textures and backgrounds. As of September 2015, there are more than 1,100 textures available. Users can search by keywords or browse by categories.
Pixabay is a photo community that provides images on public domain. The site contains curated images contributed by photographers around the world. As of September 2015, there are more than 470,000 photographs, vectors and illustrations. Users can search by keywords or browse by various categories.
Developed by Brooklyn-based interface and experience designer, Jeffrey Betts, MMT is a site that contains high-resolution photos on public domain. Users can search by keyword or browse by different categories.
Developed and designed by food photographer, Jakub Kapusnak, FoodieFeed is “a resource of free high resolution food pictures available to download and use on your website, blog, in your presentation, your website template, WP demo, in design project for your client or just anywhere else”. Users can search by keywords or browse by different categories.
As part of the EOS Project Science Office located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the mission of the Earth Observatory is “to share with the public the images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate that emerge from NASA research, including its satellite missions, in-the-field research, and models”. Users can do a keyword search or browse images by different categories. Users can also generate images of global maps to explore key parts of the Earth’s climate system. The images are based on data provided by the NASA satellites.
Lock & Stock Photos provides photographs taken by social media marketeer, AJ Montpetit.
Developed by Italian photographer and graphic designer, Daniel Nanescu, Split Shire provides copyright-free photographs for designers, bloggers, social marketeers and commercial companies. Users can search or browse images by categories.
Built by web designer and developer, Adrian Pelletier, Free Nature Stock provides free public domain images that focus on nature. The site is updated with a new photo daily. Users can search or browse the images through the Archive.
Founded by a startup based in Switzerland, PLiXS is a database of free high resolution images. As of August 2015, there are close to 3,400 images, contributed by photographers around the world. Users can search or filter their search by photo filters and categories.
Herman Miller is an American furniture design firm and among the first to produce modern furniture. Working together with designers George Nelson and Charles and Ray Eames, the company produced some of the classics in industrial design. Their website provides a library of images, which contains Herman Miller’s white sweep environments, and detailed product photography and renderings. Users can search or browse by different categories. The website also provides other design resources, such as materials, 3D renderings and product downloads.
Skitterphoto provides photographs that are taken by three photographers based in Groningen, The Netherlands. Since the platform launched in 2014, a photo is uploaded every single day. Users can search or browse by categories.
Travel Coffee Book is a photo blog that provides photographs captured by photographers around the world. They are mainly travel photographs. 10 new photos will be added every 10 days.
ISO Republic provides exclusive stock images for creatives. It is founded in 2014 by English photographer and designer, Tom Eversley. The mission is to “provide high-quality images to be used by designers, developers, bloggers, marketers and social media teams”.
Epicantus provides images that are captured by visual and UX designer, Daria Nepriakhina and other photographers.
