Best Stock Photo Sources for Beauty Industry Professionals
One of the most impactful aspects of a website is imagery. Photos can truly make or break a website. In this article, I’m going to spill my favorite stock photo sites and specific stocks photographers that I have used over the years to create stunning websites. Hopefully, this will be a great resource for you when customizing your salon or spa’s website template!
Before we dive into all these amazing photos I do want to make it clear that while I think stock imagery can be a great resource when creating your website, I stand by my statement in an earlier article where I mention that the absolute best photos to use for your website and other online presences are ones you have professionally taken of you, your space, and your products. That being said, stock photos can definitely come in handy for filler photos, or if you aren’t quite ready to invest in a professional photoshoot. So let’s dive in!
Pexels
Pexels is a free stock site with royalty-free photos and videos. In recent years they’ve done an amazing job at bringing on talented photographers and videographers and expanding their inventory. This is my favorite stock photo site because it’s totally free and not only do they have the largest selection, they also have videos which can be hard to find on other free stock photo sites! I used Pexels a lot when designing Square Beauty website templates. Our Patience template uses Pexels imagery almost exclusively. Here are some of my favorite Pexels photographers and collections:
You can also browse my liked photos by clicking here.
Unsplash
Unsplash is another totally free stock photo site that has really high-quality images. The selection isn’t as vast as Pexels and they don’t offer stock videos but I’ve found some absolute gems that can be seen on our Blush & Bloom, WYN, and Willow website templates. Because photographers who contribute only publish one to a few instead of listing all the photographers I’ll just add the link to all my liked photos on the platform.
Stocksy
I absolutely ADORE Stocksy. I remember when Stocksy launched I thought, “Finally! A Stock photo site that doesn’t have the traditional ‘stock photo’ look.” Stocksy does a great job at providing users with stunning and original photos. I feel like every time I’ve used a photo from this website on a project it just really elevates the design. Here are my personal favorite photographers who contribute to the site:
Wellness Stock
The owner and photographer of Wellness Stock has such a beautiful style. Her photos are unique and showcase a variety of different spa modalities. This site is perfect for those holistic estheticians who want to have a down-to-earth, organic look to their website. Wellness Stock offers a 3-month bundle where you can download photos, get access to Canva templates, video tutorials, and color palettes/font pairings for $149 (a steal if you ask me). Not only are you getting truly unique, refreshing, and beautiful images, you are supporting a truly lovely person. Here are some collections that are unique to beauty professionals.
FreePik
If you are going to pay for a stock photo subscription this would be my recommendation because you get the biggest bang for your buck. For $14.99 a month you can download 100 photos per month which is essentially unlimited (I’ve never even gotten close to 100 downloads in any given month!). Here are some of my favorite contributors:
iStock
iStock has very professional, high-quality images where you can find essentially anything you need. They have an enormous selection of both photos and videos. It’s more pricey than FreePik but they do allow you to purchase credit packs as well as monthly subscriptions so payment options are more flexible. Here are some of my most favorite collections on iStock.
And again, here is a link to all my liked iStock photos that have been collecting over the past 4 years.
Hopefully, this article will help you when scouring the internet for a good photo to use. I know how time-consuming that can be! You can also download 100+ free stock photos by scrolling down and entering your email address in the footer. Happy creating!
