Get Stunning Images for Free: Commercial Use Made Easy

Did you know that some of the world’s most iconic advertisements use stock images for commercial use? For example, AlamapBBDO, a Brazilian ad agency, used stock photos from Getty Images to create their Endless Possibilities campaign in 2016. The advertising campaign combined photos of random people’s faces to recreate portraits of famous people such as the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis.

Most creative agencies prefer altering stock images in most of their work. This is because it allows them to create campaigns for different companies much faster at affordable costs. Keep reading to find out how to get free images for commercial use in your next project.

Part 1: Download images in loyalty-free sites

Several sites offer free images for commercial use as part of their services. In addition, you do not need to register an account to download the images. The sites typically rely on user contributions and content teams to ensure their databases are fresh and maintain consistent quality. Furthermore, all creative assets they offer fall under the creative commons zero license or a variation of it. Here are some of the sites that offer you images for commercial use for free.

1. Pexels

Pexels.com is a free-to-use provider of high-resolution photos and videos for aspiring creators. The German-based website was started in 2014 by two brothers and has been under the Canva umbrella since 2018.

Currently, the website hosts over 3.2 million images and videos from over 250,000 active contributors. In addition, all the material you find in its library is under the Pexels license, which slightly varies from the creative commons zero license model. Some of the restrictions it enforces include:

You can only use pexels images for commercial use after making alterations to the original image. For example, you can use part of an image to create a collage for your commercial branding.
Furthermore, you cannot use any of the website’s content to promote political ideologies and explicit content, especially if the images contain identifiable subjects.

Pexels is available through the following channels:

Your web browser by typing the URL pexels.com.
The Android and iOS app.
A plugin for other content creation software such as Google Slides and MS Office.
An extension on your Chrome browser.
You can also access the database using the official Canva app.

2. Unsplash

Another website that offers free images for commercial use is Unsplash, a subsidiary of Getty Images since 2021. The website is a favorite among creators boasting over 16 billion photo impressions monthly. In addition, the database consists of over 3.48 million photos from more than 265,000 unique contributors, all under the Unsplash license.

The Unsplash license restricts the sale of its creative assets without incorporating new creative elements, including using them in print media and physical goods such as mugs and caps.

You can access Unsplash from your web browser or request API integration for your application from the site’s owners. In addition, the site also hosts photo walks across different cities, where Unsplash guides show you the best photo locations around the city and the best camera techniques for your work. Some cities to host the event include Boston, Montreal, Tokyo, and Toronto.

3. Freerange

Freerange Stock is an online resource for photos, illustrations, and textures you can download and use for commercial and non-commercial purposes. Since 2007, the site has continued to provide high-quality images to its community of over 800,000 registered users.

Unlike the previous examples, all content on Freerange falls under the website’s Equalicense. It grants you broad commercial rights of its stock images while allowing the contributors to retain control of their copyright, image resale, and distribution. As such, you cannot use the images for bulk distribution or print-on-demand works.

Freerange Stock maintains its steady supply of images for commercial use via the following methods:

It has an in-house team of professional photographers who upload images across the different categories on the website.
Freerange Stock also purchases image rights or directly commissions photos from independent creators.
You can also contribute to the website’s library by voluntarily submitting your work to the platform. Kindly note that you will need a verified account to enable this function.
The website also works directly with photographers through a licensing and distribution model, providing them extra exposure on the site.
Finally, Freerange stock aggregates public domain images from other sources, including similar sites and government institutions. It does so by acknowledging the image owner and sometimes lists the image source when the owner is unknown.

Freerange Stock is accessible through your web browser or as an API integration on your app.

4. Vecteezy

Vecteezy is an extensive online library of free stock images for commercial use. Some of the site’s highlight features include the following:

A best-in-class search engine that incorporates multiple filters to ensure your results are extremely accurate. For example, you can sort images by color, style, number of people, and age of the subjects, something other free stock websites do not provide.
All images, videos, and vector illustrations are free for personal and commercial uses. It does so through a property sign and release model with its extensive network of contributors, which protects users from any legal liabilities.
Finally, it employs a content team that manually reviews each photo submission to ensure consistent quality standards for its offerings.

In addition, you can also purchase design resource bundles by subscribing to its Vecteezy pro for as little as $9 monthly. Some of the resources available include the Ultimate Text Effects Layer Styles Bundle for Photoshop, which costs $39 stand-alone or $4.50 when you subscribe to pro.

Part 2: Buy from stock providers

Another way to get images for commercial use is by buying them from stock providers. Some of the benefits of buying images from stock providers include:

You get a wide selection of unique photos from top-tier photographers. Stock providers always seek collaborations with the industry’s finest to edge out the competition.
You receive exemplary customer service with your purchase. Selecting the right image can be confusing for amateur creators. As such, stock image providers have customer support channels to help you throughout your creative process.
Stock images reduce your delivery times significantly. Buying images from a stock provider eliminates the need to invest in photography equipment and the time you need for post-production. As such, you can deliver projects in a fast and cost-effective way.

Despite the above positive, here are some challenges that buying stock images may present:

Not all stock image providers will have the creative assets you need.
Image overuse is likely since every creator will rush for the most popular contributor.

Below are some of the stock image providers you should consider.

1. iStock

iStockphoto.com is an online database of creative resources, including royalty-free photos, videos, audio, illustrations, and clip art you can use in your creations. The website is a Getty Images subsidiary based in Calgary, Canada. In addition, contributors earn royalties depending on how often users download their content.

2. Alamy.com

Alamy.com is a British-owned stock image provider with contributions from photographers and agencies in 173 countries. It compensates its contributors by offering higher than average payouts every time users download their creations. Some popular brands to use Alamy’s services include M&C Saatchi, Microsoft, and The Economist.

Part 3: Shot a Photo by yourself or create one with editing tools

Alternatively, you can get images for commercial use by shooting them yourself or creating them with editing tools such as Figma and Wondershare’s Filmstock. Here are some benefits of using this method:

You get exactly what you want, provided you have the required skills and equipment. Sometimes, getting the right image for your commercial purpose can be challenging. As such, shooting an original photo may be the only option.
You have full ownership of the image.

Unlike obtaining images from stock photography websites, you are free to use the image in whatever capacity you please without any restrictions. For example, sites such as Unsplash do not allow you to use their images in political statements, a restriction you can bypass when using your own creations.

However, you should also consider the following factors when using this method.

It requires a substantial investment

Getting high-quality images for commercial purposes requires specialist equipment. For example, the Panasonic LUMIX GH6 camera, which has 4K resolution capability, costs $2,197 on Amazon. This makes it extremely expensive for amateur creators.

There is a steep learning curve

Becoming a professional photographer takes time and effort. Unless you are creating as a hobby, it will be a while before you can start generating income from your creations.

Part 4: FAQs

1. Do you need a contributor account to get images for commercial use?

Not necessarily. Stock image sites like pexels.com allow you to download images from their website without creating an account. You will only need one if you want to showcase your work on the platform.

2. Can you use your smartphone to get images for commercial use?

Yes. Most stock image providers have device-specific apps that allow you to access their databases from your mobile device. For example, UnsplashPhotoPicker allows you access to the Unsplash library from your Android device.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Installing Videoleap on MacBook: A Step-by-Step Guide

Videoleap for MacBook: Download Guide and Best Alternatives

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Developed by Lightricks Studio, Videoleap is one of the most powerful video editors, which is available for iOS and Android devices. While you can directly install Videoleap on your iPhone or Android phone by visiting its App/Play Store page, you won’t find its desktop application. That’s why a lot of people find it hard to install Videoleap on their macOS systems. Don’t worry – here, I will let you know how to install Videoleap for MacBook and would also list its best alternatives.

Part 1: Major Features of Videoleap
Part 2: Download and Install Videoleap for MacBook
Part 3: 2 Best Alternatives to Videoleap for MacBook

Part 1: Major Features of Videoleap

You might already know that Videoleap is a popular smartphone app that is used for video editing on iOS and Android devices. It is a part of the Lightricks Creative Suite that would let you create, edit, and share your videos in one place.

You can find all kinds of basic editing options in Videoleap to crop, trim, rotate, or flip your videos.
Videoleap provides a layer-based editing interface that would let you work on videos, images, audio tracks, and other media content.
There are hundreds of visual effects (like transitions, stickers, filters, etc.) that you can readily use in Videoleap.
Some of the other smart features of Videoleap would be green screen edits, prism effects, sound editing, and so on.

Part 2: Download and Install Videoleap for MacBook

As I have listed above, Videoleap for MacBook is not directly available as it runs on iOS and Android devices only. Though, you can access this video editor on your Mac by using any reliable Android emulator tool. An emulator can load an Android OS environment on your Windows or Mac system, letting you run all these smartphone apps.

While there are plenty of Android emulators out there, these are some of the most popular options:

BlueStacks
Nox Player
MEmu Player
ARChon Player

Out of them, let’s consider the example of BlueStacks as it is the most popular and reliable Android emulator in the market. You can install BlueStacks on your MacBook for free, log in to your Google account, and can readily use Videoleap on it.

Step 1: Install a Reliable Android Emulator like BlueStacks

To begin with, you can install any reliable Android emulator on your MacBook. For instance, if you want to install BlueStacks, then you can visit its official website, and click on the “Download” button.

Now, you can just click on the installer to run it on your MacBook. You can just go through a simple click-through process and select a location where you want to install the application on your Mac.

Just make sure that you have at least 5GB of available storage of your Mac (and it should have at least 2GB RAM).

Step 2: Connect your Google Account on BlueStacks

Once you have installed BlueStacks on your MacBook, you can launch it, and go to the Google Play app. From here, you can just log in to an active Google account on the BlueStacks app.

Step 3: Install Videoleap for MacBook via BlueStacks

That’s it! Once you have configured Google Play, you can just launch it, and look for “Videoleap” from the search bar. After finding the app, you can click on the “Install” button and wait as Videoleap for MacBook would be downloaded.

After Videoleap is installed on BlueStacks, you can launch it, and start editing your videos without any hassle.

Part 3: 2 Best Alternatives to Videoleap for MacBook

As you can see, installing Videoleap for a MacBook can be a tedious job as it is only available for smartphones. Therefore, instead of using an emulator to install Videoleap, you can consider using the following video editors on your Mac.

1. Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing apps that is super-easy to use and fully supports all the major macOS versions. It is a multi-timeline macOS video editor that would let you apply all kinds of edits and use tons of visual effects to make your content look appealing.

User-friendly Video Editing

You can load clips, images, audio files, and other media content on different timelines of the editor. It provides instant solutions to crop, trim, rotate, flip, and do all the other edits in a user-friendly way.

AI-Integrated Features

Wondershare Filmora has also included highly advanced Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality features. For instance, with its AI Portrait Mode, you can detect a human face on the video and instantly remove its background. There are also tons of AR stickers that you can just drag and drop to your videos.

Tons of Video Effects

On Filmora, you can also explore hundreds of video transitions, overlays, filters, stickers, and numerous other effects. You can readily add captions and other text effects to your videos as well.

Sound Effects

Apart from video editing, you can also edit the added soundtracks in your videos. Using Filmora, you can add voiceovers to your videos and apply effects like fade in/out, denoise, audio ducking, and so on.

Other Features

Furthermore, Filmora offers some of the most advanced video editing effects for Mac such as Auto Reframe, color tuning, pan-and-zoom, green screen, video stabilization, and so much more.

2. iMovie

Lastly, if you are looking for a freely available alternative for Videoleap for MacBook, then you can try iMovie. The video editor is developed by Apple and is already installed in leading Mac systems. While it doesn’t offer so many extensive features, iMovie would meet your basic video editing needs.

Ready-made Templates

On iMovie, you can find several professionally made templates that you can simply load and customize to create videos.

Sound Effects

Besides editing your videos, you can also add sound effects to your projects, and edit them as per your preferences.

All Basic Editing Features

Once the video is loaded on its timeline, iMovie will let you perform all the basic edits such as clip, trim, crop, rotate, flip, and so on.

Other Features

A few advanced features of iMovie are green screen edits, tons of transitions and filters, 4K video editing, caption effects, and other optimized features for Mac.

Final Words

There you go! I’m sure that after following this guide, you can easily use Videoleap for MacBook. Since Videoleap is only available for iOS and Android devices, I have come up with a stepwise approach to install it on Mac. Though, instead of Videoleap, you can consider using Wondershare Filmora on your MacBook. It is a far better and more user-friendly video editor for Mac that has some of the most advanced features.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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