Stock Photo
A service providing professionally shot photographs and illustrations available for licensed or free download for commercial and editorial use.
Stock photos are professionally captured images and illustrations provided through licensing agreements. They are widely used for website hero images, advertising banners, presentation materials, and brochures when custom photography is impractical.
Services divide into paid (Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, PIXTA) and free (Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay) categories. Paid services offer higher quality and exclusivity, while free services are convenient but risk visual overlap with other websites. Always verify license terms regarding attribution requirements and commercial use permissions.
Rather than using downloaded assets as-is, professionals customize them with the crop tool for composition adjustment and the resize tool for appropriate dimensions, ensuring they integrate naturally with site design. For copyright details, see the Image Rights Management Guide.