While many bloggers “borrow” or link to images on other blogs and websites, this tactic is a disaster waiting to happen. It’s easy to assume that it’s acceptable standard practice — after all, blogging is about sharing and well, let’s face it… everybody does it, right?

Unfortunately, the answer is not that easy or forgiving. Unless you’ve been granted specific permission, it’s probably even illegal to post someone else’s image on a blog. Also, when simply “hotlinking” to someone else’s image, you pose the risk of them finding out and changing the image you’ve been linking to and displaying on your blog.

Many legit image owners, whose images are being linked to, take vigilante justice by placing freeloaders in a rather precarious situation — leaving viewers in shock while they exclaim to themselves, “I thought this was a supposed to be a family friendly blog!” Freeloading on the images of others just isn’t worth the risk to your pocketbook or your reputation.

That being said, there are still plenty of places to find awesome images for use in your blog. You won’t have to beg, borrow, or steal any longer. Read on to find out where the best free stock photos are just waiting to be found…

1. Dreamstime

The level of quality found here is nearly unbeatable. To download images, free registration is required — this is a fairly common practice for the territory. Be sure to read the terms at the site for the specifics, but rest assured basic blog users shouldn’t have any problems using the images. If there’s just one caveat, it’s that the free selection is a bit on the slim side.

2. Stock.Xchng

With an extensive selection of free stock images, stock.xchng is an excellent option to load up on no cost visual content for your blog. The library of images is well organized by category and definitely well worth your time.

3. TurboPhoto

This site boasts over 2,000 free images for your perusal, all concisely categorized. It’s super easy here to browse the public domain photos. Just download to use as you please.

4. FreePhotosBank

FreePhotosBank has a huge selection of high quality free photos. Practically no effort is required to search according to the topic. Plus, no registration is required to instantly download the digital picture files you find.

5. Stockvault

Stockvault features a wonderfully clear user interface, making the process of finding the perfect free image for your blog a breeze. The categories are straightforward and loaded with a pleasing selection of pro quality photos. No registration is required to download, but it is important to read and consider the terms — this resource is free only for personal use, not commercial usage.

6. Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons is actually one of the more diverse sites to secure not only free stock photography, but other various media files as well. The quality varies strictly by chance — you’ll find some of the very best free images available on the net nestled among some that are of significantly lesser quality. Either way, this is the place to turn when you can’t find what you need anywhere else. Also helpful — each photo’s page clearly displays all terms or usage guidelines associated with that particular image.

7. morgueFile

Strange name, great free image reference site. Photos are user submitted and flawlessly described, organized, and presented. Just do a quick search and you’ll have just the photo your blog needs in no time at all. It’s worth noting that any licenses or permissions are displayed right along with the photo’s download page. Often times, those who submit photos kindly ask that you let them know where you use their images at, so they can see them in action themselves.

8. ImageAfter

Contains a wide selection of both photos and textures. All images are copyright free so that you can do pretty much anything you want with them, except putting them together as a free or paid resource collection of your own. The site can be slow at times, but has some great variety and is definately worth a look.

Returning The Favor

Oh, and just one more thing… If any of these sites help you land the perfect images for your blog, why not return the favor? I know I have thousands of my own amateur digital photos archived on my hard drive — I’m sure you do too. Pick a handful of the best pix and upload them for others to use. After all, it’s only good blog karma!