Trying to find inclusive, diverse stock photos?
It shouldn’t be this hard!
If you’re a website owner, blogger, marketer or small business owner you are most likely looking for good quality stock photos for your business.
Here’s what’s frustrating though… it can be very hard to find high-quality diverse stock photos. This includes women and men of colour, LGBTQ2s+ individuals and couples and individuals who are all shapes and sizes.
As a business, especially in these times – we need to represent diversity in all forms.
So, I’ve taken it upon myself to do some research and share some of the best places you can access stock photos that represent what our world actually looks like.
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This post contains affiliate links. Disclosure here. This means I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Where to Find Inclusive & Culturally Diverse Stock Photos:
Table of Contents
Having a hard time finding diverse and inclusive stock photos? Check out these 12 sites that showcase diversity and real people from all walks of life. #stockphotos #stockphotography #diversitymatters Click To Tweet
1. Pexels (Free)
You might be surprised to see this here as Pexels does not seem to be the place to find diverse imagery, HOWEVER, they have done a complete overhaul to their algorithm!
They explain it in this video…
I just did a search for ‘couple’ and I was amazed to see the diverse results on the first page. I found the following:
- Lesbian couples
- Gay couples
- Bi-racial couples
- Black couples
- Orthodox Jewish couples
- Muslim couples
- Hispanic couples
- Asian couples
- White couples
Pexels also has a good selection of photos featuring people with disabilities. I’d like to see even more options in this category, but this is a good start.
This is really refreshing to see and about time! Try any search and you’ll notice the diverse results 🙂
2. Styled Stock Society (Free + Paid)
Styled Stock Society, one of my personal favourites, has beautiful modern photos and also includes a search filter for ‘people of colour’.
I personally love their search functionality where you can search by content categories, colour pallette, orientation and more – making it really easy to find what you’re looking for quickly.
In addition to this their membership includes a ton of other high-quality assets such as:
- Canva templates
- Content planning resources
- Stock video clips
- Instagram captions, graphics and more
>> Download their free stock photography bundle, to see what they’re all about.
3. CreateHer Stock (Free + Paid)
CreateHer Stock has over 3500 photos of beautiful black women. The quality of these photos are amazing and there is a lot of variety, covering all topics:
- Wellness
- Business
- Lifestyle
- Workspace
- Beauty
- Family
- Fellas
- and more
You can sign up to get a handful of freebies or subscribe to get full access to all photos for just $10 a month (currently there is a 15% off all subscriptions).
4. The Gender Spectrum Collection from Vice (Free)
The Gender Spectrum Collection offers a wide variety of free stock photos and offers real representation of trans and non-binary people.
The collection focuses on people with careers, relationships, talents, passions, and home lives.
In Vice’s words… “The Gender Spectrum Collection, is a stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models that go beyond the clichés of putting on makeup and holding trans flags.
This collection aims to help media outlets better represent members of these communities.”
5. Eye for Ebony (Free + Paid)
Lifestyle stock photos featuring African American models, Eye for Ebony has a bundle of free photos you can download for free. The vibrance of their stunning colourful images is impressive.
You can also shop their collections on Creative Market.
6. TONL (Free + Paid)
Showcasing a diverse mix of all cultures makes TONL a go-to site – especially with the wide variety of categories it covers. I personally love the tradition section that showcases culture and family.
Their photos do a great job of breaking down stereotypes by showing true cultural diversity but also by talking about important issues in various marginalized communities – like this example.
There is a monthly membership but you can also access many free photos on the site. You have to look around the sections a little to find free content. For example, I noticed that there are a bunch of free downloads in the ‘Take” collection.
7. Jopwell (Free)
Jopwell offers loads of free diverse stock photos, but what’s different about this site is it has a lot of great images of diversity in the workplace. Their collections include:
- Millennials
- Career
- Office & Workplace
- Events
- Students
- Tech
8. Raw Pixel (Free + Paid)
Raw Pixel has so many beautiful LGBTQ photos and loads of other culturally diverse stock photos.
You can download 10 images a day for free or sign up to one of their super affordable packages.
Additional Places to Find Inclusive and Diverse Stock Photos
9. Nappy (Free)
Nappy provides free beautiful photos of black and brown people showcasing true representations of real people doing real things. No cheesy stock photos on this site like you’ll find elsewhere!
They have a great variety of premium quality photos (for free) covering the following categories:
- Active
- Food
- People
- Places
- Things
- Work
10. Picnoi (Free)
The majority of people in the world are of colour and most free stock photo sites don’t have a good reflection of diversity, so Picnoi helps fill this gap.
11. Women of Color in Tech (Free)
Finding good quality photos of women in tech is hard – finding great photos with women of colour in tech in even harder.
You can access WOCin Tech Flickr account to access a bunch of vibrant images of women geeking out!
12. UKBlackTech (Free)
Sticking with the tech theme, also make sure to check out UKBlackTech.
Park of a larger organization focused on building more diversity in the tech sector, UKBlackTech has a great selection of images showcasing real people. Includes people of all ages.
Recap: Culturally Diverse and Inclusive Stock Photos
As website owners and businesses, it’s important now more than ever to represent true diversity in our marketing images, on social media, on our websites and in our businesses.
Now that I have done this research and found so many stunning, diverse stock photos I know I’ll be able to add more representation on ALL PEOPLE on my websites and I hope you can too.
Please share this valuable resource with others to help them showcase the true beauty of diversity in their business. 🙂
Related Creative Resources & Articles:
- 17 of the Best Stock Photo Sites for Bloggers
- How to Design High Performing Pins
- 10 Examples of Facebook Posts to Share on Your Business Page
- Free Pinterest Canva Templates
- Ultimate List of Blogging Resources
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Rachel says
Thanks for the great list – Bookmarked to come back to! It’s so important to be inclusive with your images, and this is a great resource.
yolanda says
Hi Rachel! So happy you find it helpful!
Joi says
I love you for this post!!! Amazing read!
yolanda says
Thanks so much Joi! 🙂
Michelle says
Thank you for sharing this! In my professional life, I write textbooks for university students and always struggle with finding more inclusive photos. I’ll be turning to your post as a resource for my next project.
yolanda says
Hi Michelle! That’s fantastic and I’m so happy you can use these photos to represent more diversity in your work.
Tammy Helms says
Love this article Yolanda!! keep pocstock.com on your radar as well as it too focuses on filling the stock gap featuring people of color!! 🙂
yolanda says
Hi Tammy – I will definitely check that out. 🙂
Seriah Sargenton says
I’m definitely pinning this because I struggle so much to find diverse photos!
yolanda says
It can be so difficult, can’t it? Which is so crazy in this day and age. Hopefully it gets better over time, but either way, these sites are awesome 🙂
Leslie says
This is an amazing list Yolanda! Thank you so much for sharing them all. I only heard of these from you. Already bookmarked <3
yolanda says
Hi Leslie! Thanks for the feedback. I’d like to keep growing this list so if you ever come across any other sites feel free to share! Have a good one.