Do you search for the best stock photos, but all that you come across are bad-quality pictures that cost a lot? Then you’ve come to the greatest place.
I will show you how to create, download and customize your featured image.
The best part?
You can do it for FREE.
So, if you need great-quality pictures for your website, then you will love my guide.
Shall we hit the road?
Name: Canva
URL: www.canva.com
Founders: Melanie Perkins, Clifford Obrecht, and Cameron Adams
Price: $0- $27/month
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
What is Canva?
Source of the best stock photos. At least for me.
There are several plans from FREE, to the enterprise. Depends on what you need and you can find the best plan.
Additionally, you can create a brand new image. For instance, you can create your :
- Logo
- Featured Image of Blog Posts
- Pinterest Posts, etc
For who is Canva for?
Is anyone searching for the best stock photos.
Affiliate Marketers, Freelancers, web designers, Social or Content Marketers,…
The spectrum of people who can profit from this great tool is literally endless.
How to use it?
In addition to the standard stock of pictures, you can play a bit and create your own design.
In case, you need a presentation or you are creating a post on your social media platform Canva can help.
First, you are going to choose a template out of the Canva database with more than 250k options. Important to know, that you are also free to create your own custom-sized picture.
(No worries you can adjust the size later as well)
Choose the right size and right design…
After that you can choose the background you prefer to be on your canvas or you can choose totally blank space, where you are going to create everything from scratch, like a real master.
Here for example you can see the website after I chose a custom-size picture.
The size I chose is 1200×680 (that’s the size of a Facebook post and as well recommended size for the right optimization of your pictures on your website, if you don’t want to have a slow website) and straight away I can see some suggestions for the background.
On the far left, you can see the options you have after you chose your “canvas”.
You can add photos out of your library too, elements(like circles for instance), text, or even audio or video.
That just proves that you are completely free to create whatever design you want.
The way I love to use it is to add my photo, be that real photo or screenshot, and then create the additional design here on Canva.
The featured image for this blog post( that’s the image above my post title) is also made using Canva. This is how I created it.
(By the way, if you would scroll through my website, almost every Feature Picture is created using this amazing tool -;)
Firstly I chose the template here on Canva.
( This particular template I found originally with the custom-sized picture, but simply copy and paste and I can use it for my size featured image as well.)
Secondly, I did take a screenshot of the Canva logo…
That’s copyright free.
I went to uploads, then device chose the screenshot, and pasted it in…
Lastly, I did add text to my graphic, and VOILA, I have created my featured image.
If you like you can play a bit with the size font, font color, or fond type.
Again, I am not the best at graphic design, so I am sure if you spend more time dragging and dropping you will create a much nicer picture, but I wanted to show you, how easy it can be to create a design according to your wishes and desires.
What do I love about Canva?
Free Option
If you are on a budget, or just don’t want to spend money on something you haven’t tried first, no worries.
Canva is offering you FREE membership, that is fully functional and if you are working alone it can be more than sufficient for you.
(If you check their pricing, the paid version like a PRO is also very affordable, with slightly above 9€ I think almost anyone can afford it)
Multiple Usage
There are other great free stock photo platforms available, like Unsplash, or Pixabay, but none of them offers such a variety of functions as Canva.
Something I already mentioned, but there is much more.
With Canva, you can create your posts, presentations, logos, videos
What about funny videos on YouTube that you want to make a collection from?
With Canva it is super easy.
Easy to navigate
When you hear about the all features Canva is offering you might think, it must be super hard to find the right button and the right drop-down menu.
Contrary to that actually.
The website itself is so super easy to navigate, that even a KID would find its way.
Templates
More than 250 000 templates in the FREE version and more than 420 000 templates in the PRO version should be enough for the most demanding user.
If you by any chance still can’t find the best fit for you, take a screenshot of whatever moment you like, download it and create your unique graphic.
Big saving space
With more than 5 GB, you are solved for plenty of designs to be held on your website.
It can be useful if you are working on big projects or long presentations.
So, you can save the well-needed space of your Mac and use the space offered by Canva.
What could be better?
There is just one thing.
The best pictures are in the PRO version, meaning paid.
On the other hand, I do understand completely.
I mean, if you would have a shop and you would have your best pieces to offer, would you give them free of charge?
Of course, you would be keen to earn from them.
Why you should use Canva?
In case, you are falling into the category of people who are really in need of great-quality designed graphics and you like to stay flexible in usage, you will probably not find anything better than Canva.
I am so bad at taking pictures or resizing them.
Trust me without Canva, I would be lost.
You see, I am Affiliate Marketer, I do write 2-3 blog posts every week.
In every blog post, I do use 3-7 pictures.
Lately, half of my pictures are coming using Canva FREE version. I really really think they are offering sufficient features in their free version.
I would definitely recommend you try their website. You can also check it first, and decide if this is something for you.
I hope you found some valuable info in my post if Canva does offer the best stock photos. If you did like it, please share it forward.
Your friend,
Julius
Pros
- Free Version
- Templates
- Easy To Navigate
- Huge Saving Space
- Multiple Usage
Cons
- Best pictures available in PRO
Thanks for the information.
I opened a Canva free account a couple of years ago, used it a couple of times, and then completely forgot about it.
You have sparked my interest in Canva again. I think it’s time that I revisited this tool and put it to use. I read from other people online how they use it to optimize images for Pinterest and other social media platforms. Apparently, there are templates already set up for each of the different platforms?
Canva sounds really versatile, and I love the fact that you say that most of the tools that we need as part-time bloggers are available in the free version.
Thanks for reminding me about this tool.
Cheers
Hey Andy. Yes, they do have this pre-optimize function, great that you mentioned it -;) It is going to help everyone searching for a particular size. However, you can also adjust it for your needs before hands. The important thing is still, the size. If you do it by yourself think about the ideal size. Which shouldn’t exceed 1200×628 px. Otherwise, you are risking your website being slow. Enjoy your reunion with Canva -;) and thanks for stopping by