This background graphic set contains 3 macro photos of nicely textured teak wood:

Going through my stock photo library I found these two botanical images, which could make good backgrounds in a number of designs, not only botanical, eco-theme or plant related. These are macro photographs of the inner shell of poppy seed pods, in case you wonder.

Click on the images to download the high-res file.

The first post without images, I think.

Since I am witnessing the occasional discussion among designers about sources of raw material, like photos and vector graphics, and the potential risks connected with that when it comes to file downloads, copyright and angry clients, perhaps a few words for clarification:

While at first glance there seem to be countless opportunities for getting free stock photos, background graphics or textures, most are either collections of third party material (see the concerns above) or more or less useful link lists to design sources.

While I´m not pretending to offer a complete range of stock images here (far from that) or to even replace a decent stock photo agency for all your graphic design needs, the material offered on FreeStockImages.org is all unique and my very own.  Since I am free to do whatever I want to with my photos and graphics I gladly share some here with fellow designers. Please download.

New graphic design material on Free Stock Images: A set of dusty, grungy scratch textures.

Download the high resolution file to get to see the details. (No sharpening applied yet, you may want to do that yourself within your design).

Another dark grunge texture with subtle scratches.

And a light one (working well as a structured grunge background in vertical orientation, too):

Two new royalty free stock images of raindrops today.

And if you need more stock photos of rain or water, there are several further down this page posted earlier.

A quick, royalty-free Christmas icon you may have a use for in your last-minute designs:

Some coffee pictures. Actually there´s a bit of organic cacao added – a recommended mixture this time of the year.

Abstract background, watercolor in red tones outlined with Indian ink. (There are more colorful paint backgrounds further down here on this blog and on Royalty Free Images, btw.)

Stock photos of blue water splashing.

For a while I had to photograph liquids on a regular base (not just water) – a number of aesthetically interesting outtakes are now available here. This image for example serves nicely as a simple background:

If you need more water stock photos, check the archive, I´ve posted several before.

Digging through my stock image library I found a couple of loam textures which I haven´t published before:

Btw, thanks to all the designers who download these stock photos and link here or tweet about it…

And, in case you need more royalty free images – there´s a new set of nature textures on RoyaltyFreeImages.net