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Nature pictures and images

Nature stock photos and royalty free images

When it comes to art and photography, images of nature are among the most popular in the world. The sweeping vistas, high-contrast mountains, vivid flowers, and haunting skyscapes of our favorite nature images capture the imagination and bring distant environments front and center. Beautiful nature images are appropriate for almost any project or design, and they appeal to almost any viewer, anytime. Shutterstock’s royalty free image library features nature images from artists and photographers from all over the world. If you’re looking for visually stunning nature images, scroll down, where you can explore our curated collection of nature images.

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Using nature images for a website

  • Nature images are excellent assets when designing a website. Because they’re so universally appealing, you know most of your visitors will appreciate what they’re seeing, no matter their walks in life.

  • Choose broad, sweeping vistas as background images, or feature powerful, high-contrast images in your header images or banner ads.

  • Nature images create a neutral environment, meaning your content will stand out on its own, even if you’re selling pet products or scheduling beauty appointments — nature images work with any platform.

Using nature images for a website

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All about nature images

Beautiful and real nature imagery plays a number of roles in media art. Images of savannas, oceans, and landscapes evoke space and possibility, while forests and rivers convey high-contrast drama and motion. Nature images can also create a sense of calm, particularly waves, clouds, and forests. Because of their broad appeal, nature images make ideal backgrounds for all kinds of projects, and they layer very well with additional design elements like text or symbols.

Questions about nature images


What are nature photos and images?

Nature photos and images feature vistas of the natural world, either in photographic or artistic form. We usually contrast them with industrial, technological, or human-centered images by focusing on landscapes, rock formations, ocean waves, and other features of the natural world. They can range from close-up images to sweeping views that span miles and miles. These images highlight the beauty of our shared natural resources, and their broad appeal makes them ideal for design projects. The lasting popularity of nature images mean there are many approaches to choose from when including them in your projects.


How to search using a nature image on Shutterstock?

Searching using an image on Shutterstock is a highly effective method of finding a royalty free image you can license for your projects. If you’ve found a picture you like but aren’t sure if you’re allowed to use it, simply click on “search by image” to the right of the search bar at Shutterstock.com. From there, you can upload your image, and Shutterstock will show you similar options from our library that you can safely use in your designs. We have contributions from around the world, so you never know which nature image will work best in your project.


Why are nature images beautiful and real?

Nature images appeal to different viewers for different reasons, but there are a few shared characteristics that make them so popular, beautiful, and real. Because they showcase natural environments that we all share, anyone can relate to nature images. Nature features bold, irregular, exciting lines and colors, which grab our attention and make it difficult to turn away. Because the subjects in nature images are naturally occurring, when we find interesting shapes and vistas, we’re more drawn to the fact that humans didn’t create them, and that gives us a sense of wonder that sustains the popularity of nature images.


What are the most popular nature images?

The most popular nature images are landscapes and flowers. These images inspire backgrounds, and paintings, and textile designs — even advertisements and marketing campaigns. Flowers are vivid and delicate, and no two are alike, so they are a universal symbol of love and beauty — two ideas that appear in design projects all the time. Landscapes show us a world of space and potential, where anything can happen, meaning any design project can find its setting there. Their inherent beauty and functionality in design projects make them versatile subjects that we come back to again and again.


How to find a perfect nature image on Shutterstock?

There are two ways to find the perfect nature image on Shutterstock. 1. Use our straightforward search bar to begin your exploration. Enter a keyword that describes the general idea you’re looking for, like “waterfall”, and then hit search. When you get your results, use the filters on the left side of the screen to choose size, orientation, image type, color, even with or without people. Add more keywords if you want to narrow your search further and then explore the results! 2. Click “search by image” to the right of the search field at Shutterstock.com, and upload your sample image. We’ll pull similar images from our library, and you can click which ones are to your liking. The library will keep narrowing results until you find what you’re looking for!

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