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Sports stock photos and royalty free images

There's more to sports than the field, the court, and the pitch. Sports is a way of life. Sports fans play sports, watch sports, and live sports with the mascots of their favorite teams following them through their daily lives. Indoor sports, outdoor sports, sports recreation, and even just being active are all part of the global sports world. We've curated a collection of our favorite sports stock photos and royalty free images from contributors all over the world. Simply scroll down to explore this collection of authentic visuals of sports life.

Using sports imagery for marketing

  • Sports images are ideally suited for marketing campaigns. It's common to see images of athletes paired with motivational messages, messages about teamwork, and messages about perseverance and success. Sports are more than simple games — they've been analogs for society at large for much of human history.

  • They simulate conflict, negotiation, and territorial identity. As such, it takes very little effort to draw parallels between a sports image and the call to action in your marketing campaign. Choose images that showcase athletes at their best, teams enjoying success, or the potential of a ready-and-waiting arena before a big game.

  • These images will operate as their own metaphors to complement your marketing copy — just be sure the images aren't too visually busy, or you can risk losing your audience's attention purely to the image.

Using sports imagery for marketing

Browse sports photos and images

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About sports stock photos and royalty free images

Sports images come in a variety of forms. Of course, there are the stunning stills of athletes in action, but there are also all of the sports icons, sports backgrounds, sports logos, sportswear, and even stylized images like sports vectors. All kinds of things fall under the umbrella of "sports," like recreational activities, extreme sports, fitness, running, and even healthy lifestyle images. Our collection has photos of everything you might need for every sport you can watch, from sports equipment to sports cars.

Questions about sports images


What are sports and recreation images?

Sports and recreation images are photos, vectors, and other images that feature scenes from or aspects of sports and recreation. These might include logos of sports equipment, vectors of sporting events, photos of events like Sports Day, and images capturing sports shirts and any other clothing fans wear to show their love for a particular sport. Sports and recreation take many different forms around the world, so sports and recreation images capture these unique cultural takes on sports and recreation. When you're looking for sports and recreation images, look for authenticity. You don't want images that look posed unless you're specifically trying to showcase something like a ball sitting still. People don’t pose while they're playing sports, so the images in your design should reflect that.


What is sports photography and how is it different?

Sports photography is a specific subcategory of photography. Unlike images of memorabilia, clothing, and events, sports photographers actually capture athletes in action. Because sports are fast-moving events, capturing a clear image of an athlete at work requires specialized knowledge of camera apertures, shutter speeds, and lenses. Because they can't actually be on the field, this specialized equipment is necessary to bring the photographers seemingly into the action. It takes a quick eye and a keen sense of what will make a captivating image to create compelling sports photography. You may see stylized use of blurred motion in sports photography, which can create a sense of movement while still capturing the athletes themselves in precise detail.


What are the most popular sports images?

The most popular sports images are athletes in action, soccer, football, basketball, and baseball. It makes sense that athletes in action would be among the most popular sports images because it can encompass so many sports and recreational activities. Images of athletes show the human form at the incredible limits of physical achievement. Soccer, football, basketball, and baseball are some of the most popular sports in the world. That means that not only do we commonly see photos of professional teams and clubs, we also see plenty of amateur fans playing in their neighborhoods or anywhere they can get together in an empty space. Sports images doesn't only mean photos of the world's top athletes, it also means the fans who follow professional sports and channel that love with their friends and neighbors.


How to find high-quality sports images for creative projects?

Finding high-quality sports images for creative projects is easy on Shutterstock. First, you can simply scroll down to browse the curated collection of sports images we've gathered from contributors all over the world. If you need something more specific, type your search query (like “soccer players”) into the white box labeled "Search for images" at the top of this page. When you get your results, you can use the filters on the left side of the page to narrow down your options — choose options like orientation, image type, color scheme, and more. If you have a specific image already, and you want something similar, click "Search by image," and upload your file. The A.I. behind the Shutterstock library will scour the collection and return similar compositions to the file you uploaded.


How can sports images help tell stories?

Sports are a larger part of fans' lives than the matches themselves. Sports fans gather to watch games when they celebrate birthdays or holidays — or even when they simply want to relax with friends. It's common to share food and drinks, and to wear attire supporting your team — even if no one in the stadium will see you. When we create projects using sports images, we're intoning more than the sport or the player in the image. We're intoning the lifestyle that accompanies sports fandom. We can use these intonations to tell stories about victory, defeat, adversity, success, loyalty, and teamwork, simply by choosing sports images that invoke these memories in your viewers. You can pair images of athletes in action with fans cheering or supporting from home to draw connections between the games and the individuals who love them.

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