Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

Diversity pictures free your potential to communicate with your audience in an accurate, tangible way and make for some of the best images for marketing and visual content strategy.

It is not news that we live in a global community, a melting pot where multiple cultures, ethnicities, life choices, etc. The diversity in our current society is one of the aspects the public praises and better relates to, so it comes as no surprise that diverse stock photos are one of the top trends in the market for years.

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So where to find these diverse images with professional quality to use in your designs? Here we have listed the best stock photo agencies offering high-quality images with diversity in focus. Check them out!

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Our Expert's Take: The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion

When we talk about diverse stock photos, we don't just mean including one African American model in a group shot of Caucasian people, nor a cringe-worthy photo of a white businessman next to his white and happy-looking secretary, and certainly nothing close to a black family stock photo that is styled according to a hegemonic aesthetic.

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To tackle diversity in visuals in 2020, you need to use imagery with an authentic, natural feel in content that represents diversity in all its greatness and modernity: ethnically varied (family) groups (like Hispanic stock photos, for example), non-stereotyped gender roles, people with disabilities, multiple lifestyles. You want to bring the real world into your pictures in the most inclusive way possible.

Additionally, you also want to make sure you're considering your audience's visual preferences. For example, men and women prefer different colors and even different tones within them. While blue is the general favorite, men go for brighter hues and women for calmer ones. In the same way, the guys prefer shades (color mixed with black), and the ladies choose tints (color mixed with white). Using color psychology and clever color combinations in your images is a must.

Diversity and most of all inclusion have taken center stage in the last year, as global events have once again raised crucial matters like human rights, racial hate, and inequality in public forums and media. Discussions, protests, and awareness actions have been developing around the world, as a collective call to the end of racism and pushing for an inclusive society. These are core matters for younger demographics such as Generation Z and thus have heavy online visibility.
Furthermore, social movements that impulse body and image positivity continue to gain traction and influence over society, particularly in women photography, and all stages life unfolds in are called to be inclusive, and reflect it visually too. Big brands are embracing this trend, particularly in fashion, sports, and beauty segments. Another rising visual topic is that of modern senior living: baby boomers have reached elderly age and, just like they did when they hit adulthood, they are redefining what senior life looks like. Finally, non-binary identities have taken to the front stage socially, with genderfluid persons claiming and achieving more visibility.
In this context, a powerful and honest visual representation of diversity is a must in business images in particular. Feminine stock photography also has now a strong focus on a double minority: melanated women (women of color) in the workforce. Fashion is increasing its representation of plus-size models and diverse body types. And modern senior stock photos are all about active lifestyles and stereotype-breaking people. 
Finding and using diverse stock images in your communications –particularly for social media posts– will align you with the times we are living in, send the right message to your audience, and ultimately boost up your conversions.

Ivanna Attié - Stock Industry ExpertIvanna Attié - Stock Industry Expert

This is a very effective way to achieve compelling visual designs that better connect with your audience or target market (especially millennials and gen Z's who were born in the era of diversity). Authentic images are super relevant for social media like Facebook, for example.

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The 10 Best Agencies to Buy Diversity Images

Shutterstock

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One of the web's biggest and most popular stock photo agencies, Shutterstock, has a wide variety of multicultural images in its over 100 files library. Curated into categories and also found with keywords like “multicultural”, “diversity,” and similar terms, you will find lots of photos representing the diverse society of our days.

Of course, you will see the typical, “stocky” shots like the circle of hands from ethnically diverse people and the picture-perfect interracial family, but they also have a nice selection of more authentic styled diversity images depicting diverse groups of millennials in everyday life situations, as well as more specific content on particular cultures and ethnicities. For example, they have this curated collection about black representation in the media. 

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Shutterstock photos are really cheap, costing as little as $9.16 each when bought on-demand and as low as $0.26 per image with a subscription plan.

Sign up for free at Shutterstock to explore their stock! To save on your purchase, seize our special Shutterstock Coupon Code with 15% Off! And now you can get free photos with the great Shutterstock Free Trial!

Discover millions of images on Shutterstock, simply enter your search terms in the field below and hit the “Find” button!

Photocase

Photocase

A well-established stock photo agency based in Berlin, Photocase is a specialist in authentic and trendy imagery, and they have a large variety of these types of images in a realistic, modern, and artistic style.

Photocase's unique stock photos represent diversity in many different ways. From dedicated photo collections to keyword-based results, you will find lots of photos covering human diversity images in terms of culture, ethnicity, gender roles, customs, life choices, and beyond. Images that don't look like stock photography at all! All in premium quality and with a very marked artsy eye.

Photocase Diverse Photos > Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

This agency sells photos on demand, priced according to size. By buying them individually, you get them for between $10 and $20 each, but by using credit packs, you can save a lot of money in the long run.

Explore Photocase's amazing artistic stock photography! And if you want to buy photos cheaper, grab our special Photocase Coupon Code that gives you 5 FREE Credits + 10% Off!

See all the beautiful, diverse photography available at Photocase right now, just type in your keywords in the field below and hit the “Find” button for results!

iStock

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The pioneer stock photo agency of the web, iStock, is still one of the most popular around and includes a big selection of stock imagery on the topic of cultural diversity. In both their budget-friendly and their exclusive, high-end collections, they offer plenty of photos representing multiculturalism and modern takes on global society.

There are traditional stock photos themes like racially diverse people holding hands and photo collages of ethnically diverse models close-ups, mixed up with more trendy shots showing diversity in business, childhood, friendship, and family environments.

iStock Diverse Photos > Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

iStock photos are super affordable, be it on demand with credits or via a subscription. Depending on which collection they are from, you can buy them for as little as $0.42 and $0.26 each or between $8 and $24 using credit packs. Plus, the iStock licensing model is one of the most flexible, with extensive usage rights included in the standard license.

Sign up for free at iStock to discover their ethical images and photos of women of color! And you surely want to seize our special and exclusive iStock Promo Code with 15% off on EVERYTHING, including subscriptions! Valid for a limited time, this deal gives you a 15% discount on credit packs in subscriptions whether you are a new customer or an existing member! Grab it, hurry up!

Want to check out iStock's diverse photos right now? Then, use the search bar below to enter your search terms and hit the button to see what diverse images turn up!

Getty Images

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One of the most renowned traditional stock photo agencies in the world, Getty has images for pretty much any topic or theme you can imagine, and that includes diversity.

They have dedicated photo collections covering various topics within the diversity umbrella: the Lean In collection for modern women roles, Vanguardians for current business lifestyle, and many other selections where cultural, ethnic, age, and gender-diverse people are depicted performing everyday life tasks.

Getty Images Diverse Photos > Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

Their images sell at a significantly higher price point than the called “microstock” agencies, but they also offer specific usage rights, and all their imagery is of premium quality. Rights Managed photos can be anything from a couple of hundred to thousands of dollars according to the rights acquired. Under a Royalty-Free license, you can find photos priced by size, starting at $50 and up to $500. With their special Ultrapacks (prepaid downloads), you get these images for a lot less money, saving up to 33% from the regular price.

Visit their website today and explore all their wonderful collections! To save on your premium diversity stock photos, use an Ultrapack, and save up to 33% on your purchase!

Find your ideal diverse stock photo right here using the search feature below. Type in a search term, hit the button, and see images populating your screen!

Stockphotos.com

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Stockphotos.com is a stock photo agency designed specifically for small to medium-sized businesses looking for awesome, professional imagery at affordable rates that match their budget. As it focuses on providing all the right photos to make your business stand out, diverse stock photography could not be absent in this collection. Amongst its 8 Million+ high-quality photos and images, they include a nice selection of culturally diverse images ready to be downloaded and used.

As much as within its categories, such as People, Lifestyle, and Family, or searchable by keywords, you will find lots of HD photos depicting people of all ethnicities, ages, and cultural backgrounds, from portraits to everyday life situations and scenarios.

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Photos at Stockphotos.com are really cheap, whether you buy them on demand with image packs or acquire one of the convenient annual plans. One of the best deals is with the annual Club Easy plan. Depending on your chosen purchase model, you can get these multicultural cultural images from $12 each down to as little as $0.20 per image. As affordable as it gets!

Discover the diverse stock photos on Stockphotos.com!

Check out their great selection of diverse images right now by typing in your keywords in our search field below and hitting enter for results!

Adobe Stock

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Adobe Stock is a stock photo service offered by Adobe. While the main highlight is that it is fully integrated into the Adobe Creative Cloud platform –meaning you can access the catalog and license images directly from your favorite image editing apps–, it's also a stand-alone agency in its own right, with a high-quality library.

Some time ago, they had already released the Adobe Stock Fluid Self collection, which aimed at adding diverse content both on ethical and lifestyle concepts. Their library, in general, shows every day more diverse content, and recently they launched two initiatives destined to increase diverse and inclusive imagery in their offer.

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While The Fluid Self is a premium collection, and the unit sells images at $249.99 each, the regular library has diverse stock photos under subscription plans that range from $9.99 to $249.99 per month, according to the volume of downloads. You can also enjoy your first month free with the Adobe Stock Free Trial. And images from the new Adobe Stock Free Assets section are completely free!

Visit Adobe Stock today!

Alamy

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Alamy is a well-cemented stock photo agency that, just like Getty, started out the traditional way and jumped on the digital wagon later on. Today, their website hosts a large and varied library where diverse stock images could not be missed. And they even have a dedicated gallery for just this type of photo.

Alamy's Diversity Collection is made of hundreds of photographs portraying diversity in all its ways: culture, ethnicity, gender, religion, lifestyle, and many more concepts are included. A distinctive factor in this collection is that it includes commercial-ready images but also editorial-use photos and even archive content. More recently, their collection of BAME images (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) hosts beautiful photos focused on these ethnicities.

Alamy Diverse Stock Photos > Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

Alamy sells these photos on-demand only, and you can choose between Royalty-Free and Rights Managed licenses. Price per image ranges between $19 and $375 depending on the license type, intended use, and file size, but you can save 15% from a single image price (up to $150 discount) with a prepaid image pack that they also have available.

Discover Alamy's Diversity Collection! 

Check out Alamy's BAME Collection!

And see what they have in store right now using their search bar right here!

DragonImages

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DragonImages is a stock photo production brand and studio owned and managed by Pressfoto Group, a long-established stock photography house and stock photo agency. DragonImages is based in Asia and focuses strongly on producing Asian-related imagery that accurately represents this region's ethnicities, culture, and customs.

Using Asian models, shooting in Asian locations, and covering all kinds of topics and themes, DragonImages creates Asian images that bring a modern and local take on Asia, its people and its landscapes.

DragonImages Diverse Photos > Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

Images from their collection are available at the Pressfoto agency, as well as in most of the top stock photo agencies on the web: Shutterstock, iStock, Dreamstime, Fotolia, and more. All these outlets work with very low price points, making DragonImages photos very affordable, sometimes less than $1 each.

Check out DragonImages' collections!

PICHA

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PICHA is a stock photo library for Afrocentric imagery, with a mission of providing modern, positive portrayals of Africa, African people, and black communities. Their main focus is on culture and values, as they hope to give creatives the right content to use in African-themed visuals.

Their site offers curated collections on the most varied and relevant topics, such as business, work, family life, food, urban environment, rural landscapes, women in tech, and even editorial imagery. They have photos and illustrations, too, all Royalty-Free and ready to be used in commercial projects (except for Editorial images).

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In PICHA you can buy images a-la-carte, starting at $10 for standard size and standard license. Prices go up if you want Large sized images, and they have a number of extended licensing options with higher price points, such as multi-seat, unlimited print run, and products for resale. Plus, they also have monthly subscriptions available, starting at $70 a month for 10 downloads.

Check out the beautiful Afrocentric imagery at PICHA!

Mocha Stock

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Mocha Stock is the result of marketer Sequoia Houston noticing the lack of diversity in both the creative teams she was a part of and the visuals she helped design for various marketing campaigns. Tired of not finding the commercially valuable, diverse images she wanted to see, she founded a stock media marketplace that specializes in exactly that.

Mocha Stock offers hundreds of stock photos, illustrations, and even videos, all representing people of color with a realistic aesthetic. They include curated galleries to discover relevant topics like women, business, or family.

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They sell photos on demand, ranging from $11-$450 according to size, and you're guaranteed to find high-resolution images for large format printing and similar professional designs.

Discover Mocha Stock's collections!

Nappy

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Nappy.co is a collection of beautiful photos of black and brown people aimed at startups, brands, agencies, and everyone wanting authentic and modern representation of people of color in images. It was developed by the influencer management agency Shade, which specializes in diversity.

Their images cover everything from sports and fashion to business and family. Images have a warm feel that is perfect for social media in particular.

Nappy Images > Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

Best of all? All the photos are free to download and use in commercial designs, as they are all under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.

Discover Nappy.co and their free diversity photos!

SnapHubr

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SnapHubr is a Nigerian-based stock photography agency dedicated to selling and promoting high-quality imagery that better represents Africa, including its geography, fauna, and people. If you're looking for cultural images, this is the right place to find many representations of African culture.

They offer a large collection of 7 million images, covering all the most popular topics and themes like business, family, or technology. They include regionally relevant categories such as festivals, animals, traditional people, and more. All in all, their images have everything you need to portray Africa in a modern and artistic way accurately.

Snaphubr Diverse Photos > Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

This agency sells images in bulk, in the form of image packs that you can buy on demand. They have options from 1 and up to 300 images, priced depending on the intended use. While priced in Nigerian naira (their local currency), these packs are super affordable, translating into costs from $1,10 to $20,90 per image according to the intended use and pack size chosen.

Discover SnapHubr and their awesome African stock photos!

TONL

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A young stock photo marketplace looking to bring diversity and modern lifestyle representations to stock photography, TONL has a wide collection of images covering ethical, cultural, and racial diversity, with a strong focus on people of color (aka tonl narratives), black women, and color in tech.

Grouped in seven main categories and also searchable by keywords, you will find all kinds of photos depicting people in every imaginable aspect of life, all with artsy and modern aesthetics that looks to represent diversity better. Portraits, couples, and group photos populate this cool and very diverse collection of images.

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TONL sells photos a la carte for $20 each, and they have several low-volume monthly subscription options that let you save significant amounts of money, from 15 downloads for $29 up to 75 images for $105. A great way to get diverse stock photos without spending much, even if you only need a few images per month.

Discover TONL's awesome photo collections here!

Wellness Stock Shop

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Wellness Stock Shop is a stock photo marketplace run by award-winning photographer Briena Sash, and it features a unique and high-resolution stock photo collection focused on wellness, healthy and natural themes. All images produced by Briena, include real-life professionals and people from various races, gender, age, and backgrounds. It's a perfect visual resource for brands within the healthy living industry.

Catalog in Wellness Stock Shop includes mockups, desks and flat lay designs, lifestyle photos, and more, all around the topic of wellness. They're all Royalty-Free, and they include preset files for social media use. Collections are divided according to particular industries (nutrition, fitness, beauty, spirituality, etc.), and also by style. But all the photos share an aesthetic based on authenticity, a natural feel, with lots of white and touches of bright colors. The artistic eye of the photographer adds value to these images, making them not only technically suitable for professional use, but also unique and aesthetically appealing.

This site has three membership options to buy. Pro Pack is the most affordable one, valid for 3 months with 45 downloads. The other two, Blogger and Developer packs, are for 1 year and grant unlimited downloads. The difference between them is in the usage allowed for the photos. While they are all Royalty Free, Pro and Blogger packs enable you to use the images for your own business or purpose. The developer pack lets you use the photos in designs for your clients.

Discover Wellness Stock Shop here!

Diversity Photos

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The name couldn’t say it clearer: this agency specializes in bringing the trending topic of diversity to stock photos. With natural, authentic styled aesthetics and high-quality images, the Diversity Photos library covers every possible aspect of human diversity, offering Royalty-Free, affordable imagery you can use in your every design.

When we say every aspect of human diversity, we mean it. Diversity Photos has a large catalog curated into categories, each representing a facet within the concept. From business and health to spirituality and disabilities, going through family, ethnic and cultural diversity, age groups, and more. This variety and grade of specialization ensure you will find professional, high-quality photos for every project you have in mind.

Diversity Photos Images > Diverse Stock Photos: Best 15 Agencies with Culturally Diverse People Images

The agency sells photos both on-demand and with subscriptions. Paying as you go, each image costs $25-$50 according to size, but you can get a 25% discount with an image pack and up to 50% discount with an annual subscription, taking individual image prices down to just $12,50-$25. Very affordable rates for HD photos ready for commercial use.

Be Diverse with Awesome Multicultural Stock Photos

As you can see, there are a lot of great sources to buy photos that are high quality, commercially worthy, and ready to use, representing the ever-current topic of diversity.

Using diverse stock photos, you can create inclusive visual concepts that better connect with your target audience and share a message more accurately.

There are diverse stock photos for every need, and for every budget, and with our top 10 list of diverse stock photo agencies and our other top list of best stock footage agencies, now you can find the ones that suit you!

Which one will you try first?

Amos Struck
Amos Struck

Amos Struck, a renowned expert with over two decades in the stock photography industry, is known for his profound expertise in both stock imagery and artificial intelligence (AI). He is the founder of StockPhotoSecrets.com and a driving force behind the innovative AI-driven platform, Stockphotos.com. His pioneering work in visual AI is marked by co-founding Ximilar AI. Amos also established the Microstock Expo Conference, a key event in the stock photography sector. As a regular speaker at major industry conferences like DMLA and a prominent member of CEPIC, he consistently contributes to the industry's growth and evolution through a blend of technological innovation and market insight.

  1. Awesome!!! Keep up the good work. I just need to ask is Tonl a good platform to submit my work related to African Diversity Photography?

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