Find and share beautiful images free of charge

Launch a web browser, type www.photoree.com into the address bar and then press Return. When the website opens, have a look around. There are various example photos on the front page, there’s a link to a tour that explains the site’s various features. After that, click the Registering link at the bottom to sign up. It only takes a moment and is free.

At the next screen, enter a suitable username and your email address (so they can resend the password if it gets lost) and then make up a password; confirm it and click Send. At the next screen sign in with your username and password and click Log in. Read the instructions on the next screen (click the ‘up’ arrow to give a photo the thumbs-up, click ‘down’ to give it the thumbs-down) and click OK. Tick the relevant options at the top and then start rating photos.

Found a good photo? Click on it once to open a new browser window which will then load the website that contains the original. Most of the photos that we found using Photoree carried a Creative Commons licence, which means they can be used freely as Windows Desktop backgrounds by simply loading the full-size image in the web browser, right-clicking on it and then choosing Set as Desktop Background. In this screenshot we’re showing a full-size original photo overlaid on the smaller, Photoree version.

Once you have rated more than 100 photos, the fun really starts. Click the stats link at the top, for example, and the site will display a lot of interesting facts and figures about photographic likes and dislikes. It also lists other Photoree users who share similar tastes. Given that these are all live links, it’s easy to wander off looking at the photographs that others have rated just by clicking their name. Here we’ve done just that and come up with someone who’s rated thousands of photos.

As well as looking for photos based on individual ratings, it’s possible to find those that have been tagged with a particular descriptive word or words. Click the explore link at the top and then open the dropdown menu next to ‘show photos’ and select by tag. Here we’ve been looking for any photographs that have been tagged with any of the words ‘lake’ ‘river’ or ‘stream’. To see the various other search filters that are currently available, just open the dropdown menu again and select the most interesting one.

Inevitably, there’s a social-networking element to Photoree, but it’s not overly intrusive and it’s perfectly possible to enjoy the photo-referral services of the site without getting mired in Facebook-style intermingling. Of course, it’s there for those who want to join in, and we’d certainly recommend exploring the various other menus along the top, especially the ‘bookmarks’. This tool allows Photoree members to bookmark photos stored anywhere on the web and display them on the site for others to enjoy.