Get the Most Out of Pexels with Collections

Get inspired and get work done faster with Pexels collections. Here's how.

Pexels profiles aren't just for photographers. Creating a profile gives you the ability to curate your favorite Pexels content into beautiful collections, to be shared with co-workers, friends, or browsed later when you're looking for inspiration.

No matter what you use Pexels for, creating collections helps you keep the photos you find organized, and it can also be a great way to exercise your creative muscles.

We know that sourcing images and videos for blogging and social media posts, as well as for ads of all kinds, is a big part of how freelancers and entrepreneuers make use of Pexels.

To get you thinking about how you can use Pexels collections, we created a profile for our new fictional friend, fitness coach Emma Clarke. She lives in Austin, Texas, and she uses Pexels to find content for her Instagram feed and fitness blog. She also browses Pexels just to get inspired.

Here's how you can also use collections to make your work easier, just like Emma — whether you're a marketer at a huge company or a solo small business owner.

How to create a collection

Getting a collection started on Pexels takes just a few seconds! Here's how.

1. Hover over the photo that you want to collect.
2. You'll see a plus sign appear in the bottom right-hand corner. Click it.
3. In the box that pops up, click Create Collection.
4. Type in a title. (You can change this later.)

You've just started your first collection!

How to add photos to a collection

Adding photos to a collection is also super easy. When you find a photo you want to add, click on that plus sign, and you'll see all the collections you've made. Simply click to add this photo to the collection of your choice.

Editing your collections

Your Pexels profile will display all your collections, as well as photos you've liked, and photos you've downloaded. Your liked photos are a public collection which can be seen by everyone on Pexels, while your downloads are private and visible only to you.

You can make any of your Pexels collections private by clicking on Edit, below the collection title. When a collection is private, it will have a lock symbol next to its title.

So, how can you use collections?

There are so many ways collections can improve your workflow! Here are a few ideas.

Blog post ideas

Whether you've just launched your blog or you're a seasoned blogger, you know that sourcing great imagery is crucial to a successful blog. You can use Pexels collections to help inspire blog post ideas, or to gather images for use in an upcoming blog post. You can share these collections with co-workers on your blog team, even if they're private — all you need is the collection URL.

Social media content

Collections can be a major help in planning out your Instagram feed. You can curate images for use on Instagram and go back to them later and download and post as needed.

Mood boards

Planning a website, ad campaign, or editorial shoot? A mood board is an awesome way to share your vision with collaborators, and a Pexels collection makes that quick and easy to do.

Marketing imagery

Use a collection to gather inspiration for your ads or to help plan out the assets you'll use for them. Especially if you're creating ads on Facebook or Instagram, where the image is key, this is a great way to make your ad creation process easier.