This is a brief compilation of common image resources for reference by OUP authors and staff when considering image use in social media. All images, regardless of license, should be given proper source credits with appropriate licensing terms stated (public domain, Creative Commons with BY ND NC SA and version specified, Crown Copyright, etc.), with a link back to where you found the image. Exceptional use cases such as fair use or fair dealing are judged on a case by case basis (e.g. the use of a film still in a critical essay on the film). ‘Can I Use that Picture?’ is a useful guide to determining permissions.
Common photo resources:
- Wikimedia Commons. Public domain and freely-licensed educational media content. Refer to individual image license, link to source.
- WikiArt. Allows unlimited copying, distributing, and displaying of the images of public domain artworks solely. Refer to individual image license, link to source.
- Flickr. Specify Creative Commons licensed works, no known copyright restrictions, or US government works. Refer to individual image license, link to source. (See more about Creative Commons on Flickr.)
- Google Image search. Filter by usage rights and select “labeled for reuse”. Refer to individual image license, link to source. (See Google Help for more information.)
- CC Search. Creative Commons licensed works. Refer to individual image license, link to source.
Government resources:
- Department of Defense Imagery. Visual information of material, equipment, DoD personnel and others on all publicly accessible DoD web pages may be distributed, copied, and used, without permission for personal use as well as historical, educational, editorial, and newsworthy purposes or activities. Credit image “Photo courtesy of the US Department of Defense and [insert rank/title, name, Service].” Link to source.
- US Government works on Flickr. Can only use public domain or Creative Commons images. Refer to individual image license, link to source.
- Library of Congress Digital Collections. Only use public domain images. Refer to individual image license and attribution. Link to source. See Legal Notices page for further details.
- American Memory Project. Only use public domain images. Refer to individual image license and attribution. Link to source. (See Legal Notices page for further details.)
- US Government Photos and Images. Only use public domain or US Government work. Refer to individual image license, link to source.
- NASA ArtSpace. NASA still images; audio files; video; and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format, generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video, audio, and data files used for the rendition of 3-dimensional models for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. NASA should be acknowledged as the source of the material. Refer to individual image license.
Museums:
- LA County Museum. Only use public domain images labeled “Public Domain High Resolution Image Available”. Should cite the author/artist and source of the Public Domain High Resolution images as they would material from any printed or other work, and citation should include the URL www.lacma.org in addition to all other proprietary notices, if any, provided with the Public Domain High Resolution images.
- The Walters Art Museum. Only use Artworks and photographs of two-dimensional objects in the public domain; photographs of three-dimensional objects and all descriptions as CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported License and GNU Free Documentation License.
- The British Museum Free Non-Commercial Use Images. Credit all images “© Trustees of the British Museum” unless otherwise indicated on the website. Larger images are available by registering for free image service.
- NGA Images. Images of works of art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain are labelled “Open Access” and are free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial. Include the following credit with any use of one of its open access images: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington. (See their policy page for further details.)
- The Rijksmuseum. Images labeled “public domain” are available for high-res download.)
- Art Institute of Chicago Ryerson and Burnham Libraries. Fill out form to request digital images.
- British Library images on Flickr Commons. Mostly public domain. (More info.) Refer to individual image license.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Museum’s OASC initiative provides license- and cost-free access to images of artwork in the collection that the Museum believes to be in the public domain and free of other known restrictions for scholarly use in any media which the Museum has identified as Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC) Icon on the site. (See their FAQ for OASC for further details.)
- Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. Many images free to use for non-commercial purposes, or licensed CC BY-NC-ND. Refer to individual image license.
- Open F|S, Freer and Sackler Galleries and the Freer Study Collection. High-res downloads for non-commercial use. Must credit images “Courtesy of Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.” (See their FAQ for further details.)
- Getty Open Content Program. Free to use public domain/open content images only. As part of the download, they ask for a very brief description of how you’re planning to use the image.
- National Portrait Gallery (UK). Select images are available with a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license for use in non-commercial projects (e.g. online in scholarly and non-profit publications and websites, blogs, local society newsletters and family history). Image sizes are maximum 800 pixels on the longest dimension at 72 dpi. Find the image and agree to licensing terms. (More information available at the Museum Association.)
Libraries and Archives:
- NYPL Digital Gallery. Refer to individual image licenses. Credit all images: “Courtesy of The New York Public Library. www.nypl.org” and link to content. (See Terms and Conditions for further details.)
- NYPL Labs Stereogranimator. Credit all images: “Courtesy of The New York Public Library.” Link to source.
- Open Access Maps at NYPL. CC0 for maps only. Use credit: “From The Lionel Pincus & Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library.” Link to source.
- 40,000 out-of-copyright maps from the National Library of Australia. Cit the library according to their guidelines (The creator; Title; The words ‘National Library of Australia’; Collection or item identifying number).
- Wellcome Library. CC BY. Must credit “Wellcome Library, London” and refer to individual image for further credit.
- US National Archives. Mostly public domain. Refer to individual image license. Credit US National Archives and link to source.
- Folger Shakespeare Library. CC BY-SA, unless copyrighted. Refer to individual image license.
- Internet Archive on Flickr. Public domain. Refer to individual image license. Credit Internet Archive and link to source.
- Harvard Library Digital Collections. Only use images labeled “public domain”. (See their Public Domain Policy for further details.)
Stock photography websites:
- Pixabay. All images are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). State license and link to source.
- Unsplash. All photos are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). State license and link to source.
- Pexels. All images are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). State license and link to source.
- StockSnap. All photos are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). State license and link to source.
- Negative Space. All images are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). State license and link to source.
- Cupcake. All images are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). State license and link to source.
- FoodiesFeed. A resource of free realistic food images in high resolution and free digital goods related to food. These all are fully available to download for your blog posts, articles, websites, templates, mobile apps, backgrounds or just any kind of design. Credit photographer and link to source.
- FreeStockPhotos. Free stock photos from Hubspot. Email required to download. Link to source.
- Free Digital Photos. Free and paid images. Free images are Standard Licence which allows you to use the image as an illustration for almost any business, personal, educational or charitable purpose. Credit artist and link to source. (See Terms and Conditions for further details.)
- Dreamstime. Free and paid images. Royalty free or editorial license. Credit artist and link to source.(See Buyer related questions for further details.)
- Freeimages. Free membership required. Credit artist and link to source. (See Image License Agreement for further details.)
- everystockphoto. Free membership required. A license-specific photo search engine. Refer to individual image license. Credit artist and link to source.
- RGB Stock. Free membership required. RGB Stock license or as specified. Credit artist and link to source.
- Pixel Perfect Digital. All images are Creative Commons. Refer to individual image license, credit pixelperfectdigital.com, and link to source.
- IM Free. Public domain or Creative Commons. Refer to individual image license. Credit artist and link to source.
- Gratisography. All photos published on Gratisography are licensed under Creative Commons Zero
- Snapographic. All pictures on snapographic.com were captured by Thomas Mühl and are free of Copyright Restrictions (CC0 1.0 Universal). Attribution is not required but would be appreciated.
- Picography. All photos published on picography are licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
- Public Domain Archive. All photos published on Public Domain Archive are licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
- Life Of Pix. All photos published on Life Of Pix are licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
- Polar Fox. All photos on StockPhotos.Polarfox.com are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
- Travel Coffee Book. All photos are listed under CC0.
- New Old Stock. Vintage photos from the public archives, free of known copyright restrictions. Link through to discover the Archive and credit as requested by the Archive.
- Magdeleine. Photos published in the CC0 section of Magdeleine are licensed under Creative Commons Zero; photos published in the Attribution Required section of Magdeleine are licensed under CC BY 3.0.
- Little Visuals. All photos published on Little Visuals are licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
- IM Creator Free. Refer to each individual photo’s Creative Commons License.
- Animal Photos. The images on animalphotos.info are licensed by CC-BY-SA. Attribution to the original photographer is required.
- Stock Media. Work by stockmedia.cc is licensed under CC BY 3.0. Attribution to the original photographer is required.
- Lock and Stock Photos. Images on this site are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Attribution to AJ Montpetit with a link to his personal website (http://ajmontpetit.com) is required.
- Photo Everywhere. Images on this site are licensed under CC BY 2.5. Attribution and a link to http://photoeverywhere.co.uk is required.
- Big Foto. Pictures free of charge in return for providing a link to http://www.bigfoto.com. (See original terms.)
- Creativity 103. Images are licensed under CC BY 3.0. Attribution with hyperlink to http://creativity103.com is required.
- Getty Images. Only images available via Getty stockphoto licensed embedding.
- Picjumbo. A free stock photo site created by designer & photographer Viktor Hanacek in 2013. Requested credit line: ‘Photo by picjumbo.com‘ with link to picjumbo.com or ‘Photo by Viktor Hanacek‘ with link to viktorhanacek.com. (See more)
- Kaboompics. When possible, please include a photo credit with link to www.kaboompics.com – “Photo by Kaboompics.com” (or similar statement). (See terms)
- FancyCrave.
- SplitShire. Free Stock Photos & Images for commercial use. Photos by Daniel Nanescu. Credit and link back.
- ISO Republic. Free and premium stock photos. (See terms.)
- Refe (free). Credit and link back. (See terms.)
Further resources:
- Archive.org. Public domain.
- Illustrated books on Project Gutenberg. Refer to individual image license.
- Yale Digital Commons. Refer to individual image license. May have to contact Yale University Art Gallery.
- Morguefile.com. The morguefile license is specifically for designers and illustrators to use the images in a creative process creating work of their own. If you would like to use the image in a blog post, we recommend contacting the photographer and providing a by line under the photo with the photographer’s name. This is generally agreed to be acceptable.
- Public domain pictures. Public domain.
- The Pattern Library. Refer to individual pattern license.
- Creative Commons Search. Creative Commons. Refer to individual image license.
- Superfamous. The design work on this site is licensed under CC BY 3.0. Attribution to the original photographer, Folkert Gorter, is required.
- Jay Mantri. All photos published on Jay Mantri are licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
- Death to the Stock Photo. Every photography is licensed under the Photograph End User License. Do not redistribute photos; provide attribution; do not imply endorsement; do not use in a defamatory manner. (See full license on their website.)
OUP-specific resources:
- iStock. OUP has an account. Request which image to be purchased. Credit photographer and link to source.
- OUP PictureBank. Stock photos for use by OUP; only OUP employees can access.
Resource guides:
- Currier Museum of Art
- Open Collections (Public domain or Creative Commons. Refer to individual image license.)
- College Art Association list
- UCLA Image Resources research guide (Creative Commons and public domain.)
- Brown University: art and architecture from around the web
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- Copyright Aware from the BBC
Hat tip to:
(Last updated May 2015.)
Featured image credit: Photos and lens. CC0 via Pixabay.