Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Common Image Resources

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:

Libraries and Archives:

Stock photography websites:

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:

Hat tip to:

(Last updated May 2015.)

Featured image credit: Photos and lens. CC0 via Pixabay.