Images/photos

Photographs and images on the internet have the same copyright protection as physical copies. Copying, reusing or distributing this material will infringe copyright unless the copyright owner has given you their express permission. 

Getting in contact with the copyright owner is not always easy so a few websites have developed licences which allow others to reuse images under certain terms and conditions. Always remember to check the specific usage conditions and credit an image unless specified otherwise. Terms of use are often found at the bottom of web pages in small text.

General images A-Z

• British Cartoon Archive - 2000 British cartoons which can be used for teaching purposes, presentations or academic seminars. Credit BCA on all work used. 
• Classroom Clipart - Over 100,000 images, including photographs as well as clipart. Generous terms of use for multimedia and video production.
• Commons by Flickr - a catalogue of the world’s public photo archives.
• Creative Commons Search - search for images with Creative Commons (CC) licences on Flickr, Fotopedia, Google Images and Open Clip Art Library. Learn more about Creative Commons Licences.
• Europeana – Millions of images from museums, libraries and archives. Use the advanced search option to find material with CC licences.
• Flickr – material is individually licensed under CC licences – also includes collections of Public Domain (copyright-expired) images from the British Library, the National Maritime Museum and other institutions. 
• Google Images advanced search – Change ‘usage rights’ to filter image licences.
• New Old Stock – old, vintage or retro images free of known copyright restrictions.
• Open Photo Project – images individually licensed under Creative Commons.
• Pixabay – public domain images with generous CC licences, stating they can be copied, modified, or distributed even for commercial purposes.  View using Chrome or latest version of Internet Explorer.
• Public Domain Images – wide choice of images with generous usage terms.
• Unsplash – contemporary photos – please check their licence terms before use.
• Wikimedia Commons: Images – large collection of images individually licensed under Creative Commons.  Can browse by sub category or search by topic.

Subject specific images

Arts & Humanities

• Art Institute of Chicago - provides access to a large collection of public domain images.
• Association for Art History - this listing provides a sampling of prominent rights holders, many of whom offer open access/creative commons licences.
• Image * After – for artistic images which can be searched by colour or texture. Generous terms of usage.
• Library of Congress - offers a vast collection of historical images, maps, and manuscripts
• Library of Congress on Flickr – large collection of historical photographs including, jazz, baseball, 1930-40s in colour, women’s liberation etc. Check terms on individual images.
• National Gallery of Art (USA) - provides open access to a significant portion of its collection.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access Collection - offers over 400,000 high-resolution images without copyright restrictions.
• V&A – Over 250,000 images including fashion, photographs, and sculpture. Facility to download high resolution images for free.
• VADS – Over 100,000 images for visual arts for use in learning, teaching and research.

Science

• EduPic Graphical Resource – for science, nature and geology.
• European Space Agency Image Library - similar to NASA, offering high-quality images of space exploration.
• Flickr Biodiversity Heritage Library - vintage images of the natural wold. 
• Geograph Britain and Ireland - the Geograph Britain and Ireland project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland under Creative Commons licence.
• NASA Image and Video Library - a treasure trove of space-related images and videos, many of which are public domain.
• Smithsonian Libraries - for science, nature, history and other.
• World Register of Marine Species -  authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms, including information on synonymy.

Medical, Health & Biological Sciences

• College of Biological Sciences – images can be used for educational purposes only.
• National Library of Medicine - images from the History of Medicine (IHM) are from the historical collections of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Here you’ll find image files of a wide variety of visual media including fine art, photographs, engravings, and posters that illustrate the social and historical aspects of medicine dating from the 15th to 21st century.
• Public Health Image Library (PHIL) - the imagery showcased in the PHIL is historic in nature; the contents depicted, though appropriate at the time a photograph was captured, may no longer be appropriate in the context of the current time period, and is not to be viewed as a source of the most current public health information. 
• Radiopaedia – CC images for medical and radiography professionals. Go to Cases to find images.
• Wellcome Trust Images – a very large collection of high-quality images in the Public Domain on the history, sociology and anthropology of medicine and the biological sciences.

Professional stock images

• Adobe Stock Images - explore popular stock image collections of our most incredible high-resolution, royalty-free photos, stock videos, music tracks, and more. 
• Free Digital Photos – professional stock photographs. Please acknowledge the source.
• Free Images – professional stock images in technology, transport, sport, health, nature, buildings and textures. Please check the terms carefully, acknowledge the source and provide a link to the site.
• Pexels – free stock images for commercial use.
• Public Domain Archive – Free stock photos, free from copyright for commercial use.

Search Engines & Directories of Images

• EveryStockPhoto – a search engine for free photos.
• 85 Free Stock Photo Resources webpage linking to other resources.
• 100+ Free Presentation Tools: Stock Images, Fonts, Cliparts, & Infographic Sites

Images & photographs to purchase

• Getty Images – images in the royalty free section are still subject to a charge.
• Image Bank – from 含羞草视频.
• National Geographic Photography - subscription necessary.
• Science Photo Library - explore the mysteries of science and access a wide range of compelling images and videos. Starts from £20 a month for an individual.
• Shutterstock – affordable stock photos, e.g. 5 downloads for £29 for one year’s use.

Other online resources

Understanding image licensing – Provided by Getty Images.

Please note that the website links above have been compiled to help you highlight the range of websites available but are not endorsed by the University.

If you have found a suitable image on a website but you are unsure about downloading and embedding it, consider providing a hyperlink directly to the website. You just need to make sure that the image you are linking to is an authorised copy and not a ‘pirate’ version.

Images from books

The Library stocks a few books which provide copyright-free illustrations, subject to terms and conditions. These include:

• Geometric design and ornament: 374 copyright-free designs for artists and craftsmen, by E.V.Gillon, shelfmark 745.4 GIL.
• The copy book: copyright-free illustrations for development, by L. Bob, B. Wilson & The Association of Illustrators, shelfmark 743.4 COP. Covers food, water, work, health and shelter.
• Jewelry: a pictorial archive of woodcuts and engravings: over 1000 copyright-free illustrations for artists and designers by H.H.Hart, R. Sietsema & N. Goldberg, shelfmark 739.27 HAR.
• Fashions of the thirties: 476 authentic copyright-free illustrations by C. Belanger Grafton, shelfmark 391.009043 GRA.
• Women: a pictorial archive from nineteenth-century sources: 391 copyright-free illustrations for artists and designers by J.Harter, shelfmark 704.9424 WOM.
• Men: a pictorial archive from nineteenth-century sources: 412 copyright-free illustrations for artists and designers by J.Harter, shelfmark 704.9423 MEN.

Attributing material

If you use any images, video or audio please remember to attribute the work unless specified otherwise. In each instance always check the terms and conditions of use.

For example CC licences require users to attribute the original creator(s) of a work and recommend the following style.

“My Awesome Photo,” © 2009 Greg Grossmeier, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en 

To find out more about attributing Creative Commons material please refer to their best practice webpage.

For more information please contact the University’s Copyright and Licensing Manager:

Email: copyright@lboro.ac.uk