Art: Image Sources

A general research guide about art for students at UW Bothell and Cascadia College.

Open Images

Open images are available for use on the open web and other unrestricted environments. You are free to use them in multimedia projects, websites, blogs, portfolios, etc, that are open and available to the public. When you use open images, you do not need to restrict access to your class or academic environment.

Always read and comply with the use restrictions for specific image sources. Always cite images someone else created.

Images should not be sold or used in commercial products or for commercial purposes.

Flickr Creative Commons

Flickr Creative Commons
Flickr's Creative Commons portal. Browse by license type or choose "Advanced Search" to limit to Creative Commons content.

Flickr contains millions of photographs shared by Flickr users under Creative Commons licenses, and is a strong source for contemporary travel, nature, people, and design photographs.

Library and Museum Image Collections

British Library flickr collection
1 million + images from 17th, 18th, and 19th century books held by the British Library.
Metropolitan Museum of Art OASC
Some of the Met's art images have been designated as "Open Access for Scholarly Content" or OASC. These images, identified by a small OASC icon under the image on the item page, are available for use in any scholarly or educational project.
Unfortunately, there is not a way to limit collection searches to only OASC images, so it is important to check each item page.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Images and other digital materials from the NYPL collection. Not all images are open-source. Be sure to investigate the permissions for any image you are interested in reusing!
Getty Open Content Search
100,000+ images from the Getty Museum and Research Institute. Includes photographs, prints, drawings, and other visual materials.
Digital Public Library of America
Search results can be limited to show only images. Not all images are open access, but each item result contains a "rights" field with details.
Europeana Collections
Search more than 53 million records from cultural institutions across Europe. Limit search results by type (including images) and by rights/license. You can also browse the collection by topic, institutional source, or color!

Government Image Collections

Historic NASA images on flickr
Images of both space and space exploration, including from the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions.
National Park Service Multimedia Search
Images from more than 400 locations managed by the National Park Service.
USA.gov Image Search
Single search pulling together multiple sources of government photos.
Science and Environment Collections
A collection of government sources for science-based images, including the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Agricultural Library.
Library of Congress Photos, Prints, and Drawings
The Library of Congress has digitized more than 1 million photos and prints. Not all images are open access, but item result pages include a "Rights Advisory" with relevant details.

Open Access Photographs & Historical Images

Campus Library Digital Collections / Wetlands Collection
Includes documents, images, and maps related to the history of the UWB/CCC campus and the University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia Community College. Includes Wetlands Collection with almost 1000 Creative Commons photographs.
Wikimedia Commons
Historical and contemporary images contributed by participants. Millions of high-resolution images of art, architecture, design, people, historical events, diagrams, maps, and more.
World Images
Primarily historical images organized into 18 categories, including Women, Science, Cities, Natural World, Science, and more.
Yale University Digital Commons
Yale's digital collections, including images from the Peabody Museum, Center for British Art, University Art Gallery, Library Map Collection, and Walpole Library Prints and Drawings.
LIFE Magazine Photo Archive
Collection of images from LIFE magazine, accessible through Google Images. Images in this collection are approved for "personal, non-commercial" use.

Websites with Free Images

These sites offer at least some images for free general use. These sites also contain advertising and/or offer images for sale.

Read each site's conditions for use carefully. Different images from the same site may have different use restrictions, too. Make sure you know what they are.

Free Stock Photos
Over 10,000 images, browsable by category. Lots of clip art and clear photographs.
morgueFile
Search image tags or browse by category. MorgueFile license clearly explained. Affiliated with dreamstime stock photo.
stock.xchng
Stock photography contributed by members. Owned by Getty Images & affiliated wtih iStockphoto.
evertstockphoto
Includes photos from flickr, Wikimedia Commons, morgueFile, and more, with links to original locations. Advanced search allows you to search only the sites you specify.