Subject Guides: Copyright @ NSCC: Images

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Finding and Using Images

Use these web-based repositories to search for content that is free to use and share. Remember to check the license terms and include a credit - Giving credit is a fundamental component of academic integrity.

Images with a CC0 license or images in the public domain do NOT require a credit. They are free to use without attribution unless including credit is a requirement of your assignment and is required by your instructor. CC0 images are an excellent option for brochures and posters.

Creative Commons (CC ) Search - Openverse
Search for free content in the public domain or licensed under Creative Commons licenses. Over 300 million images from 19 collections.
more...less...
CC Search is now called Openverse and joins WordPress as an open source project
ClipArt ETC
High quality educational clipart. Free for educational use. Over 70,000 illustrations. Attribution is required.
Clip Safari
Free Clipart. No attribution required.
A repository that continues the spirit of free exchange and collaboration that originated with the Open Clipart Project
Flickr Commons
A repository that includes free images. Flickr Commons was created to increase access to publicly-held photography collections. The collection also includes copyright-protected content.
Check the license filter. Select All Creative Commons to restrict image results to CC content.
Iconify
Icon Sets. Collections include popular glyph fonts, SVG icon sets and several Emoji sets. All collections are released by their authors with some kind of free or open source license.
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC) collection is the shared documentary heritage of all Canadians and spans the entire history of our country. The collection contains materials in all types of formats from across Canada and around the world that are of interest to Canadians.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Digital collection (over 400,000 images, including historical photographs) that can be used for noncommercial or educational use.
NASA Image Library
NASA's new image library consolidates imagery spread across 60 collections into one searchable locations. Users can embed content in their own sites and choose from multiple resolutions, including the original size, to download. Users can see the metadata associated with images, including EXIF/camera data on many images.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Extensive Archival Collection. Looking for images you can reuse freely?
Select the "Search only public domain items" option to filter results to items with no known copyright restrictions.
Pexels
Free high quality photos.
Photos in the repository have the most open Creative Commons license -- CC0.
CC0 licensed content is free to use and requires NO attribution.
Pics 4 Learning
A curated image library that is safe and free for education uses.
Photo citations provided with images.
Pixabay
Includes vectors, drawings and photos. All content is free to use and share.
Photos in the repository have the most open Creative Commons license -- CC0.
CC0 licensed content is free to use and requires NO attribution.
Unsplash
Free photographs.
Attribution is not required but is appreciated.
Wikimedia Commons
A database of 21,182,929 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.
A mixture of Creative Commons (CC) licensed and public domain images.

Use this NSCC Library IMAGE subscription resource for your teaching, handouts or student projects.

Britannica ImageQuest.
"Nearly three million rights-cleared photos and other images for homework, classroom activities and lesson plans. Images come from more than 50 of the best collections in the world, including the Bridgeman Art Gallery, Dorling Kindersley Images, Getty Images, the National Geographic Society and Encyclopaedia Britannica."
Including a credit is required.

Searching for Images

Assume the content you find is protected by copyright unless there is a statement that states otherwise.

Use a Google Search Filter to find Images you can Copy & Use

You can filter your image results to show only images that are labeled for reuse:

1. Type your search terms into a Google search box. Select Images.

2. Select Tools – a new menu bar will appear below.

3. Select Usage Rights from the new menu bar and then select Labeled for reuse.

4. Your image results will now be filtered -- Results include only images Labeled for reuse.

5. Click on the image, until you land on the webpage where the image is hosted, to confirm that the image can be used. Look for the name of the creator and usage terms or a Creative Commons (CC) license.

NOTE: Please do not use the BING search engine. The filter tool in Bing does not work as advertised.
Bing filtered image search results consistently include copyright-protected content.

Consider searching for images from public domain repositories or images with creative commons (CC) licenses. Open source and CC images are free to use and share.
See the Finding Images tab for more information.

Where did that image come from?

Reverse image web searching tools may be able to answer this question.

Drag and drop the image file into one the reverse image search tools (see links below), then review the results.
Try using more than one: results vary as each tool uses a different search algorith

Reverse Image Search Options

TinEye Reverse Image Search
Reverse image search tool. This search tool allows you to sort your results by date posted on the web. A very handy feature if you want to find the first time the image was posted.
You can also filter by Domain/Collection -- an easy way to check if it is stock photo that must be purchased.
Google Reverse Image Search
A robust reverse image search tool.
No results in TinEye -- Try a Google reverse image search.
You may see results here.
Image Raider
Image Brief

What is a Royalty Free Image?

Royalty Free does not mean no cost.

A royalty based fee schedule requires ongoing payment based on the number of times the content is used.

Royalty Free means a single payment (the permission fee) covers multiple use of the image without additional payments. It allows for more than one use of the image for the fee paid.

You pay for the image, but it is free of royalties or ... royalty free.