Legal Image Sources for Projects
May 14th, 2008 by chad
Virtually all images that turn up on a Google image search are copyrighted, and it’s a good idea to get in the habit now of thinking about how the raw material you use in your work is licensed. Remember that Mark Getty (of Getty Images) famously said that “Intellectual property is the oil of the 21st century.”
Public Domain (no strings):
- Wikipedia’s List of PD Images - large and categorized
- U.S Government Photos and Graphics - Your tax dollars at work!
- Gimp-Saavy - mostly NASA and Federal Wildlife
Creative Commons (some restrictions, differing licenses):
- Flickr CC Search - the “Attribution License” is the least restrictive
- Wellcome Images - Historical, Fine Art, and Wellness among other topics from the UK
Other (free sites with liberal TOS):
- Morgue File - very liberal licensing, should be fine for any of your projects
- ImageAfter - good for textures, elements, and reference; not traditional stock photos
- stock.xchng - license varies by image
- Photogenika - images for noncommercial use