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Finding public domain and creative commons (re-usable) images

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Public domain image found using Pixabay
We often want to put some nice or useful images into our presentations, posters, research reports or on social media. Here's a few places and ways of finding images you can use without requesting permission from the copyright holder.

First Some Definitions...


Public Domain = Copyright free, i.e. images that would once have belonged to the creator/copyright holder but are now old enough that copyright no longer applies, or the creator has chosen to make copyright free.

Creative Commons = Creative Commons Licenses - a set of easy to understand copyright licenses that allow people to share work (such as images) in a way that makes it clear whether you can re-use the work.

An Example of a Creative Commons License:


Creative Commons Licence

If you saw the above license attached to an image then you would know that you can share and adapt the image in, any way as long as you attribute (cite/reference) the original creator.

There are other versions of creative commons licenses, such as CC-BY-NC - which means that the image could be shared and adapted for non-commercial (educational) purposes, as long as it is attributed to the original creator.

How to Find Images


There are a number of search options for finding public domain and creative commons images:

WikiCommons
Search  c.36 million freely usable media files

CC Search
Prototype search engine, searching c. 9 million works including Flickr. Always check the license on the individual image found.

Google Image Search
Searches for all types of images - most of the results will be copyrighted, where they are owned by a copyright holder. Just because something is found via Google Images does not mean you have the right to use it.

However, you can filter by license within Google Images. On the Google Images search screen click on Tools to open the tools menu, then use the drop-down to look for images labelled for re-use. Always check the license on the individual image found.



There are also other services available such as Pixabay, but again check the licenses on the images, as these services often also include stock images which require payment to use.

Some subject specific image collections contain a mix of copyright and public domain/creative commons. For example, the Wellcome Trust collection clearly states whether an image can be re-used.


Human skeleton with left arm extended: front and back views. Line engraving by Heath, after Walker, 1806.

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