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Images


Where to find images

Public domain (CC0) image sites

There are a number of searchable sites offering downloadable, high resolution images under alicence. This licence means that the creator of the work has dedicatedthe work to the public domain by waiving all their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law.You can copy, modify, distribute and these photos, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission, or providing attribution. To model good practice, you may wish to give credit to the creator anyhow, but it is not necessary under the terms of the licence.

Some good sites in this category are:

  • - site with over 680,000 free photos, vector graphics and illustrations. Results can be filtered by colour, size, orientation and subject; images can be downloaded in various sizes.Note:The top row of search results consists of sponsored images which are not offered under the CC0 licence.
  • - lots of high quality, hi-res stock photos.Images can be downloaded in various sizes.
  • - high quality, hi-res stock photosfeaturingBlack and Brown people.Images can be downloaded in various sizes.
  • - another option for a variety of hi-res stock photos. Each image is only offered in a single download size.
  • - the Met has made images of over 375,000 items in its collection available under a CC0 licence. Just make sure the "Public domain artworks" box is ticked on the left side of the page.
  • - high-quality clipart images - because sometimes you still need clipart!
  • - sizeable searchable collection of frequently updated hi-res photos. Unsplash has angranting “an irrevocable, nonexclusive copyright licence to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos… for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash.” It no longer has an explicit use of CC0.

Other Creative Commons image resources

Science

  • - a free image library specializing in science and nature images. All images in ScienceImage are free to the public under the
  • - an open repository of biological research images.The default license is.

General

  • - Creative Commons and public domain material (possible to filter for image results only)
  • - from the search page, you can filter search results using the licence filter
  • - the easiest way to filter by license on Google Image Search is by going to advanced search and using the usage rights filter (at the bottom of the page).
  • - this stock library is a disability-led effort to provide free and inclusive images, with photos and illustrations celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC).Images are available under a Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0) license.
  • -difficult to search but contains many Creative-commons licensed high-resolution photos for download; organized by 'theme’. Licenses are listed when you click on an individual photo.
  • - general site that curates many free online image resources. Most photos are CC0 licensed. It also provides HTML and Wordpress-ready text for attribution.
  • - searchable site for icons, great for infographics or presentations. Users have the option to attribute the creator via Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license, or pay for royalty-free use.


How to attribute Creative Commons images

All CC attributions should have the same basic information:

  • Title of image
  • Creator name
  • Source of the image (usually in the form of a URL to image source page)
  • Any copyright information included with image (such as a watermark)
  • CC licence information (including link back to CC documentation page if possible)

Here is a photo. Below it is an ideal caption for attribution

by ()

Because:

· Title: “Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco”

· Author: “” – linked to his profile page

· Source: “” – linked to original Flickr page

· Licence: “” – linked to license deed

How you attribute authors of the CC works will depend on whether you modify the content, if you create a derivative, if there are multiple sources, etc.

.


Adapted fromby Foter under a

See also [pdf]


Some of this content is based on the page by Creative Commons and the page by Mount Royal University, both licensed under a .

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