Photographs and other images that are posted to the web are generally protected by copyright, and cannot be freely copied and used without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
However, three categories of images are available for use for free, without the need to obtain permission. These are:
- Federal government images. Materials created by the US government are not copyrighted, and are free for anyone to use.
- Old images. Materials published prior to 1923 are not protected by US copyright law (any copyrights that may have existed at one time have since lapsed). All such pre-1923 images are in the public domain, and can be freely used by anyone.
- "Copyright-friendly" materials. Some copyright holders make their images available for others to use with little or no restriction.
This latter category can be particularly confusing, as many of the licenses and terms of use, though meant to foster widespread use, are highly convoluted and legalistic. They often end up imposing difficult-to-meet requirements, despite the best of intentions (read any Creative Commons license, if you want to see an example).
The best copyright-friendly licenses, from a commercial use point of view, have no requirements regarding link-backs, attribution, image modification, or similar constraints.
With that as background, here are some excellent resources for finding photographs and other images that you can use with little or no restrictions.
NOTE: Most copyright-friendly sources listed below still impose two restrictions on use:
(1) no pornography, or other grossly undesirable use, like hate speech
(2) no copying of entire collections (hundreds or thousands of photos at a time) for resale or reuse
Private Sites
Probably your best place to start, The Commons houses tens of thousands of photos contributed by institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Smitsonian, Eastman, and universities, museums, and archives around the world. All images (and there are some spectacular works here) are listed as "no known copyright restrictions."
About 20,000 images, free to use for any purpose except large-scale duplication of the collection (eg, to make a competing website). No attribution or link-back is required.
4FreePhotos.com
A few hundred pictures available. Attribution required only if photo is used on object (like a t-shirt) that is sold: "Photo by www.4freephotos.com". Otherwise no attribution required.
FreeRangeStock.com
Thousands of photos. Free to use, with site registration. Photo credits (attribution) not required, but are appeciated. However, use with a website template does require a credit and link to the original image.
Several thousand photos and wallpaper images placed into the public domain (copyright-free) by the author. Photo credit is appreciated, but not required.
Another (fairly small) collection of photos voluntarily placed in the public domain.
PublicDomainPictures.net
Several thousand free public-domain pictures that look to be of unusually good quality
Modest collection, free to use for most purposes, but no reselling, web templates, or pornography, etc.
Small collection for any use except adding to other photo libraries.
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Modest collection, free to use for any purpose, with option to purchase hi-resolution images.
FinallyCreative.com
Modest collection, mostly nature and landscape, voluntarily released to public domain.
A diverse collection of several thousand photos for use in commercial or private projects, including websites. 'Stand alone' pictures cannot be resold or relicensed.
A repository of several thousand images in the public domain.
A substantial collection of over 8,000 free photos. They do ask users to credit the site.
Free-StockPhotos.com
Modest collection, most images are free, but a few hi-resolution images charge for a download. A link back to the site is appreciated, but not required.
Unprofound.com
Modest collection, interestingly arranged by color scheme. Credit to the site is appreciated, but not required.
Catchy collections of images an illustrations from old books and magazines. Check date to make sure material is pre-1923 for public domain use.
Small but good collection. Credit appreciated, but not required.
Several thousand pictures, voluntarily placed in the public domain. Good, high resolution images, but not the easiest site to navigate.
With over 25,000 small clipart-style images here, this is the place for a quick, low-resolution picture. Mostly drawings, but some photos as well.
Federal Government Sites
Images created by the federal government are public domain, and free for anyone to use, for any purpose.
NOTE: State government sources of images vary in their public-use policies.
Only federal sources are, by law, automatically in the public domain.
A set of links at USA.gov to repositories of images across the federal government. There are many links here for public domain images, but a few of particular note are:
More than 2,000 farming-related photos.
Huge collection of photos, videos, and other images, slow search. Images are not to be used in advertising without permission.
Few thousand images, mostly technology, science and engineering
The Space Agency's vast, incredible collection of photos and videos. You might want to start with their subset of NASA's "Great Images".
Thousands of images from the National Park Service, some of incredible splendor.
Saving one of the best, but most convoluted, for last. The Archival Research Catalog at the National Archives is an unbelievably rich collection. You can spend days here! But the search system is difficult to use, and not terribly intuitive. Read the "How to Search" material that ARC provides, and keep an eye out for the tab that reads Digital Copies (near the top of the initial search results page).
Image Searching
This is an excellent image search tool, covering millions of images. The Advanced Search feature can be used to restrict a search to public domain and copyright-friendly images. Use licenses in the search that are essentially unrestricted are:
- public domain,
- freerangestock
- imageafter
- Morgue File License
- NASA
(Hey Google...when will you put license information in Google Image searching...?)
If you know of any important sources of public domain or copyright-friendly photos that should be included here, please leave a note in Comments, and I'll be sure to check it out.
Anonymous
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Thanks for this free photo info.
betterbody/Pat
Peter Baskerville
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Thanks
Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.
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Useful for Knol Authors
I included the knol in my blog http://iknols.blogsp
I shall include it other knols that point out resources to knol authors.
Qamar
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David Thank you Sir
Qamar
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David Thank you Sir