Finding and Using Online Images
This guide has been designed as a starting point for locating and using online images in your research. For further assistance ask us!
Table of Contents
Image Search Engines & Metasites
Online image searching relies on words to locate results. This means that images that are not named to reflect their content are sometimes difficult to find. Brainstorm different keywords as you search. If you still get poor results, consider using one of the more specialized databases or websites listed in this guide.
Google Image Search
Google's “advanced image search” allows you to limit by size, color, and other parameters. A little-known feature is the power to search only for certain content types: news content, faces, photo content, clip art, and line drawings.
Yahoo Images Search
Offers image searching capabilities similar to Google's, but across a different collection of images. Note that Yahoo emphasizes results from Flickr more than other search engines.
Exalead Image Search
Exalead's advanced image search provides a number of limits similar to those in Google, including face recognition.
Behold
From Behold website, "Behold's goal is to provide search access to high quality images that are openly available online. Some of these images may be used free of charge subject to varying restrictions (see creativecommons.org website for more information)."
Image Metasites
BUBL Link Catalogue of Internet Resources - Image Collections
A directory of image collections. To search the list of collections by keyword, press "Ctrl F" on your keyboard.
The Commons on Flickr
Photograph collections with "no known copyright restrictions" made available by various cultural institutions (Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, many others) and hosted by Flickr. The Commons is particularly useful for searching several collections of historical photography simultaneously.
Intute
Search this academic web portal and then filter the results by resource type for a list of relevant image resources.
OAIster
On the search page, choose "image" from the list below "Limit by resource type."
Databases Available Through SFU Library
These databases are licensed for educational use. SFU faculty, staff, and students do not need additional permission to use the images in classroom instruction and related activities, including presentations and student assignments.
Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) Images
Emphasizes world news and events. To search EBSCO images, connect to the database, then mouse over "More" on the blue menu bar and choose "Images."
Art Images
SFU Library's Art Images is a growing collection of online images documenting a broad range of art, with an emphasis on the history of Western Art.
ARTStor
Documents artistic traditions from many times and cultures. Includes architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design as well as other forms of visual culture.
Biology Image Library
Published by BioMed Central, the Biology Image Library is a collection of images, illustrations, movies and animations that are useful for research and education.
CAMIO
A collection of high-quality art reproductions from museums around the world. Works by a broad range of major European, American, and Canadian artists can be viewed. Cultures and time periods represented range broadly.
Credo Reference
Use the "Image Search" tab from the main search page to search for over 200,000 images in over 100 searchable and browsable reference books.
Early Encounters in North America
Prints, drawings, paintings, maps, bibliographies, letters, and photographs documenting the relationships among peoples in North America from 1534-1850. The image search page is available via the "Images" link under "Find."
Grove Art Online [Part of Oxford Art Online]
The most comprehensive online reference resource for all aspects of the visual arts worldwide from prehistory to the present day. Note: In addition to images stored in Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online provides links to external images. Permission from the copyright holder may be required to use these external images.
JSTOR
In JSTOR, you can search the captions of images within items in the database, as well as the ARTstor database. To find images, do a search and then limit to images by clicking on the “Images in JSTOR” or “Images in ARTstor” tab at the top of the result list. Note: ARTstor results are limited to the first 300 hits; for a more complete set of results from ARTstor, or to see ranked results in order, perform your search inside the ARTstor database.
North American Indian Thought and Culture
Full text and images dating from the 17th century to present day, providing biographies of Native North Americans. A link to images can be found under "Table of Contents." Browse different types of images (Architectural drawings, etc) by clicking on the links at the top of the page.
Simon Fraser University Library Electronic Document Centre (EDC)
Provides access to the growing number of digital collections and resources created or hosted at SFU. The Doukhobor, Editorial Cartoons, Harrison Brown, Lake District, and Multicultural Canada Collections all contain a significant number of images.
Image Collections on the Web
Unlike the databases available through SFU Library, image collections freely viewable on the web have not been licensed for educational use by SFU faculty, staff, and students. Many online images are freely available without permission for non-commercial use, but many others require the owner's permission before you may use them. Before choosing to use an image in your work, it is important to read the usage rights for the image collection or individual image and, if necessary, seek the copyright owner's permission. For more information, see Images and Copyright.
Ad*Access
Provides "images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955."
American Memory – Library of Congress
A large collection relating to American culture and history, organized into more than 100 thematic collections.
Art Images for College Teaching
Art images organised into categories, with an emphasis on ancient, medieval, and Renaissance European art and architecture. Thumbnails link to more detailed information including text references.
Casselman Archive of Islamic and Mudejar Architecture in Spain
A searchable collection of approximately 4,000 color and black/white images.
Corbis
Large collection of images with a wide range of search options. Note, however, that image rights must be purchased for use other than viewing.
Discovering American Women
Primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States. To find specific kinds of images (e.g. book covers, photographs), click the "Primary Source Types" link.
Earth Science World Image Bank
Geoscience images made available by the American Geological Institute. Some images are available at a high-resolution free of charge for non-commercial purposes.
Flickr
Popular online site for organizing and sharing personal photograph collections as well as some institutional collections. On the advanced search page, you can limit your search to Creative Commons-licensed content, or limit further to content that can be used commercially or that can be modified, adapted, or built-upon.
Getty Images
Getty Images is a commercial image company providing photography, illustration, and film images. Collections within Getty Images include 425,000 Time & Life images as well as Lonely Planet, and National Geographic images. Note that image rights must be purchased for uses other than viewing.
LIFE Photo Archive (Hosted by Google)
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today.
New York Public Library (NYPL) Digital Gallery
A wide-ranging collection that is useful for virtually all academic disciplines. Formats include photographs, drawings, posters, rare illustrated books and others. Low resolution images can be viewed and used in research projects and presentations. Permission must be obtained for use of high resolution images.
NOAA Photo Library
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's collection includes weather and space images, images of shores and coastal seas, and marine species images.
Photomuse.org
Documents the history of photography and the place of photography in the world by providing access to collections of George Eastman House and the International Center of Photography. Includes a chronology of photography with cross-referenced timelines of politics and culture.
Picture Australia
Maintained by the National Library of Australia but provides access to the collections of a range of Australian cultural institutions.
UNESCO Photobank
Contemporary and historical photographs classified into themes: education, science, social science, culture, and communication. Photographs taken at UNESCO headquarters and in field offices worldwide dating back to 1945. Note that all images require copyright permission for use.
VADS (Visual Arts Data Service)
Art images from various UK collections.
Visual Collections
Includes digital images of maps, fine art, and photographs from over 50 museum, university, and private collections worldwide. Some copyright restrictions may apply.
Wikimedia Commons
Searches the images available in the Wikipedia encyclopedia. Click on an image to view copyright restrictions.
WorldImages
Provides access to the California State University IMAGE Project. WorldImages is global in coverage and includes all areas of visual imagery. The images may be freely used for non-profit educational purposes.
Canadian Image Collections
British Columbia Archival Information Network
Links to city and municipal collections of historical photographs and archives. Permission to use the images on these sites must be granted by the individual owning institution.
British Columbia Archives - Visual Records
Photographs, paintings, drawings, and prints relating to the history and culture of British Columbia. Copyright and permissions guidelines accompany each image.
Canadian Landscapes Photo Collection
Photographs of Canadian landscapes and landforms presented by the Geological Survey of Canada to illustrate the great diversity of Canadian scenery.
Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art (CCCA) - Canadian Art Database
Images of Canadian art including paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture, digital / computer based work, conceptual art, and performance art. Permission to use images must be obtained from artist.
Government of Canada - Images Canada
Photographs, lithographs, and reproductions of subjects relating to Canadian culture and history. Copyright permission varies among participating institutions. See the permission statement for guidelines.
Heritage Burnaby Photographs
Contains thousands of images depicting the growth and development of Burnaby from the late-1800s to the present. Interactive site allows you to read and contribute descriptions of photographs.
Library and Archives Canada
Includes many digitized image collections by topic (aboriginal peoples, politics and government, sports, war and military, art and photography, literature music etc.) Permission requirements vary by collection. Click "What We Have On Our Website."
National Gallery of Canada – CyberMuse
Images of artistic works in the National Gallery's permanent collection.
Vancouver Public Library Digitized Historical Photographs
Images related to the history of Vancouver and British Columbia. Not all images are available online at this time. Image rights must be purchased for uses other than viewing.
Virtual Museum Canada - Image Gallery
Images of museum artefacts, photos, paintings, etc. Copyright information accompanies each image.
Gallery and Museum Image Collections
The websites of museums and galleries are particularly good for providing images of the artworks in their holdings. To identify museums and galleries, try the following web directories:
Some major museums and galleries include:
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Gallery of Canada / Musee des beaux arts du Canada
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Subject-Specific Guides to Finding Images
Anthropology - Digital image collections
Communication - Advertising and Cartoons [Scroll to bottom of the page if using Internet Explorer]
Images and Copyright
You must obtain the permission of the copyright holder of an image before using, reproducing, or manipulating it in an assignment or research paper. It is a good idea to verify whether you have permission to use an image before including it in your work, rather than saving this step for last.
In some cases blanket permission for educational purposes is granted in advance through the terms of a database license or the terms described by the online collection's owner. This is the case for Databases Available Through SFU Library.
When dealing with freely viewable collections on the internet, look for a page with copyright information, a license statement, terms and conditions, or permissions. This page may give blanket permission for educational purposes, instruct you to check copyright terms for each image, or ask that you contact the image owner for permission to use it. In other cases, you may be required to pay a usage fee.
Creative Commons Licenses:
A growing number of online images are being published with Creative Commons licenses (for example, many of the images on Flickr and Wikimedia Commons). These licenses are designed to give copyright holders a range of permission options for digital intellectual property and in most cases allow educational uses.
Particularly if you would like to alter an image or incoporate elements of it into a new art work, you should examine the license for details of how you are allowed to use the image. To see the license, click on the Creative Commons logo or the Creative Commons License link.
Public Domain:
You will sometimes see images described as being "in the public domain." This refers to works that belong to the community at large, are not protected by copyright, and may be appropriated by anyone. For example, in Canada, most works pass into the public domain after fifty years following the end of the calendar year in which the author died. However, it is important to realize that while a work may be in the public domain, a specific edition or image of the work may be under copyright.
Citing Images
Though you may obtain permission to use an image, you must still credit the copyright holder. In statements of usage rights on websites, this practice is often called "attribution." In some cases, you will be instructed to attribute the image to an institution that owns the copyright.
Conform as closely as possible to the structure and examples below with the information you have available. Consult a style guide for more detailed explanations and for exceptions. Make sure to record the following information:
- Image creator's name (artist, photographer, etc.)
- Title of the image
- Institution (gallery, museum) where the image is located / owned (if applicable)
- Material (digital, photograph, watercolour)
- Date of access (the date you accessed the online image)
- URL (web address of the image) and/or Database name
MLA Guidelines:
- In the text, refer to figures by their number (i.e., Figure 1 or Figure 2). Do not refer to figures as "the figure below" or "the figure above."
- Center the image in the paper.
- Number the figures consecutively, beginning with Figure 1.
- Provide a brief explanation of the image. The caption should serve as both a title and explanation.
Example of an MLA In-Text Citation:
APA Guidelines:
- In the text, refer to figures by their number (i.e., Figure 1 or Figure 2). Do not refer to figures as "the figure below" or "the figure above."
- Center the image in the paper.
- Number the figures consecutively, beginning with Figure 1.
- Provide a brief explanation of the image. The caption should serve as both a title and explanation.
- Include a copyright permission note following the image explanation. See the following Kandinsky example for using notes.
Note about an Image from a website or database:
Note. From Name of the Database/Website. Copyright 2005 by Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted with permission.
Note about an Image from a book:
Note. From Title of the Book. (p. 100), by Tom Smith, 1999, Place of Publication: Publisher. Copyright 1999 by Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted with permission.
Example of an APA In-Text Citation:
Digital Image Vendors
The following link provides contact information for vendors selling slides and digital images.
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