Online Sources for Images

(updated December 10, 2009 )

 

Please note the URL for Online Sources for Images: http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/dcappoli/image_sources.htm

This page is maintained by David Cappoli
of the UCLA Department of Information Studies

 How to Use Online Sources for Images

This guide is meant more as a brief, annotated overview of available online image sources, and should not be viewed as a comprehensive listing. It includes clearinghouses, search engines, and a variety of image collections, including those whose principal business is the selling of images, such as Corbis.

Some suggestions for using this guide:

  • If you are unsure as to where to begin your search for images, check "clearinghouses" for collections not listed in the guide.
  • A site should have easily accessible copyright information about available images on the site. Be skeptical about sites with little or no copyright information. Contact information should also be clearly stated.
  • Prior to looking for an image on the web you need to answer the following questions, the answers to which will impact the quality and the file format of image needed, the cost of an image, if applicable, and image availability.
    • What type of image do you need?
    • Why do you need an image?
    • Is the image which you are searching for highly -detailed or a simple graphic such as clip art? This will determine the file format which you should retrieve -- go to http://info.eps.surrey.ac.uk/FAQ/standards.html for a brief explanation of file formats.
    • How is the image to be used? As an illustration on a web page? Will it be published in a periodical or book? Is it to be used in a presentation?
    • Will you need to archive the image and possibly reuse it in the future?

  • Accessing and saving images on the web

    If the image is part of an online collection, then you may have to follow the site's directions for accessing or saving any of its images. If the image is simply part of web site follow these steps:

    For Windows:
  1. Right click on the image.
  2. Select SAVE PICTURE AS...
  3. You will be prompted with a file name which you can change and you must also select a file type -- either JPEG (.jpg) and GIF (.gif) is usually the default file type and the appropriate file extension will automatically be attached to the file name.
  4. Select the destination where you want to save the image and click SAVE.

    For Mac:
  1. Make your browser window smaller so that you can see part of your desktop.
  2. Click on the image, hold and drag it to your desktop OR click and hold on an image and you will receive a dialogue box asking you to "Save image as..."
  3. The image will have a name, which you can change, as well as a .jpg or .gif file extension indicating the file's format. The extension should not be altered.
  4. At this point the file can be saved to any folder on the hard drive, removable media, or network (if the workstation is on a network).

 

  • If you have general questions about digital imaging try the following resources:
 

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Clearinghouses for Digital Image Collections -- sites open as a new page

Artcyclopedia -- http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
--Guide to online art collections and image archives.

Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE Digital Collections -- http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Collections/
--Links to collections of digitized media, including images and documents.

Fotosearch -- http://www.fotosearch.com/
--Access to a variety of fee-based stock photography, clip art, and video sites.

Library & Archival Exhibitions on the Web -- http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/Online-Exhibitions/
--Links to online exhibitions created by libraries, archives and historical societies.

Librarians' Index to the Internet Photographic Collections -- http://lii.org/ - Search for photograph collections
--Annotated listings of a variety of photo collections.

MoOM - Museum of Online Museums -- http://www.coudal.com/moom.php
--Links to online collections and exhibits covering a variety of interests

MutualArt.com -- http://www.mutualart.com
--Art information service for art enthusiasts, collectors and professionals

Online Archive of California -- http://www.oac.cdlib.org/
--Part of the California Digital Library, the Online Archive of California (OAC) provides access to manuscripts, photographs, and artworks held in libraries, museums, archives, and other institutions in California.

PhotographicLibraries.com -- http://www.photographiclibraries.com/
--Gateway to a variety of image archives and related sites.

University of Arizona Library's Clearinghouse of Image Databases -- http://www.library.arizona.edu/search/subjects/photography/images.html
--An online directory of image databases and information on the IMAGELIB listserv hosted by the University of Arizona.

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Image collections and stock photo agencies (a sampling) -- sites open as a new page

Ad*Access -- http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/
--Duke University collection of advertisements from 1911-1955.

Afghanistan: Images from the Harrison Forman Collection -- http://www.uwm.edu/Library/digilib/afghan/
--From the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries, this is a colleciton of photographs taken by Harrison Forman in Afghanistan in 1969.

AHDS Visual Arts Data Service -- http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/
--There are materials covering all subject areas of the visual arts, from textiles to architecture, including their practice, study and curation.

Airliners.net -- http://www.airliners.net/
--Private, not for profit website with aviation images.

Albumen -- http://albumen.stanford.edu/
--Showcases the art of albumen printing with a number of exhibits.

Ambient Creations Stock Images -- http://www.ambientcreations.com/
--Stock photography website.

ABC Medianet (password needed) -- http://www.abcmedianet.com
--Images from ABC television programs.

American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Digital Collection -- http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/
--A collection of original photographs and documents about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures.

American Memory (Library of Congress) -- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html
--A major component of the LC's National Digital Library Program, includes multimedia collections of digitized documents, photographs, recorded sound, moving pictures, and text from the Library's Americana collections.

Art Museum Images from Cartography Associates (AMICA) -- http://www.davidrumsey.com/amico/
--Images from a variety of art collections available to the educational community. 
If you are a University of California affiliate you can access AMICA at http://uclibs.org/PID/32961. Access is via the California Digital Library - Browser must be configured to accept pop-up windows.

ArtBitz Stock Illustration & Design -- http://www.artbitz.com
--Stock illustration images available for purchase.

ARTstor -- http://www.artstor.org/info/
--A collection of thousands of art-related images that are to be used for educational purposes.

Artzooks -- http://www.artzooks.com/
--Commercial stock photography site featuring royalty-free images.

Asian Historical Architecture -- http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/
--Thousands of photographic images of Asia's diverse architectural heritage.

Associated Press -- http://photoarchive.ap.org/
--News and current events photos.

Astronomy Picture of the Day -- http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
--Daily changing images from a variety of sources including NASA.

Australian Associated Press -- http://www.aapimage.com.au/
--AAP provides access to news, entertainment, and stock photo collections.

Ballparks by Munsey & Suppes -- http://www.ballparks.com/index.html
--Images of sporting venues, some for sale.

Beautiful Birds -- http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ornithology/default.htm
--Images of birds from Cornell University's Hill Ornithology Collection.

Big Picture Book of Viruses -- http://www.virology.net/Big_Virology/BVHomePage.html
--Collection of virus images as an educational resource.

BIODIDAC Project -- http://biodidac.bio.uottawa.ca/
--Digital images, video, and animations that can be used in the teaching of Biology.

British Library Images Online -- http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishlibrary/
--Thousands of images on a variety of subjects from the British Library.

CalPhotos: UC Berkeley Digital Library Photo Collection -- http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/
--California-related images from the Berkeley Digital Library.

Camera Works -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/index.html
--Selection of images from the Washington Post.

Can Stock Photo -- http://www.canstockphoto.com/
--Royalty-free stock images.

Cartoon Bank -- http://www.cartoonbank.com
--Stock house for single-panel cartoons. Online collection of cartoons found in The New Yorker.

Chicano Art Digital Image Collection -- http://cemaweb.library.ucsb.edu/digitalArchives.html
--A sampling of images in Chicano visual arts from the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives.

Cities and Buildings Database -- http://content.lib.washington.edu/buildingsweb/index.html
--Part of the University of Washington's Digital Collections, there are images from throughout the world.

 Comic Art Collection -- http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics/
--Michigan State University's collection of comic art.

Corbis Images -- http://pro.corbis.com/
--Stock photo agency as well as provider of images from the Bettman Archive of historical images.

CSUN San Fernando Valley History Digital Library -- http://digital-library.csun.edu/
--The California State University, Northridge's library of images related to the San Fernando Valley.

Currency Gallery -- http://www.currencygallery.org/
--Site showcasing historical and current images of U.S. currency.

Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc. -- http://www.denniskunkel.com
--Images photographed with electron microscopes available as stock photography and for educational use.

Digital Archive of Art -- http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/art/
--Art and architecture images from Boston College.

Earth as Art -- http://earthasart.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.htm
--Public domain satellite images from the Landsat program administered by the U.S. Geological Service and NASA.

Epictura Image Bank -- http://www.epictura.com/
--Searchable collection of royalty-free images.

Flags of the World -- http://flagspot.net/flags/
--A large collection of flag images.

Forestry Images -- http://www.forestryimages.org/
--Jointly supported by the Bugwood Network and the USDA Forest Service, this is a collection of forest-related images.

Fotosearch -- http://www.fotosearch.com
--Allows the user to search multiple stock photo collections at one time.

Framing Canada - http://www.collectionscanada.ca/framingcanada/
--Images from Library and Archives Canada ranging from the mid-1800s through the 20th century.

FreeFoto.com -- http://www.freefoto.com/
--Collection of images that are free to private, non-commercial users.

FreeImages.com -- http://www.freeimages.com/
--Royalty-free images for designers.

Free Images (UK) -- http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
--Free stock photos from a variety of galleries.

Free Stock Image Site -- http://www.freestockimagesite.com/main.php
--A variety of stock images, including royalty-free photos.

Getty Images (unaffiliated with the Getty Museum) -- http://www.gettyimages.com/
--Collection of stock photo agencies, and archival news photography, including Tony Stone Images and Hulton Getty. Includes access to Time-Life an National Geographic images.

Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body -- http://www.bartleby.com/107/
--Online edition of Henry Gray's classic work from Bartleby.com.

Great Buildings Online -- http://www.greatbuildings.com/
--3D models, photographic images and architectural drawings of buildings throughout the world.

GRIN - Great Images in NASA -- http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/
--Images culled from NASA's vast collections.

Hartill Art & Architecture Collection (via ARTstor) -- http://www.artstor.org/what-is-artstor/w-html/col-hartill.shtml
--Thousands of images showcasing architecture from various periods.
If you are a University of California affiliate you can access AMICO at http://uclibs.org/PID/97273. Access is via the California Digital Library - Browser must be configured to accept pop-up windows.

Hermitage Museum Digital Collections -- http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html (Select "Digital Collection.")
--Virtual gallery of artwork from the State Hermitage Museum. Can browse collections or use search engine which utilizes IBM's Query By Image Content (QBIC) search technology that can help locate artwork using visual tools.

Howard Besser's T-Shirt Database -- http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/T-Shirts/
--Howard's incredible collection of t-shirts. Metadata courtesy of his library school students.

Illustration Works -- http://www.illustrationworks.com
--Stock image site featuring the works of illustrators.

Images from the History of Medicine -- http://wwwihm.nlm.nih.gov/
--Prints and photos from the collection of the History of Medicine Division (HMD) of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).

ImageState -- http://www.imagestate.com/
--Commercial stock photo site.

International Civic Heraldry -- http://www.ngw.nl/
--Dedicated to international civic heraldry, e.g., coats of arms of countries, states, provinces, towns, villages etc.

Invertebrate Paleontology Image Gallery -- http://www.yale.edu/ypmip/index.html
--Research images from Yale's Division of Invertebrate Paleontology and the Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Jupiterimages -- http://www.jupiterimages.com/
--Subscription site with access to clip art, images, etc.

LACMA Collections Online -- http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/
--Collections from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Life Magazine Photo Collection - http://images.google.com/hosted/life
--Hosted by Google, here is a very comprehensive collection of images published in Life magazine

Los Angeles Public Library Photo Database -- http://www.lapl.org - then select BROWSE THE PHOTO COLLECTION
--Includes the Security Pacific Bank and L.A. Herald Examiner collections, and showcases historical L.A. images.

Map History / History of Cartography (Images of early maps on the web) -- http://www.maphistory.info/webimages.html
--Searchable and annotated listing of websites devoted to early maps.

Map Images from UC Berkeley -- http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/tour/
--Maps, aerial photographs and other cartographic materials from UC Berkeley's library.

Mars Global Surveyor - Mars Orbiter Camera Image Gallery -- http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/
--Over 100,000 images of Mars acquired by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor.

Matton Images -- http://www.matton.com/
--Stock collection of royalty-free images.

Metropolitan Museum of Art -- http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/index.asp
--A selection of art images from the Met's galleries.

MicroAngela - Electron Microscope Image Gallery -- http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf/microangela/
--Colorized images taken with an electron microscope.

Military and Historical Image Bank -- http://www.historicalimagebank.com/
-- More than 4000 photographs of original military and historical artifacts from the 1600-1945 with emphasis on the wars and history of the United States.

MOAC - Museums and the Online Archive of California -- http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/moac/
--Access to manuscripts, photographs, and works of art held in libraries, museums, archives, and the Online Archive of California
If you are a University of California affiliate you can access MOAC at http://uclibs.org/PID/32962. Access is via the California Digital Library - Browser must be configured to accept pop-up windows.

NASA Multimedia Gallery -- http://www.nasa.gov/gallery/
--NASA's online photo and data image collections.

NASA-JSC Digital Image Collection -- http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/
--Images primarily from NASA's Space Shuttle missions. In conjunction with the Johnson Space Center.

NASA's Visible Earth -- http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/
--A collection of still and moving images of the earth.

National Archives and Records Administration -- http://www.nara.gov/
--Featuring an exhibit hall showcasing historic documents and images.

National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) Geologic Hazards Photos -- http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/hazardsimages.html
--Images of earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, etc., provided as educational resources.

National Geographic Society -- http://ngsimages.com
--Images from National Geograhic's prolific collection. Registration required.

National Parks Service Digital Image Database -- http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/imagebase.html
--Public domain digital images of national parks, monuments, historic sites and related areas administered by the National Parks Service.

National Parks Service Historical Photograph Collection -- http://data2.itc.nps.gov/hafe/hfc/npsphoto.cfm
--Historical images of buildings and parks maintained by the NPS.

National Portrait Gallery -- http://www.npg.si.edu/
--Search the collections of the U.S. National Portrait Gallery and the Catalog of American Portraits.

Nature Picture Library -- http://www.naturepl.com/
--Photo agency featuring images of animals, plants, and places.

New York Public Library Digital Gallery -- http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm
--NYPL's collection of more than 275,000 images of illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, and illustrated books .

Noble Foundation Plant Image Gallery -- http://www.noble.org/webapps/plantimagegallery/
--A collection designed to assist botanists, ecologists, and natural resource managers with the identification of plants.

PHIL - Public Image Health Library -- http://phil.cdc.gov/Phil/default.asp
--Acollection of mostly public domain images maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Search feature and images are hierarchically arranged using the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).

PhotoEssentials -- http://www.photoessentials.com/
--Stock photo images displayed with embedded watermarks. Search (basically a browse) feature.

Photolibrary -- http://www.photolibrary.com
--Commercial stock photo site.

Plant Image Gallery -- http://www.plant-pictures.com/
--Images of plants native to several parts of the world.

Professional Cartoonists Index -- http://www.cagle.com/
--Access to a variety of cartoon-related sites. Private site though cartoons are used with permission.

RailPictures.net -- http://www.railpictures.net/
--Though there is a fair amount of paid advertising on the site, there are nearly 100,000 images of train photos searchable by location, photographer, train type, as well as other options.

Rainbow Productions-Rolf Hicker Stock Photography -- http://www.hickerphoto.com/index.jsp
--Travel and nature stock photography.

San Francisco Historical Photography -- http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/
--A resource of historical images from the History Center at the San Francisco Public Library.

Saskia Art & Architecture -- http://www.saskia.com
--Images of paintings, sculpture, architecture, and other forms of art specifically organized for the teaching and study of art history.

SIRSI - Smithsonian Institution Research Information System Image Gallery-- http://sirismm.si.edu/siris/sirisimagegallery.htm
--A portal to the varied collections of the Smithsonian's museums.

SOHO: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
--A joint project of the European Space Agency and NASA featuring studies of the sun.

TimePix (registration required) -- http://www.timelifepictures.com
--Collection of images from the Time Warner family of publications, including Life magazine, People, Sports Illustrated and Time.

Travel Images -- http://travel-images.com
--Stock photo site focusing on travel-related images.

UCLA's Digital Library - http://www2.library.ucla.edu/libraries/2257.cfm
--Collections include:

United Nations Cartographic Section -- http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm
--Maps and geographic resources from the U.N.

United Nations Photo Library -- http://www.un.org/av/photo/
--Images documenting the U.N.'s activities and sites.

United Press International (account required to view high resolution images) -- http://www.upinewspictures.com/Default.aspx
--Large collection of UPI's news photographs.

University of Southern California's Archival Research Center Digital Archives -- http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/arc/
--The Digital Archive of the Archival Research Center provides access to over 8,000 photographs, maps, manuscripts, dissertations, records, texts, and sound recordings owned by USC and partnering institutions with particular emphasis on materials related to Southern California.

Vascular Plant Image Gallery -- http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/gallery.htm
--Texas A & M University's collection of plant images.

Vesalius -- http://vesalius.com/
--Anatomical and surgical illustrations.

Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum Collections -- http://images.vam.ac.uk
--A variety of images from sculpture, to ceramics, to paintings all of which are in the V&A.

Virtual Motor City: Images from the Detroit News-- http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?c=vmc;page=index;g=all
--News photography from the Detroit News ranging from the 19th century through 1980.

War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement, 1942-1945 -- http://www.oac.cdlib.org/dynaweb/ead/calher/jvac/@Generic__BookView
--From the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, a collection of images detailing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Web Gallery of Art -- http://www.wga.hu/index.html
--A virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods (1150-1800).

William Gedney: Photographs and Writings -- http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/gedney/
--Works of Gedney who photographed the United States, India and Europe from the 1950s through the 1980s. From Duke University.

WireImage Stock -- http://www.wireimagestock.com/
--Stock photo agency with images on a variety of topics.

World Bank Photo Library (registration required for downloading images) -- http://www.worldbank.org/photos
--Collection of images focusing on global development

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Icons & clip art -- sites open as a new page

All Free Original Clipart -- http://www.free-graphics.com/

Classroom Clipart -- http://classroomclipart.com/

Clipartguide.com -- http://www.clipartguide.com/

Cool Text - Online Graphics Editor -- http://www.cooltext.com/

Kaboose - http://clip-art.kaboose.com/index.html

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Search engines -- sites open as a new page

Search Engine Watch -- http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

Specific search engines:

AltaVista Image Search -- http://www.altavista.com/image/default
--Filtered searching available. Will also search for video and sound.

AllTheWeb -- http://www.alltheweb.com/
--Select "Pictures" from the search categories.

Ditto -- http://www.ditto.com/
--Search engine as well as keyword and category directories for images on the web.

Bing -- http://www.bing.com/images
--Search engine developed by Microsoft

Excite -- http://my.excite.com/myexcite/my.jsp
--Basic web search engine (choose "Photos.").

Google Image Search -- http://images.google.com/
--An image searching option from the popular search engine.

IxQuick -- http://ixquick.com/
--Metasearch engine with an image searching option

Lycos Image Gallery -- http://multimedia.lycos.com
--Directory to Lycos collection of images, as well as search engine, which can retrieve images from either the collection or the web.

Picsearch -- http://www.picsearch.com/
--Specialized search engine for pictures only.

Proteus Image Search -- http://www.thrall.org/proimage.html
--Image metasearch engine.

Yahoo Image Search -- http://images.search.yahoo.com/
--Basic image search engine.

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Copyright Information -- sites open as a new page

Artists Rights Society -- http://www.arsny.com/

Copyright Clearinghouse -- http://www.copyright.com/

Picture Agency Council of America -- http://www.pacaoffice.org/index.html

US Copyright Office at the Library of Congress -- http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/

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