Skip to Main Content

Finding and Using Online Images Ethically

How to find images online while following copyright law, fair use guidelines, and properly citing images.

Types of Image Websites

Online images are generally found on 4 types of websites

Finding images online and using them ethically can be tricky.

Certain types of websites are better than others for finding and using images ethically. This page explains the most 4 common types of websites for images.

Many sites, such as Pinterest or Flickr, post images without regard to copyright restrictions or reuse licenses. 
When you use an image, be sure that you know the original source and check the rights usage.
Use reverse search to help locate the source image. 

To do a reverse image search:
Drag or upload an image to www.tineye.com or www.images.google.com, or use Google Lens (camera icon on Google main page)

Photo-sharing community

These sites usually require a membership (free or fee) to add photos and have restrictive terms of service/use.

Sample photo-sharing communities: Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr

Stock photos

Stock photography websites generally purchase their images from professional photographers in order to sell licenses for the use of the images.

Stock images are generally sold for commercial use, but can be licensed for creative use, but usually for a fee. The site may contain any of the 3 types of images below:

  1. Royalty-free: pay 1-time fee to use multiple times, in any way the terms and conditions allow
  2. Rights managed: payment based on how photo is used
  3. Public domain: can use in any way at no cost 
NOTE: Although public domain images are sometimes found on stock photo websites for a fee, you can use reverse image search to find the image in another location to use for free. 

Sample stock photo sites: Pixaby, ShutterStock, Getty Images

Artist Community

An artist community supports their contribution of creative and original work. Works are usually for sale and under copyright.

Sample artist community sites: Society 6, DeviantArt, Ello

Museums and Digital Collections  (BEST CHOICE!!) 

Museums and digitized collections of existing artwork are the best place to find images to reuse. Rights statements are generally well-stated. Look at the Recommended Resources tab for suggested websites and databases.

For example:

  • MoMA (Modern Museum of Art)
  • ArtStor 

Another good choice for finding images is WikiMedia, as the CC license is clearly stated. See the WikiMedia tab in this guide.