Open Access Resources

Images made available under a Creative Commons licence, or images which are in the public domain, can be used for educational purposes without infringing copyright.

Whilst most of the collections below contain only their own images, it is not uncommon for some sites (eg Stocksnap, Pixabay) to include promotional content from other companies on their pages. Please ensure that if you are selecting images from these sites, they are not from another source and they are available under a Creative Commons licence.

It is good practice (and usually a licence requirement) to include an attribution with any image you use. Check a site's/image's terms and conditions to see what details are required in the attribution.

General image collections

• Artvee
  Classical art public domain paintings, drawings, illustrations and posters.

• flickr
  Use the 'Any license' dropdown on the results page to select the 'All creative commons' option ; You will still need to check the rights allowed - this is indicated under the photo (the 'Some rights reserved' link provides details).

• Gratisography
  Note: also contains sponsored/promotional content
  Conditions of use: https://gratisography.com/license/

• Pixabay
  ​Note: also contains sponsored/promotional content
  Conditions of use: https://pixabay.com/service/license/

• Smithsonian Open Access
  Includes 2D and 3D images from the Smithsonian’s museums, research centres , libraries, archives and the National Zoo
  Conditions of use: https://learninglab.si.edu/openaccess

• Stocksnap
  Note: also contains sponsored/promotional content
  Conditions of use: https://stocksnap.io/license

• Unsplash
  Conditions of use: https://unsplash.com/license

• Wikimedia Commons (includes images, sounds, videos)
  Conditions of use - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia

• Openverse  (includes images, sounds)
  All content is licensed under Creative Commons or is Public Domain 

Discipline focused collections

• Cell Image Library
  "...a repository for images and movies of cells from a variety of organisms. It demonstrates cellular architecture and functions with high quality images, videos, and animations"
  Conditions of use: Not all images will be available for re-use: check the copyright status on the image. http://cellimagelibrary.org/pages/license

• CSIRO ScienceImage
  Images related to science, technology, nature, energy and the environment
  Conditions of use: https://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/pages/about/

• Foodiesfeed
  Photographs featuring fresh food, food groups, prepared food. Content from the magazine is copyrighted and not included.
  Conditions of use: https://www.foodiesfeed.com/license/

• Global Plants
  The world's largest database of digitised plant specimens; includes photographs, botanical illustrations, diaries, reference works and correspondences
  Conditions of use: https://about.jstor.org/terms

• Medpix
  Collection from the National Library of Medicine which includes medical images, cases and clinical topics.
  Conditions of use: https://medpix.nlm.nih.gov/licensing

• Morphbank Biological Imaging
  Image repository of more than 4500 species.
  Conditions of use: https://www.morphbank.net/About/Copyright/

• NASA Image Galleries
  Conditions of use: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html

• National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Image Gallery
  Conditions of use: https://www.genome.gov/about-nhgri/Policies-Guidance/Copyright

• National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Image and Video Gallery
  Conditions of use: Licence conditions stated on the home page; see 'View Entry' on the individual image for attribution details

• NIH National Cancer Institute Visuals Online
  Conditions of use: https://visualsonline.cancer.gov/about.cfm

• Public Health Image Library (PHIL)
  Collection of health/medical images from the CDC.
  Conditions of use: check the 'Copyright restrictions' note on the image details

• Wellcome Collection
  UK health-focused museum and library's digital collection. Content reflects the nature of the collection (a large portion is historical in nature).
  Conditions of use: Unless otherwise noted, content is available under a creative commons licence. Licence and attribution details for individual images displays when you download the image.

• WorldImages
  California State University IMAGE Project's database of images; global in coverage
  Conditions of use: http://worldimages.sjsu.edu/kiosk/conditions_of_use.htm

Australian Libraries - Digital Collections

• State Library of Victoria copyright free image search