47 Web Sites About Creative Commons and Public Domain Images

I'm sure my students don't think twice about taking images off the Internet and pasting them into their reports or PowerPoint presentations. The reality is that unless permission is given to download or copy an image, it is considered plagiarism. Right. Tell that to my high school students and they will genuinely be surprised. They actually think that everything on the web is there for the taking. Here's where I share with them the beauty of Creative Commons licensing and public domain images. Not familiar with the various licenses? Read about them here.

"Creative Commons is a non-profit that offers an alternative to full copyright."

  Public Domain images are not protected by copyright and are available for anyone to use.

4 Free Photos- from professional photographers

50 Inspirational Images From Flickr Under CC License

5,000 Free Stock Photos- includes 8,000 free cliparts

About Creative Commons Licenses

Alegri Photos

Animal Photos!- huge listing

Antique Clipart- Victorian and Edwardian clipart

The Best Copyright-Free Photographs- taken by U.S. Government employees for their work

Burning Well- public domain image source

Car Pictures

Clipart Etc.- over 65,000 pieces of clipart free to educators

The Commons on Flickr- world public photo collection

Compfight-searches Flickr for CC images

Copyright Free and Public Domain Images

Creativity103.com- more than 2,500 files; abstract backgrounds, textures and design ideas

EduPic Graphical Resource- free image resource for educators and students

FedFlix- "best movies of the United States Government, from training films to history, from our national parks to the U.S. Fire Academy and the Postal Inspectors, all of these fine flix are available for reuse without any restrictions whatsoever."

Find Creative Commons Images in Google Image Search

Flickr Creative Commons Search- inside Flickr; searches only CC images

Free Images Collection

FreePhotoBank

Free Public Domain Database- from PD Photo

Geograph-photos of the British Isles

Google Advanced Search- when you search something in the advanced mode, you can choose from four choices: 1. free to use or share 2. free to use or share, even commercially 3. free to use share or modify 4. free to use, share or modify, even commercially

Icons- from Crystal Clear, this is a huge (and really nice) collection of icons

Image*After

Imagebase- with hundreds of pages of images; from photographer David Niblack

Karen's Whimsy- Easter bunnies, illuminated letters, Canterbury Tales, medieval art

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

LiveBinders- many, many more links to other image sites under CC

MorgueFile- search images by subject, size or rating

National Digital Library- from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Open Clip Art Library- about 11,000 total

Open Icon Library- over free 10,000 icons

The Noun Project- symbols, diagrams

PhotoEverywhere-free travel-themed stock images; 3,000+

Photos8- free stock pictures; close to two-dozen categories to choose from

Picdrome- public domain pictures

Pics4Learning

Pixabay-public domain images

Public Domain Photos- high resolution

Public Domain Photos- from imcphoto.net

Public Domain Pictures

Teaching Students About the Creative Commons

Wikimedia Commons- browse their database of over 1.6 millions images!

WorldImages Kiosk- California State University's database houses around 80,000 images

Wylio- free pictures for bloggers