Art Research Guide: Image Resources

• If you have an image, but aren't sure what it's called or where it's from, you can drag and drop it right into the Google Images search bar. This will pull up similar images, and may even lead you to the original creator!
• Clicking Tools will open a toolbar. Here you can select the Color or Type of image you are looking for (clip art, drawing, photo, etc). Most importantly, you can search by Usage Rights, which allows you to search only images that are available for you to copy and reuse.
• When you find an image you like, click on it to expand it. This will display source information, including the site where the image is located. If the image is on a site such as Wikimedia Commons, it is likely available to use freely. Otherwise, you may need to contact the site owners for permission to use the image.

• You can conduct an image search in Flickr. If you want to use the image, use the drop-down menu under Any License to select "All Creative Commons." This will return only images that users have provided permission to use.
• Once on an image, look for the CC license to find out if there are any restrictions on your use of the image. Click on the CC symbols to find out what they mean. This is also where you can find the photographer's name, the title of the image, and the date.

Copyright & Fair Use Websites

For more detailed information on copyright, fair use, and Creative Commons, check out the resources below.

Fair Use Evaluation Tools

It may be helpful to use evaluation tools when walking through the process of determining fair use.

Cerro Coso Resources

The Cerro Coso library has created a brief copyright handout for students and faculty. This is not comprehensive, but serves as an introduction.

Before using an image, investigate its copyright restrictions and determine whether it falls under fair use. Also consider guidelines created by artists for others wanting to use images in their work.

To get permission to use an image that is still within copyright, a good place to start is to contact the copyright clearinghouses that represents the artist. Here are two examples: