Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week – Good Places to Find Creative Commons & Public Domain Images

Yesterday, on FreeTech4Teachers.com I published a summary of best practices for using images in blog posts. In that post I shared a couple of places to find images that are either in the public domain or have a Creative Commons license attached to them. Here are my go-to places for images that are in the public domain or have Creative Commons licenses.

Pixabay is my favorite place to find and download quality public domain images. You can search on Pixabay by using keywords or you can simply browse through the library of images. When you find an image you can download it in the size that suits your needs. Registered users do not have to enter a captcha code to download images. Users who do not register can download images, but they do have to enter a captcha code before downloading each picture.

The Morgue File photo collection contains thousands of images that anyone can use for free in academic or commercial presentations. The image collection can be searched by subject category, image size, color, or rating. You will find a mix of images that don’t require attribution along with some that do require attribution so pay attention to the labels that come with each picture. Morgue File is more than just a source for free images. The Morgue File also features a “classroom” where visitors can learn photography techniques and get tips about image editing.

Photos for Class is a service designed to help students and teachers find and cite Creative Commons-licensed images. The site utilizes Flickr’s API to find images that match your search terms. When you find an image that you want to use, click the download link just below the image. The downloaded image will have the attribution information added to it.

A chart of alternatives to Google Image Search is embedded below.

Here are this week’s most popular posts from FreeTech4Teachers.com:
1. Two Good Mathematics Glossaries for Students – One in English and Spanish
2. What is Hotlinking? – Why You and Your Students Should Avoid It
3. Pros and Cons of Using Social Media for School Announcements
4. Pros and Cons of Using Text Messages for School Announcements
5. Tools for Creating Animations in Your Browser or On Your Tablet
6. GeoGebra Quickstart Guides for Desktop and Tablets
7. Pros and Cons of Emailing School Announcements

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