Research Guides: Documentary Film Research Methods: Images

Image Research Guide

The Images for Designers and Art Researchers Research Guide has useful resources and information for anybody who needs help finding and using images responsibly for various projects and purposes.

Image Permission Tips

American Society of Media Photographer Licensing Guide

Written for photographers who want to license their creations, this guide also is a primer on copyright and licensing in general.

•Note that if you google image permissions for publication how to or something like that, you'll find that there are many web pages by museums and other institutions, as well as by publishers, that give you instructions on permissions.

•Always make sure to check with the source (where you found the image) on how to go about getting permission to use an image.

•Do NOT use images whose ownership and copyright status you cannot ascertain

Permissions Help

Permissions A Survival Guide by Bielstein, Susan M.
ISBN: 9780226046396
Publication Date: 2006
A good introduction to image and art permissions, but note the date; you'll need to make sure you have updated information

Stock Photography Images

Tetra Images
Specializes in multicultural stock photography

These images are meant for commercial use, but students may use images for visual reference. Make sure to follow licensing and copyright restrictions and get the proper permissions when you use any images for a film you intend to show beyond the classroom.

Corbis
Stock photography and illustrations database.
Getty Images
Stock photography and illustrations database. Images can be limited by people, location, concept, subject or composition. Contains the Time & Life magazines image archive.
iStockphoto
Member-generated stock photo site
Lonely Planet Images
Stock photo database specializing in international destinations
Masterfile
Independent stock photo agency with unique picture search
PCN Photography
Stock photo website specializing in sports
Photolibrary
Represents the world’s leading stock brands and photographers from around the world.
Veer
Veer provides visual elements for use in professional creative work, such as graphic design, motion design, advertising and filmmaking. Our products include stock photography, illustration, typefaces, and unique merchandise.

Websites and Databases

Access:

Some of the following resources are only accessible through My New School under the “Library” tab, or through the Search Electronic Resources and Databases link on the library’s website when accessing from on campus.

Bing Images
Microsoft's search engine might be even better than Google Images. Try it out!
Daugerreian Society
Portrait and landscape photographs from the 19th century.
David Rumsey Map Collection
Maps, primarily of the Americas from the 18th and 19th centuries
Flickr
User-created content and content contributed by institutions such as the Library of Congress and the Brooklyn Museum: mostly current and recent photographs.
George Eastman House photography collections online
A good source for notable art and commercial photography as well of pictures of cameras.
Library of Congress American Memory Project
A variety of photographs, prints, maps and printed matter relating to American history.
LIFE Magazine Photo Archive at Google
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
National Geographic
Striking photos of nature and cultures around the world.
National Library of Medicine Images from the History of Medicine
New York Daily News photos
Recent and historic photographs of people, places and events in New York
NYPL Digital Collections
Photographs, prints, maps, manuscripts and book pages digitized from NYPL Collections.
Picsearch
Web image search engine. Can specify black and white or color and size of image.
Time and Life Magazine Images
Time & Life Pictures represents some of the world's most recognizable imagery. On this website, we offer content from the finest photojournalists, documenting past and present political and cultural events, as well as celebrities and the American experience.
WGBH Open Vault
Provides online access to unique and historically important content produced by public television station WGBH. The ever-expanding site contains video excerpts, searchable transcripts, a select number of complete interviews for purchase, and resource management tools.
The World Bank Photo Collection
The World Bank has a distinctive collection of over 12,000 images that illustrate development through topics such as Agriculture, Education, Environment, Health, Trade and more.

Google Search Tip

Use Google to find government or nonprofit websites, as well as websites from specific countries

Follow this pattern:

Keywords site:domain extension

Examples:

Malcolm x images site:org

This search will exclusively return results from non-profit websites

Malcom X images site:gov

This search will exclusively return results from government website

Domain extensions:

gov - government

org - nonprofit organizations

edu - educational institutions

com- commercial

net- community networks

mil - military

int - international organizations

To find websites from other countries, use the Country Domain Codes:

Example:

floods images site:in

Will exclusively retrieve websites from India

Documentary Film Research Methods

Image Research Guide

Image Permission Tips

Permissions Help

Stock Photography Images

Websites and Databases

Google Search Tip

Libraries, Collections, & Academic Services

University Resources

Colleges