Research Guides: Images: Finding Images on Websites

Copyright Statement

The reproduction, use, or downloading of images is governed by copyright law. Please check the policies on each site. Some images may be in the public domain and may be used without permission, while other images are copyright protected and require that you ask permission from the copyright holder before downloading, reproducing, or using in any way. Some images may be freely used while others may require a registration or user fee. Some images may only permit you to link to their site.

Double-check that You Can Use that Image

You found an image that says that it is in the public domain or licensed under Creative Commons. It is a good idea to double-check that the information is accurate. Use these tools to be sure that the person who uploaded the image actually had the right to say it was free to use.

TinEye
Search for an image to get a list of pages that have used that image. Sort results by date or by the extent your image has been modified from the oldest version of the image.
Google Image Search
Use the "Search by Image" option (camera icon) to search for articles that use a specific image. Compare the date the image was posted on that site to the date it was listed as being free to use.
Google Lens
Take a screenshot to search for a topic. Google will suggest related pages and pages that use similar images.

Internet Sites

Search for Images using links below:

Anatomy: The Foundation of Medicine: From Aristotle to Early Twentieth Century Wall Charts
From the Historical Collections at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia.
Black and Brown Skin
Images of different conditions in a range of skin tones. The images on this site were used to create the open access book Mind the Gap. Select a region of the body to browse images by condition.
Brown Skin Matters
Images of different skin conditions in a range of skin tones. Images are arranged by condition, in alphabetical order. Mouse over or click the image to learn the name of the condition. Click the image to access a brief description.
Catalog of Clinical Images
"A web-based collection of physical examination findings" from University of California, San Diego
Creative Commons
An organization that provides "tools" to help you find digital works (images, photos, videos, academic content, music, etc.) that can legally be used.
- Search for images using CCSearch.
- Learn more about Creative Commons: What Is Creative Commons? and FAQs
Disabled and Here
Stock images featuring BIPOC individuals who have a disability. Includes photographs and illustrations. Browse by broad category or by specific tags. LGBTQ+ is one of the categories. Created by disabled individuals. Learn about each creator too.
Health Education Asset Library (HEAL) collection
HEAL, provided by the University of Utah, contains free collections of medical images. Special collections include hematology, dermatology, neurology, and pathology images. The entire collection can also be searched by keyword.
Images from the History of Medicine (IMH)
This collection from the National Library of Medicine "includes image files of a wide variety of visual media including fine art, photographs, engravings, and posters that illustrate the social and historical aspects of medicine dating from the 15th to 21st century." Click "Search IHM" to begin.
Images of Empowerment
Images of women from around the world. Organized by location or by topic. Current topics are Work and Reproductive Health. Available under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0) licensing.
Index of Medieval Medical Images
From the UCLA Digital Library
MacKinney Collection of Medieval Medical Ilustrations
Over 1000 medical illustrations from the Middle Ages digitized from slides collected by medievalist scholar Loren C. MacKinney.
Medical Images: Duke University Medical Center Library
A directory of links to image sites for different subjects. Click "Medical Specialty" to see sites for particular specialties, such as dermatology or radiology.
Medical Images on the Web
A list of medical image sites compiled by the McGoogan Library of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center.
MedPix®
Search for radiographic images or browse by diagnosis or case. A new case is highlighted each week. From the NLM.
NCI Visuals Online
Contains images from the National Cancer Institute.
NIH Image Gallery
Free, primarily color images from across the National Institutes of Health's Institutes and Centers. Click the link to the NIH's Flickr site for the actual images. Includes photographs of leadership personnel as well as images from NIH research.
NLM: Online Exhibits and Digital Projects
Includes images from projects such as: The Visible Human Project®, Historical Anatomies on the Web, Dream Anatomy and many others. From the National Library of Medicine.
Open-i ®: Open Access Biomedical Image Search Engine
Find x-rays, images from basic sciences, images from clinical journals, and images from systematic reviews. Search by clinical specialty, image type, article type, or license type. Sort your results by date or by relevance to diagnosis, etiology, genetic [makeup], outcome, prevention, prognosis, or treatment. Most of the images in this collection are available under open access licensing terms. Check the license link under each image for details.
Photo Gallery of Skin Conditions
Select a skin condition to get several photographs of that condition in a variety of skin types. From the new Mexico School of Medicine.
Public Health Image Library (PHIL)
Includes photographs, illustrations, & multimedia files. From the CDC.
Servier Medical Art
Illustrations available under Creative Commons 3.0 licensing. Filter by specialty or topic.
Skin Deep
Images of several conditions in pediatric patients with a variety of skin tones. Search by condition, description, or body part. Or, browse the list of conditions. Content is from hospitals in the U.K.
Wellcome Collection
Medical and cultural images, including digital scans of historical materials. Many images are freely available through Creative Commons licensing. From the Wellcome Library, which is sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.
Wikimedia Commons
Images on Wikimedia Commons are supposed to be in the public domain or otherwise freely available.