A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet: free photos

With so many free photo editing programs on the web, why worry that you can't afford to purchase Adobe Photoshop? This listing has programs which are online as well as those you need to download on your computer.

Amazifier- online photo retouching, effects, stamps and seals; free

Animoto- upload your photos, video and music and Animoto makes it into a slick video. Free for 30 second videos; educational prices available for longer video.

Aviary- online photo editing plus much more

Cellsea- draw on images,rotate, resize, fix brightness, special effects including distorting

Citrify-edit photos online using a Flash-based program

CleVR- online photo stitching software; make panoramas

Dr. Pic- basic online photo editing

FlauntR- add effects, blend world famous painting with yours, add fancy fonts and backgrounds

Fotobabble- add your voice to photos; student projects will come to life

FotoFlexer- fonts, effects, doodling, layers, retouching, distortions and advanced effects

Hornil StylePix- download the freeware and use the many editing functions

ImageChef- customize photos and clip art

iPiccy- edit pictures with paint, text and many tools

Lunapic- supports many image and video types; 200+ effects including reflecting animation, retro color

Pixa-social photo sharing service

Panraven- online editing for photos plus lots of cool stuff

Photoscape- download for Windows only; batch editing, clone stamp, create animated GIFs

Photoshop.com- online version of the popular graphics program

Photovisi- create photo collages

Picasa- Google's photo editing; download for Windows or Mac

Picnik- cool online editor owned by Google

Pixer.us- basic online photo editing

Pixlr- online photo editing

ResizR- easy online image resize

Shape Collage- free automatic photo collage maker

Snipshot- basic adjustments are free; pro account required for most other effects

Splashup- multiple image editing, pixel-level control, and basic Photoshop-like tools. Try Splashup Light if you are a photographer and want more control. (download necessary)

SumoPaint- online interface resembles Photoshop; filters, effects, photo editing, drawing, cloning. blurring and more

Windows Live Photo Gallery- face recognition and retouching; for Windows only

Zoner Photo Studio- view, edit, manage photos; download for Windows only

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

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