Finding and using images

Welcome to this video from the Open University Library, which is about finding and using images in your work.

This video will help you to recognise key copyright considerations when finding and using images, find images on different platforms, interpret image licences, including creative commons, and reference online images correctly.

Most images that are available online are fully copyright protected. Just because you can access an image and download it does not mean you can freely use it as you wish. All images are protected either by copyright, by licence conditions, or by both.

To copy, share, manipulate, reproduce, or use an image for commercial or public use, you will need to gain permission from the copyright or licence owner or make use of copyright cleared material. There is a little leeway for educational use that I will go over in more detail shortly.

During your search for images, you may come across some symbols referring to Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows you to use images for both commercial and non-commercial uses under certain conditions, which are normally set by the owner of the image.

There are four conditions available under Creative Commons, which can be used in combination to create licences for image use.

Attribution lets others use the work so long as they give credit.

Share alike lets others copy and make changes to the work, so long as when they share it, they use the same copyright licence conditions.

Non-commercial lets others use the work for non-commercial purposes only.

And no derivative works allows others to use copies of the work but does not allow any changes.

If you want more information on these licences, you can have a look at the Creative Commons website.

You can find images online in lots of different places, including library image databases, Google image search, Creative Commons and public domain sites, and you can also use stock photos in programmes such as PowerPoint, Word, and Canva. Public domain means that the images on these sites are not protected by copyright law, either because the copyright has expired, or because the creator decided to forego their rights and release it freely.

I'm now going to demonstrate how to use Google Images to find an image.

I'm starting this demonstration on the Google Images home page, but I could also start from the normal Google Search home page. I would just need to do a search and then click on images.

I'm going to start my search by entering my search terms in the search box. I'm looking for some images of cats with string. I've entered this into the search box, and now I can either press Enter on my keyboard or select the Google Search button. This has returned a page of images that contain cats playing with string.

Before I begin exploring these images, I'm going to have a look at the Tools button under the Search bar. When I click this button, a row of filter options appear above the search results. Using these filters, I could restrict my results by image size, colour, and when the image was uploaded. There's also the option to filter by usage rights, which allows you to filter by Creative Commons licences. However, it is important to note that this filter is unlikely to be 100% accurate, as it relies on the people uploading the image putting the correct and honest licence.

I'm going to have a closer look at this picture of a sleepy ginger kitten asleep on a ball of purple wool. I click on the image in the results, which brings up a larger image on the right-hand side of the screen, along with a Visit button. This will take me to the site where the image is hosted. In this case, a page for a veterinary hospital in California.

I can see the image I'm interested in at the top of the page. And if I scroll down, I can see that they have given the image credit as a web link. If I then try and follow this link, it returns an error, meaning that the page no longer exists. So I am not able to find any more details of the creator or copyright owner of the image.

So it can be tricky to find creator and licence information for images that you find through Google Images. But even if you cannot find the creator or copyright information for an image, you could still use it in your assignment under the fair use exception, which I'll be going over shortly. But you must not share it on your module site or on social media.

Now I'd like you to pause the video and try the following task. Start on the Google Images page and do a search for 'bakery' or any other subject that interests you. Have a closer look at one or two images. Can you easily tell who the creator or copyright holder is? Can you see if the image is in the public domain or has a Creative Commons licence? When you've completed the task, come back and start the video again.

Hopefully, that quick exercise demonstrated that it's not always straightforward to find out how an image can be used. And while you'd be able to use any of these images in your assignments, you shouldn't share anything on your module site or on social media unless you are sure that the copyright allowed it.

I'm now going to demonstrate a site called Pixabay, which hosts public domain images that are free to download.

I'm starting this demonstration on the Pixabay home page. I'm going to start my search by entering my search terms in the search box. I'm looking for some images of dogs. I've entered this into the search box, and now I can either press Enter on my keyboard or select the Enter button.

The first row or two of images on this site are normally sponsored images, which require payment to download and use, so I can ignore them. Once I've found an image that I want to use in my assignment - I'm going to choose this image of a French bulldog sitting on a red cushion - I click on the image to open the page with more details and a green Download button that would download a high-quality copy of the image to my computer.

Even though the Pixabay content licence, which is linked at the top of the page, states that no attribution is legally required, it is good academic practise to include the source information in your academic work. I will, therefore, ensure that I take a note of all the information that I would need to create a reference for this image.

I would take a note of the creator name. And by clicking on Show Details, this gives me the date that the image was added to the site, which I would also take note of. I would also ensure that I copy the URL of the image and the date that I accessed it.

Copyright cleared images are images which have been made available for use under various conditions. This means that the owner of the image has given permission for their image to be used in accordance with the terms stipulated. Many images have been copyright cleared for educational purposes. Such images can be found in an image database and are unlikely to be indexed by Google.

Images that you can find in library image databases are copyright cleared for subscribers, which includes OU students and staff, to use in educational settings, but the source and copyright owner must always be acknowledged. For the OU, this means that these images can be included in teaching materials or assignments. They can be placed within a password-protected environment, like your module website. They may not be uploaded to social media except for specific training purposes, such as this video. And the source and copyright owner must always be acknowledged.

While it is always best practise to find and use copyright cleared images in your assignment where possible, in UK copyright law there is the concept of fair dealing, which allows for some exceptions to the copyright law for the purpose of private study for educational purposes.

You may use copyright-protected images in an assignment that is being assessed. But otherwise, if images were added to the module sites or VLE or shared with others online, this might breach copyright law, and any images used should be referenced. You could provide a link if you wanted to share an image with others outside of your assignment instead of sharing a copy of the actual image.

I'm now going to demonstrate how to use a library image database called Britannica Image Quest to find an image. I'm starting this demonstration on the library homepage. You can find the link to the library on your student home page, or you can use the web address university.open.ac.uk/library.

To find our collection of image databases, I'm first going to open the Library Resources tab at the top of the page. This has opened the Library Resources page, which collects databases under different content types, which are listed on the right-hand side of the screen. I'm going to scroll down to Images and sound and click to open the images and sound page.

The Images and sound page is now open. I'm going to scroll down the page until I find the Britannica Image Quest database. The description below the database link states that the images are cleared for educational use. I then click on the title to open the database.

This has opened onto the Britannica Image Quest home page. I'm going to start my search by entering my search terms into the search box. I'm looking for some images of 'rabbits', and I've entered this into the search box. Now I can either press Enter on my keyboard or select the magnifying glass icon.

Once I have found an image that I want to use in my assignment - I'm going to choose this image of two rabbits at a food bowl - I click on the image to open the page with more details. This includes the credit information which gives the creator and copyright details. I can also click on the Cite button for information on the photograph date and a link to the image.

Do be aware that automatically generated references like these are not in the Cite Them Right Harvard style, and they are often not quite correct. So please make sure that you double-check any references before you include them in your work.

There is also a Download button that will download a high-quality copy of the image to my computer.

Now I'd like you to pause the video and try the following task. Start on the Images and sound page on the library website and choose an image database to explore. For example, Artstor Digital Library, Bridgeman Education, or Britannica Image Quest. Do a search for "bread" or any other subject that interests you. Have a closer look at one or two images. Can you easily tell who the creator or copyright holder is? When you've completed the task, come back and start the video again.

Hopefully, that quick exercise demonstrated that it's often easier to find the details you need to reference or credit an image when using a library database compared to images that you found through a search engine like Google Images.

If you include images in your assignments or upload them to your module site, you should always be sure to reference them just like any other source. If you want to know more about referencing in general, we do run a separate training session called The Why and How of Referencing. You can find details of the next live session and a recording on the library website.

In Cite Them Right Harvard, which is the main referencing system in use at the Open University, there's no difference in the intext citation format for images. It follows the format of author and year that all other sources have. But instead of putting the citation within your writing, you may find it easier to add it as a figure description below the image.

There are several images throughout this video, and all of them have a citation included at the bottom of the screen. We've included the in-text citation for this lovely image of a sunflower more prominently on this screen to demonstrate the format. The intext citation reads: Jutzeler, 2018.

Cite Them Right is an online referencing guide that's used at the Open University for referencing guidance guidance, and most modules use the Cite Them Harvard style. There are lots of templates for referencing images in Cite Them Right depending where you have sourced the image from, including referencing physical media. But the most commonly used template is 'Photographs from the internet'. This template uses the author or creator name, the date that the image was created, the title of the image, the image URL or link, and the date that it was accessed online.

If there is no title given for an image, which is quite common for online images, then you should create a brief description to use in your reference instead. I have done this in the example reference on screen, which I have created using the 'Photographs from the internet' reference template. With the description "A yellow sunflower with green leaves on a chalk rainbow drawing" in place of the title.

You can also use the photographs from the internet template if you choose to use stock photos from things like PowerPoint. If you don't have a link for the image, you can instead write something like "Stock image from PowerPoint." And you can use the phrase "no date" if the date is not given. If no author is given, then you can use the title in its place. The important thing is that you are clear as to where you source the image from and when.

I'm now going to go over some useful information to bear in mind when you're planning on using images in your work, and also, where you can find help and support.

Instead of finding an image, you may wish to create one using an image generator. But before you do this, consider some assessment questions state that you cannot use AI in your answer. If you are thinking of using an AI-generated image in your assignment, make sure that you check your assessment guidance first.

Also consider, what does the image generator allow you to do with the image? For example, not all image generators will allow you to download images without payment. If you do use these images as part of your study, make sure that you reference them. Cite Them Right gives guidance on how to reference anything created using generative AI, and there is more information on using generative AI during your studies in the Generative AI for Students policy.

If at any point during your studies you need help or advice, remember that the library helpdesk is there for you. Our webchat service is available 24 hours a day, or you can send us an email. Our phone lines are also open Monday to Friday from 9:00 until 5:00.

Thank you for watching.