Basics
Most images you find online are copyright-protected.
It does not matter if that is not explicitly stated, or the image is not water-marked, or there is no copyright symbol. Since 1989 images do not need to include a specific copyright claim.
Copyright of photographs of older works (paintings, museum objects, landmarks and buildings) belongs to the photographer.
It does not matter how old the print/ painting/ object etc is – what matters is that the person who made the image (generally) owns the copyright.
Quick tips
Start in the public domain
Wikicommons and many museums and art galleries have explicitly placed images in the public domain.
Take your own pictures
If you’re doing a local study, why not take a photo yourself of a building, object, or landscape that you
Generous attribution
Include as much information about the images as you can. Author, date, description, where you found it, etc.
Sources
- Flickr Commons: https://www.flickr.com/common
- Creative Commons: https://search.creativecommons.org/
- Wikicommons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Pag
- The British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org
- Birmingham Museums: https://dams.birminghammuseums.org.uk/asset-bank/action/viewDefaultHome?browseType=folders
- Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection
- Yale Center for British Art: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/
- Digital Library of the Caribbean: https://dloc.com/
- Internet Archive: https://archive.org/
- Art Institute Chicago: https://www.artic.edu/open-access/open-access-images
- Smithsonian Open: https://www.si.edu/openaccess