Need images? Try morgueFile

Being a visual learner I often find myself constructing images (photos, graphs, verbal pictures, etc.) to explain things.  This is especially true when I put together presentation slides, whether they are for research conferences or the classes that I’m teaching.

My personal collection of digital photographs can only take me so far, however, so when I need free digital photographs and images for use in creative/scholarly projects I go to morgueFile.

I first learned about morgueFile about a year ago through my talented journalist/scholar/teacher friend, Peg.  I have been using it ever since.  It has a large and constantly growing collection of high-quality digital photographs.  You can use keywords to search through the photo archive, a useful feature that distinguishes the site from other archives.  (Note that photos seem to be tagged in multiple languages.  A search for “chat” turned up pictures of people speaking to one another as well as numerous cute cats.)  Best of all, you can register with morgueFile to contribute your own photos to the archive, which is perhaps the best possible way of repaying the morgueFile community for free use of their materials.

In terms of acknowledging the morgueFile photographers’ images, include a byline underneath each one that states “Photo by [name], morgueFile.”

Where do you go for free use images?