Finding Images on Unsplash

Learning Objective

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to find images to use on Unsplash.

Unsplash is a website where photographers share stock photography to be used freely by anyone. Searches on this site are straightforward, because all of the photographs on the site have the same license.

The Unsplash license is similar but not identical to CC licenses. The most significant difference between the Unsplash license and CC licenses is that attribution is appreciated but not required. It is recommended that you do provide attributions for photographs from Unsplash in your schoolwork; see the chapter in this guide on attribution for more information.

Here is an image from Unsplash.

sunflower in a field of sunflowers
“Flower Pose” by Thanuj Mathew, via Unsplash

How to Find Images on Unsplash

Go to the main page of the site: https://unsplash.com/. The search bar is in the center of the home page.

Unsplash home page with search bar

Type a keyword related to the subject of the image you want, and hit return. When scanning images on the results page, be sure to avoid selecting any of the images directly under the heading “Browse premium images on iStock”; these are not openly licensed images.

iStock images on Unsplash

 

Click on an image that you might want to use and click on the green button labeled Download free on the upper right to download the image.

Unsplash download button

The image downloads right away, and a dialog box appears with attribution information you can copy and use.

Unsplash dialog box with attribution info

 

License

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