Create a fantastic presentation with Creative Commons- licensed images

Everyone knows that images can make a paper or presentation more visually appealing and more effective.  But images, just like other types of sources, should be used ethically, with respect to the person who created them.

This is especially important when you are giving presentations that might end up on video, or posted to the web.  Luckily, it is easy to find images you can use with no worries.

Creative Commons is a project that allows authors, photographers, artists, musicians -- any kind of content creators -- to put a license on their work that tells everyone else exactly how they can use it.

Here's an explanation of all of the different licenses that are available.

Here's how you can use the online photo-sharing site Flickr to search for images with Creative Commons licenses that give you permission to do exactly what you need to do with that image.

Go to the advanced search page at Flickr:

Enter some keywords to find the image you want.  Be creative!  People tag these photos with all kinds of terms - names, colors, cameras, photographic techniques, locations, time periods, and more.

At the bottom of the page, you will see an section labeled Creative Commons.

Checking the box marked Only Search within Creative Commons-licensed content will make sure that all of the photos you find have licenses that say you can use them.  Most of the time, they will ask that you will simply provide attributution (provide a link/ citation crediting the photographer).

Checking the box marked Find content to modify means that you can not only use, but also change (photoshopping, cropping, adding text or captions, etc.) the photos you find.  Check this box if you plan to change the image in any way.

Here's an example of a photo with a Creative Commons license.

[Photo credit:  Oregon State Football Game, Upset #1 USC. Ryan Harvey]

The license is highlighted on the image above with a pink star.  Clicking that link will tell you everything you need to know about what you have permission to do with the image:

Good luck!