Every day, thousands of striking photographs of architecture, cities and monuments move across Facebook groups, blogs and websites. Almost nobody, though, can say for certain which of those images they are actually allowed to use — and on what terms. It is a confusion that seems harmless on social media, but turns into a real problem the moment you publish on a website, in a book, in a brochure, or on something you sell. This guide sets it straight: what a “free” image really is, where to find legal ones at no cost, how to check them in under a minute, and how — if you want — to help build a commons of free images for everyone.
Why crediting isn’t enough (the most common myth)
Let’s start with the most common mistake, because it is the root of everything else. Writing “photo: [photographer’s name]” or “source: [website]” under an image does not give you the right to use it. A credit is a courtesy — and, in some cases, an extra obligation imposed by the licence — but it comes after permission, it does not replace it. Naming an author is not the same as being allowed to use their work.
If anything, publishing someone else’s photo with their name attached proves you knew whose it was and used it anyway without asking. Copyright works the opposite way to how most people imagine: an image is protected by default, from the moment it is taken, and becomes usable only if one of these three things is true:
- it is in the public domain;
- it carries a licence that permits the use you have in mind;
- you have written permission from the person who created it.
There is one common-sense exception: on social media, resharing images that already circulate is a practice the ecosystem tolerates — everyone does it, posts are ephemeral. But the moment you leave the social feed and move onto a website, a publication or a product, the rules change: there you need an image that is genuinely free.
What a “free” image actually means: public domain and Creative Commons
There are two large families of images you can use without asking anyone.
Public domain (PD). Works whose copyright has expired — generally 70 years after the author’s death, though the term varies from country to country — or that have been explicitly released with no rights reserved. You can use them freely, including commercially. This is where a great many historical photographs, prints, postcards and paintings belong.
Creative Commons (CC). Licences through which an author, while remaining the rights holder, permits certain uses in advance. The initials matter, and you have to read them:
| Tag | What it allows | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|
| CC0 | No rights reserved: free use, even without a credit | Yes |
| CC BY | Free use, provided you credit the author | Yes |
| CC BY-SA | Like CC BY, but the result must be shared under the same licence | Yes |
| CC BY-NC | Non-commercial use only | No |
| CC BY-ND | No modifications (no cropping, filters, edits) | Limited |
The practical rule is simple: for commercial use — a website that sells, a product, a publication carrying advertising — you can use PD, CC0, CC BY and CC BY-SA. Avoid anything marked NC (non-commercial) or ND (no derivatives).
Where to find free images: the best sources
Contemporary photos, general use (free, often commercial too):
- Unsplash — free photos, commercial use allowed; a credit is welcome but not required.
- Pexels — a permissive licence, no credit required.
- Pixabay — photos and illustrations for free use.
A caveat: even on these platforms, check the licence of the individual file, because they sometimes contain material uploaded improperly.
Heritage, history and art (the heart of it for anyone who loves cultural heritage):
- Wikimedia Commons — the largest collection of free media in the world. Each file, however, carries its own licence (PD, CC BY, CC BY-SA): read it case by case.
- Europeana — millions of images of European cultural heritage digitised by museums and libraries; filter by “public domain” or “can use freely”.
- Openverse — a search engine that queries Wikimedia, Flickr, museums and other free sources at once (born from the former CC Search).
- Flickr — vast, but results need filtering by licence (“Commercial use allowed”); the Flickr Commons section gathers images with “no known copyright restrictions”.
- Open-access museums: many major museums release their own images into the public domain or under CC0. Among the richest are the Met in New York, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian, the Getty (Open Content), the Cleveland Museum of Art and Paris Musées. Ideal for artworks and decorative detail.
- Historical archives: the U.S. Library of Congress and National Archives, alongside the digital collections of many national libraries.
How to find and verify them, step by step
- Start from the right tool. In Google Images: Tools → Usage Rights → Creative Commons licenses. Or go straight to Openverse or Wikimedia Commons, where images are already free by definition.
- Always read the individual file’s licence. On Wikimedia Commons, open the file’s page and look for the tag (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA, PD). Don’t assume a photo is free just because it sits on a “free photos” site.
- Use reverse image search to trace the origin. Here a reverse search (Google Lens, TinEye) is your ally, used well: not to “hunt down” whoever reposts an image, but to find a photo’s original source and learn who took it and under which licence they released it.
- When in doubt, don’t use it. If you can’t establish the licence, choose another image. One more free photo is always a click away; a dispute is not.
How to help build a commons of free images for everyone
This is the best part, and the most useful. If you photograph places, monuments and architectural detail, you can turn your images into a shared resource — and gain visibility in return.
The most direct way is to upload them to Wikimedia Commons under a free licence (CC BY-SA or CC0). Here is what happens when you do:
- your photo becomes usable by anyone, always under your name;
- it goes on to illustrate Wikipedia articles in various languages, often read by millions of people;
- it enters the index of search engines and the sources that AI assistants draw on;
- it fills a gap: a great many heritage sites still have no free photo at all. Yours could be the first.
How it works, in brief: create a Wikimedia Commons account, use the guided upload tool (the Upload Wizard), choose a free licence, and add a description, a category and the location. In a few minutes your photo becomes everyone’s heritage — and stays yours: a free licence doesn’t take away your ownership, it gives you reach. For street-level and territorial photography there are also collaborative projects such as OpenStreetMap, Mapillary and Panoramax.
How Cultural Heritage Online works (and what you can do with it)
Cultural Heritage Online is a publication devoted to cultural heritage, published continuously since 1998, with more than 5,000 place entries in English and Italian, an interactive map, itineraries and a magazine. It is read by an international audience — a significant share in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom — and has been cited by outlets such as The Guardian and National Geographic and across five Wikipedia editions. The principle is clear: the images we publish are always free or properly licensed, never taken “with a credit alone”, because the site is an editorial and commercial operation and respects photographers’ work.
If this subject speaks to you, there are several ways to be part of it, depending on who you are.
If you are simply an enthusiast or a connoisseur
You don’t need to be a photographer. If you know a place, a city or a theme well, you can contribute your knowledge: flag places, tell their history, propose an article under your own name. CHO provides the machine — fact-checking, layout, translation into English, publication — and you bring the knowledge. You never pay to publish: it works the other way round. Three published articles open the “writer track”: recognition in the CHO community, a year of professional tools free, and access to paid assignments. Details: culturalheritageonline.com/collaborate/writers/
If you are a photographer
Your heritage photographs can be published with your name on every image, and sold as digital licences directly on the place page they illustrate: the share leaves you virtually the whole price, because CHO currently takes no commission on photo sales (only the standard payment-processing fee applies). Web previews are protected with a watermark; the high-resolution file goes only to the buyer. The licence is non-exclusive: your photographs remain yours and you can sell them elsewhere too. Details: culturalheritageonline.com/collaborate/photographers/
If you run visits or manage a site
With an Operator PRO profile you can build itineraries, sell them as ticketed experiences and get paid straight to your own account: the platform keeps just 1% (against the 20–30% of the big marketplaces), and the customer stays yours — name, contact, review. Details: culturalheritageonline.com/pro-operatori/
Frequently asked questions
Can I use an image if I put the author’s name on it?
No. A credit is not permission. You may use it only if it is in the public domain, if it carries a licence that allows it (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA for commercial use), or if you have the author’s written consent.
Are the images I find on Google free?
No. Google Images is a search engine, not an archive of free photos: it shows images from all over the web, almost all of them protected. Use the Usage Rights → Creative Commons licenses filter, and still verify the licence on the original page.
Can I use photos taken from Pinterest or Instagram?
Generally no. They are almost always someone else’s images, reshared without a licence. Resharing them on social media is tolerated; publishing them on a website or a product is not.
What does CC BY-SA mean?
You can use the image, commercially too, on two conditions: credit the author (BY) and release the result under the same licence (SA, “share alike”).
How do I know whether a photo is in the public domain?
Check the source page — for example on Wikimedia Commons or the museum’s website. Works whose author died more than 70 years ago are generally in the public domain, but the rules vary from country to country: when in doubt, choose a file that explicitly states PD or CC0.
What can I publish on Cultural Heritage Online?
Photos of your own, taken by you, or images with a free licence for commercial use; never someone else’s photos taken from the web with a credit alone. And if you are not a photographer, you can contribute knowledge and text: the editors handle the rest.
In short
Free images are not just a way to stay out of trouble: they are a shared inheritance that grows every time someone contributes to it. Finding them, using them well and — when you can — enriching them with your own is a small act of open culture. If you’d like to be part of it, the door is open: culturalheritageonline.com/collaborate/