Purchasing stock photos and using free images

You may sometimes need to purchase stock photos from an agency, for example if you need a genre picture or images of other geographical locations. Be sure to check in which contexts you may use the image and that there is consent when needed.

Examples of image agencies

• TT Bild (in Swedish)
• Johnér
• Maskot 
• Scandinav (in Swedish)
• Mostphotos

Images from the internet

Most images on the internet are protected under the Copyright Act and cannot be used without permission. However, some websites do offer free images. Don't forget to check the licence specified by the creator so that you know how you can use the material. Many websites use the Creative Commons licence system. As the person publishing the image, you are responsible for ensuring that anyone featuring in it has consented to its use. You must therefore exercise caution when retrieving images from the internet, and be sure to check in which contexts you may use the image. Here are some suggestions for sites offering many free stock photos:

• Flickr. The Flickr database contains both free and copyrighted images. If you do an advanced search, you can choose to search only for images with a Creative Commons licence.
• Google. You can choose between several different search criteria, such as usage rights, under tools when searching for images.   
• Wikimedia Commons
• Unsplash 
• Pexels 
• Stock up 

Whether you engage a photographer, purchase the images from an agency or take photographs yourself, the images are to be characterised by Lund University’s image style. This is an image style which helps to distinguish us from other higher education institutions.

Image style