Google now lets you image search by license

 

 

The widespread use of Creative Commons has meant that for those looking to use images online, there are plenty of photographs that are freely available, as long as you attribute their source. The only question then is: how do you find them? Luckily, search giant Google has just made it a little easier, adding the option to filter by license in Google Image Search results, giving you that many more ways to find images that you can use without infringing on someone's rights.

From a Google Image Search, simply click the "Search Tools" button near the top, then the "Usage Rights" dropdown menu. A quick search for "puppies" pulls up images from Flickr, Wikipedia, and Wikimedia Commons, all of which contain many free to use images. It also returned some free to use photos from other sources, such as these two. However, even with this new tool, it never hurts to double check the original site, just to make doubly sure. It's entirely possible that it'll pull up some false positives along the way, and some early users are already complaining of it labelling their files incorrectly.

For more ways to search for free to use images, we recommend Creative Commons Search, Wikimedia Commons, and Flickr's advanced search. Between Google and those, you should be able to find an image for just about anything you might need.

(via Reddit)