Images and Photos for Landscape Architecture and Design

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Friday, 06 June 2008 14:49

We all know that Google Image search is pretty robust. Well, for some key words perhaps. Google 'Parthenocissus' and you'll be alright, but google 'Maple leaf' and you'll be sifting through hockey jerseys and Canadian flags all day. Which is ok for hockey-obsessed Canadians, but for Landscape Architects on a deadline... not so great.

So where do you get good images for your designs, presentations, or for inspiration?

Google Image search is good when you just need a quick look around at a specific plant or place or type of object. But the images you'll find in websites are generally of very low resolution so you won't be able to use them for anything besides looking at on your computer screen. There's also a copyright issue if you are ripping images from websites and using them in your work. Not very professional to say the least. You can scan images from books, but that's very labor-intensive. And the copyright problem again.

So I have researched a helpful list of sources for images to inspire your designs, corroborate your research, and illuminate your presentations:

Flickr: For full-resolution images you can try Flickr, the world's best photo-sharing site to date. You can avoid copyright problems by using photos that have a Creative Commons license and be sure to follow proper protocol as far as asking the photographer for permission or giving proper link kudos.
Flickr groups: the Landscape Architecture designer's references flickr group is getting better all the time. Also check out the Landscape Architecture/Landscape Design group. You can join or even start your own group. Flickr is a great way for your studio to store, share, tag, and sort photos, and you'll all help and inspire each other.
istockphoto.com is a great resource for all kinds of stock images. You'll pay a buck or two for the images you use, but they are high-quality professional photographs, and purchasing gives you the right to use them for presentations and even marketing or your website.
Fotosearch.com is another source for stock photography.
The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center has an image library.
Landscape Architecture Image Library is a site courtesy of the USDA and several Landscape Architecture programs.
Sitephocus has photos of materials and buildings.
PlantWire.com is great if you're looking for info on plants and want a really nice photo as well. More extensive plant species information can be found through the plant finder search in the left-hand side-bar of this blog.