Using Our Online Image Search Engine
This page provides detailed help topics and tips for using our online photo search engine. Please contact us if your image search questions are not answered here or if believe that our search engine is not functioning properly.
- Advanced Image Search - Use our advanced image search for very detailed search options. This will often yield the best image search results. [more]
- Stock Photos by Keyword - A list of keywords for all of our stock photos. Click on a keyword link to launch an photo search for all images associated with that keyword.
- Stock Photos by Location - A list of locations for all of our stock photos. Click on a location link to launch an photo search for all pictures from that location.
- Search Via Hyperlink - Many of the hyperlinks on this site incorporate updated search results for a key word or phrase. For example, selecting the "Bird Pictures" link will show all bird photos in our database. Keyword search links are also available in the "Image Information" table, which is located below each enlarged photo view. For example, see the table below this eagle picture.
Spelling and Partial Word Image Searches
Proper spelling is important in finding the stock image that you are seeking, but our picture search engine also supports partial word searches. For example, enter "eag" if you are searching for eagle pictures. A partial word search may return a larger number of images, but it's a good method to use if you are uncertain about spelling.
Searches are Case Insensitive
Keywords will match any case. For example, the search terms "WILDLIFE", "Wildlife" and "wildlife" will return identical results, showing all wildlife photos.
Using the "All Words" Search Filter
When using the "All Words" filter, search results will include only images that are associated with the terms that you enter. For example, entering the words "Alaska wildlife" or "wildlife Alaska" will return photos associated with "Alaska" AND "wildlife", which will return all Alaska wildlife photos. Partial word matches also apply. Entering the "wild Alaska" will return Alaska wildlife photos, but images associated with words such as "wilderness" will also be included in the results.
Using the "Any Words" Search Filter
When using the "Any Words" filter, search results will include pictures that are associated with any of the terms that you enter, and will typically return a large number of results. For example, entering the words "Alaska wildlife" or "wildlife Alaska" will return photos associated with "Alaska" OR "wildlife", which will return all Alaska photos and all wildlife photos (regardless of location). As with all image searches, partial word matches will also be returned.
Using the "Exact Match" Search Filter
Using the "Exact Match" filter will return results that match a phrase or partial phrase. An exact match query for "whitetail deer" and "tail deer" (partial phrase) will return all whitetail deer pictures, but an exact match search for "deer whitetail" may return nothing, because the phrase may not exist in that order in our database.
Quick Search
The "quick search" feature is located top-right on nearly every page. A number search filters such as "Stock Photo Collections", "Image Orientation" and the word filters described above are available. However, the quick search queries a number of database fields, including image id, title, caption, keywords, location and scientific name. As a result, searching the term "Virginia" will return results such as whitetail deer, where "Virginianus" is returned from the scientific name field. An advanced image search for "Virginia", with "Scientific Name" unchecked, or with only "Location" checked, will return all Virginia Photos, and will not include whitetail deer photos unless they were made in Virginia.
Advanced Image Searches
A highly refined photo search can be made using our advanced image search feature, which includes the following filters:
- Search Term Filters - Please see All Words, Any Words and Exact Match filters above.
- Image ID - Our alphanumeric image ids can be searched if this filter is checked. For example, searching for ENN-0293 will return this deer picture. Searching for ENN will return all photos where "ENN" is a component of the image id.
- Title - If checked, results will be returned where your search terms are found in the image title. For example, if only "Title" is checked when searching the term "landscape", only a small percentage of landscape pictures will be returned, because other fields, such as keywords are not searched.
- Image Caption - If checked, results will be returned where your search terms are found in the image caption.
- Keywords - If checked, results will be returned where your search terms are found in the keywords field.
- Location - If checked, results will be returned where your search terms are found in the locations field.
- Scientific Name - If checked, results will be returned where your search terms are found in the scientific names field.
- Rights-Managed Photos - If checked, photos in our rights-managed photo collection will be included in the search results.
- Royalty-Free Photos - If checked, photos in our royalty-free photo collection will be included in the search results.
- Horizontal Images - If checked, horizontally oriented photos will be included in the search results.
- Vertical Images - If checked, vertically oriented photos will be included in the search results.
- Model/Property Released - If checked, only model or property-released photos will be included in the search results.
- Filter by Upload Date - This allows you to filter results by upload date. For example, if you would like to see all photos that were upload during the past 30 days, search the term "photos", leave "older than" as "0" and enter "30" in the box adjacent to "newer than". Note: This will not filter results according to creation date.
- Search Results Display - This is not an image search filter, but it will control the number of thumbnail images displayed on results and photo gallery pages. This control is available on nearly every page.
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