1,654 free works of art to download and use at http://www.publicdomainfiles.com. the works are categorized by medium or image type and have an acceptable resolution.
Category: DDGsources
Resources for DDG
thisxdoesnotexist
For a compilation of all sites that use generative adversarial networks to produce images of a certain category – for example real estate or cats – go to https://thisxdoesnotexist.com/. You might find one or the other site useful for source or style images, who knows? Six-legged horses? Have fun playing around. If you want to use an image for dreaming, you’ll probably have to increase its resolution first.
Audubon: Birds of America
John J. Audubon’s Birds of America has unlocked 435 high-resolution digital prints of birds from American Avocet to Zenaida Dove. For background information, see http://www.openculture.com/2019/10/download-435-high-resolution-images-from-john-j-audubons-the-birds-of-america.html or https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/10/birds-of-america-download/. Sweet dreams!
Public Domain Pictures
Public Domain Pictures Public Domain Pictures is a repository for free public domain images. The images are available for commercial and personal use. While you need to sign up to a payment plan to download large, high-resolution images, the freely downloadable images have sufficient resolution for use in DD. Search for useful styles and sources by applying criteria such as categories. As an example, here’s a floral pattern image from the category background:
Rawpixel
rawpixel Rawpixel Ltd. is a UK-based stock image provider that offers an array of free and paid images. The company prides itself on authenticity and creativity and on supporting good causes. And here’s a special tip for Deep Dreamers: rawpixel provides public domain images enhanced to high resolutions. Register to download 10 free images daily for personal or commercial use. Also, download unlimited public domain images. Currently, “to help you during these difficult times”, rawpixel […]
Smithsonian Open Access
Smithsonian Open Access Another great museum has unlocked 2.8 million images for you to download and reuse. More public domain images will be added in time. The potential for dreamers is huge! Select from among images across the entire Smithsonian group. Browse collections in the areas art and design, history and culture, or science and nature. To search the collection images efficiently, apply a filter.
Biodiversity Library
Bidodiversity Library Are you looking for natural sciences images? Ones that are public domain, free, high-quality and interesting as sources for deep dreaming? Then check out the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s site, an open-access online archive containing over 150,000 images. Find a description of the archive’s content here and a well-organized selection of the images for download on the archive’s Flickr site. Search by Flickr album or download entire albums. In this way, you can target […]
FreeStockTextures
FreeStockTextures is a small site run by two design and web professionals who post-process their photos to create select texture images. Great news: You may use the lovely images for free, also for commercial purposes. To download more than five images a day (from a total of roughly 1,300), register with the site. This will allow you to download up to 50 images a day. Here’s a sample image:
GauGAN
Like thispersondoesnotexist, GauGAN (named after artist Paul Gauguin and GANs, i.e. generative adversarial networks) is another GAN-based tool developed by NVIDIA. This interactive app uses familiar paint program devices such as paint buckets and brushes to suggest a landscape in the form of a segmentation map on the left side of the screen. The GAN simultaneously translates your scribbling into a virtual landscape of your choice on the right side of your screen. What is […]
The Flickr Saga: What Happened to the Groups’ Shared Styles Collection?
We had a gigantic collection of styles, and some source images, all stored on a single online repository, for the use of the Deep Dreamers’ group. Here we tell the whole story:
How it got started, why it no longer exists, and some thoughts and ideas for creating a new online collection, while avoiding the pitfalls of the Flickr collection.
Ancestry Images
Ancestry Images Ancestry images is an archive of antique prints. You may use images for noncommercial purposes. Also, website creator Steve Bartrick requests that you credit the source if you use an image.
Macroporn Subreddit
Macroporn The second subreddit in Ben Beekman’s series of non-pornographic resources with porn in the name, the macroporn subreddit features macro photography—extremely close-up images of small things. The photos found here can be useful both as source and style images. As with all subreddit resources, try sorting by best of all time.
Fractalporn Subreddit
Fractalporn For anyone who isn’t burned out on fractals yet, look for great style image options in this subreddit. Try sorting by best of all time, and don’t worry, there’s nothing x-rated despite the name.
Earthporn Subreddit
Earthporn Completing the trifecta of non-pornographic subreddits with “porn” in the title, here you’ll find a wide variety of breathtaking natural landscapes that work very well for source images for dreams. You’ll definitely see quite a few from Ben Beekman’s deep dreams if you dig. The site is one of Ben’s go-to secret weapons that he’s sharing with all of you. Enjoy!
Needpix
Needpix Needpix offers a collection of over 1.5 million free photos and illustrations under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. As the site states on its “about” page, “[A]ll photos hosted here are collected only from public domain sources such as: pixabay.com, pond5.com, picjumbo.com, publicdomainpictures.net, and others.” It’s easy to search the well-tagged site. Also, many images are high resolution. Apart from photos, you’ll find vector illustrations, clipart, paintings and drawings, fractals, as well as […]
thiswaifudoesnotexist
This waifu does not exist produces an endless stream of potential source images for deep dreaming. Create a new waifu (a fictional character, typically an anime, manga, or video game character that is attractive to the point of being considered a significant other) every time you refresh the website. Click on pause refresh at the bottom of a waifu page to read the little made-up story to the right of the face. Alternatively, call […]
Burst
Burst Burst is a stock photo platform with thousands of royalty-free images mainly for the web community. But some collections are interesting for Deep Dreamers, notably animals and nature & landscapes. Moreover, the odd background or texture might be useful input for a style. Also, browse the site for new public domain photos added every week. Another nifty feature is the option to download a given image in high or low resolution.
NegativeSpace
NegativeSpace NegativeSpace offers photographers a platform to share their work free of charge and without copyright restrictions (Creative Commons 0). The website takes its name from a photography technique: photos focus sharply on a subject whereas the blurry surroundings represent the “negative space.” Search by categories or by color. Downloading is a cinch. Finally, you might consider signing up for a newsletter to receive 20 new stock photos by mail every week.
National Gallery of Art
Deep Dreamers, here’s another wonderful repository of open-access images: The National Gallery of Art makes open-access works in its collection available in a dedicated website. Go to NGA Images to see and choose from among over 51,000 digitized open-access works. You’ll find everything from Impressionist paintings to iconic works by U.S. artists. The site has a particularly useful feature: Select the most convenient image size and resolution. What is more, the NGA has organized images […]
wikiart.org
The drive to make art available for educational and other purposes has spawned new websites like wikiart. Wikiart’s mission is to collect art from around the world and make it accessible to everyone. Search for images by a broad range of categories, not just art styles or artists, but also unusual criteria like female artists. The site operates on the wiki principle: Anyone may contribute and edit content. Of course, new content is consistently moderated. […]
The Public Domain Review
The online journal The Public Domain Review showcases a large number of curated collections of PD images. An excellent classification system facilitates searching. Narrow down your search by defining criteria such as the century created, the type of artwork or its source (such as museums, libraries, government agencies). Understandably, most of the images are pre-twentieth-century works. But especially if art curiosities from centuries past are what you’re looking for as a Deep Dreamer, you will […]
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum is a pioneer of the movement toward digitization and open access in the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) sector. It initially released over 100,000 images of artworks to the public domain already in 2012. Shortly thereafter, the Rijksmuseum launched Rijksstudio to allow users to create their own exhibition pages and share material. In fact, the museum encourages users to reuse images and share the results with the Rijksmuseum. To access the Rijksmuseum’s […]
thispersondoesnotexist
This person does not exist! Every time you refresh the website at two-second intervals, you conjure up a new synthetic face. Most portraits look uncannily real. The website uses code released by GPU inventor NVIDIA using data from generative adversarial networks (GANs) and style transfer to blend images. Software engineer Philip Wang created the thispersondoesnotexist website. To find out about Wang’s method and motives, look at his Facebook post. Also, if you’re interested in relevant […]
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art recently joined the league of museums that have adopted an open access policy. Here’s an excerpt from the announcement by Creative Commons on January 23, 2019: “Today, we are announcing a release of 30,000 high quality, free and open digital images from the museum’s collection under CC0 and available via their API. CC0 allows anyone to use, re-use, and remix a work without restriction.” This is great news for all […]
Belvedere
The Belvedere museum is the first museum in Austria to provide open access to parts of its collection online. About half the items in the collection are available in high resolution. So you’re free to download, share and remix any of these CC0 images without restriction. The works include a few fascinating paintings by Austrian artists like Gustav Klimt, Albin Egger-Lienz and Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller. But you also have open access to works by other […]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Open access at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met): In early 2017, the Met made over 406,000 high-resolution images of public domain works in its collection freely available. Thus, you may download, share and remix any of these CC0 images without restriction. It’s wonderful to have a guilt-free source of high-quality images as sources or styles for dreaming! What is more, the huge collection is easy to browse: Apply very efficient filters to narrow down […]
The Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago has made over 50,000 public domain images of works in its collection available under CC0. What an unexpected bonanza! But it’s true: The Terms and Conditions and guidelines on open access images confirm it. Browse the collection online. Discover stunning Impressionist treasures, iconic Americana – American Gothic! – or familiar pop art images.You won’t be able to take favorites still subject to copyright. But the images you may download are high-resolution photos […]
PikWizard
PikWizard PikWizard is a new player in the stock photo game, and some bloggers cite it as a well-kept secret. The website has a stock library with over 30,000 completely free images, over 5,000 of which are exclusive. The images are licensed under Creative Commons zero cc0. It’s a good pleace to search for nature shots, photographs of people and all kinds of desktop wallpapers. Mouse-over an image you want to use, and you will […]
ArchitectureIMG
ArchitectureIMG features architecture photos sourced mainly from the website user community. The website operators assume that all images they host are public domain. However, some images are from free wallpaper sites, so this might not always hold true. The upshot: Unless images are specifically designated as PD, you must get permission from the respective authors to use them for purposes other than as desktop wallpapers. Images – photos and paintings – are easy to find. […]
PxHere
PxHere PxHere provides well over 1 million free images published under Creative Commons zero cc0 into the public domain. Thus, you may copy, modify, distribute, and use the images, even for commercial purposes. Indicentally, you may contribute images as well. Call up tags in the dropdown menu to narrow down your searches. You muss register to use the website.
Electron Microscope Images
The tinyurl for electron microscope images takes you to the respective Google Image search thread. This is a great place to find enlarged bacteria, buckminsterfullerenes, parasites, tardigrades and much more! Not all of the images are high resolution, however.
Gratisography
Gratisography currently provides a total of about 700 free high-resolution images completely without copyright restrictions. The website claims that the collection comprises “the world’s best, most creative images – photos you just won’t find anywhere else.” The focus is on “whimsical” images. The site is associated with Shutterstock (which, however, provides images at cost). So don’t be surprised when search results turn up a large proportion of Shutterstock images.
Wikimedia Commons
As the name suggests, Wikimedia Commons is a well-indexed and huge collection of files. You can use the media files freely. While the Terms of Use describe complicated exceptions and attribution rules, a pop-up box showing that you need to attribute an author appears when you click to download an image. Then, follow the guide for the attribution process. On the downside, the available images are not necessarily high resolution. But if you search featured […]
New Old Stock
If you’re looking for free vintage photos from public archives that have no copyright restrictions (according to the site, “at the very least avaialble for personal and noncommercial use”), check the New Old Stock website. Curated photo packs are available at a cost. Use the search function (hidden in the top left corner of the site) to find topical photographs. The site appears to have very appealing but very few black-and-white photos: My search for […]
Morguefile
Morguefile provides over 350,000 free stock photos in high resolution. The images may be used for commercial purposes. Incidentally, the term “morgue file” means that this is a file to store post-production material. The website states that it is a free photo archive “for creatives, by creatives.” No registration is required, but it is encouraged, as is sharing your own material.
Life of Pix
Life of Pix offers a relatively small stock (currently some 2,000 images) of free high-resolution PD photographs. You may download the images without copyright restrictions for personal or commercial use. The selection of photos is strongly skewed toward nature and city photographs (about half the collection).
Wallhere
Wallhere has an extensive collection of HD wallpapers for download in various resolutions. The images are very well tagged with terms and colors, and the selection of photos is very large. To download an image, you must register first.
Image*After
Image*After is a Netherlands-based online collection of roughly 30,000 royalty free photos. Images and textures may be downloaded and used free and without restriction. The search-by-color option is quite useful, as is the abstract search option (search by image properties).
Pixabay
Pixabay, an international website based in Germany, is an open-source repository for sharing high-quality images published under Creative Commons. Download images in various resolutions and use as you wish, even for commercial purposes. Register free to upload or download full-sized images.
Pexels
Pexels offers free stock photos in good resolution quality. All photos are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero license and may be used for commercial and noncommercial purposes. No attribution is required, but downloaders are requested to thank the respective photographer.
Sterling 2 Fractal Generator and Fractal Gallery
Sterling 2 is a fractal software based on the Sterling fractal generator program written by Stephen C. Ferguson. Unlike the original program, which you can purchase for USD 35 from Stephen C. Ferguson’s website at http://tierazon.com/ktaza/fractal/index.html, Sterling 2 is free. Moreover, it comes with a formula editor. Download Sterling 2 directly from Soler’s website. Additionally, the website provides a link to Soler’s fractal gallery of 1,128 fractals you are welcome to download and use. Here’s a […]
Botany Photo of the Day
Botany Photo of the Day is an educational outreach project of the University of British Columbia. Subscribe and you will receive e-mails when new photographs and accompanying write-ups are published.
Silk
Silk Silk (actually, Weavesilk) is a kaleidoscopic flame maker (it creates “interactive generative art”) that is very simple to use either online or as an app. There’s an excellent tutorial explaining how to use Silk on a PC or on a mobile device at https://www.wikihow.com/Use-Weavesilk. Daniel Prust made the Deep Dreamers’ logo with this resource!
Creatism— Street View elevated to art by AI
From the paper: We introduce Creatism, a deep-learning system for artistic content creation. In our system, we break down aesthetics into multiple aspects, each can be learned individually from a shared dataset of professional examples. Using our system, we mimic the workflow of a landscape photographer, from framing for the best composition to carrying out various post-processing operations. The environment for our virtual photographer is simulated by a collection of panorama images from Google Street […]
Blue Vertigo
This website is a great central resource organizing links to hundreds of websites offering free or paid material by theme: stock photos, stock videos, vector images, mockups, fonts, etc. Can’t remember what wallpaper site you visited a few months ago where you found good PD styles, or where you wanted to check those free source images? Try browsing Blue Vertigo to find the site.
Public Domain Review
A self-proclaimed “ever-growing cabinet of curiosities for the digital age” that offers a wealth of offbeat style resources.
Unsplash
Free high-resolution photos. Link: https://unsplash.com/
Gerda van Rossem’s Fractals on DeviantArt
Description: Deep Dreamer Gerda van Rossem has made thousands of beautiful fractal images. You can find most of them here. Make sure to favorite a few while you’re there. Link: https://gerda1946.deviantart.com/ Subject: Fractal images
