Images must be cited like all other resources. If you use an image you did not create, you must provide a citation. Images should be cited in all cases, even if the image is very small, or in the public domain. The citation should be accessible in the context of the image's use (within a Powerpoint presentation, on a web page, in a paper, etc.).
Image citations should include the following information at a minimum:
It is also useful to include date, culture, and rights information, if known.
Citations can be formatted according to the citation style you are using.
Following are several examples of image citations formatted according to MLA, APA, and Chicago styles.
MLA 2009 Style (examples from The Owl at Purdue)
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo National del Prado. Web. 22 May 2006.
Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive. Web. 22 May 2006.
APA 2009 Style (examples from University of Maryland University College)
Image with a title from a library database:
Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Retrieved from Oxford Art Online database.
Image with a title from a web site:
Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Retrieved from http://www.uwm.edu/~wash/rousseau.jpg.
Image with a title scanned from a book:
Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris. By Claire Fresches et al. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art. 232.
Image without a title from a library database:
Muybridge, E. [Photograph of a horse running]. (1887). National Gallery, London. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Image without a title from a printed source:
Muybridge, E. [Photograph of a horse running]. (1887). National Gallery, London. River of shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the technological wild West. By Rebecca Solnit. New York, NY: Viking. 52.
Note: If an image does not have a title, create a brief title and place it in [].
Chicago Style
Image from a library subscription database:
Bib: Hoshiko, Eugene. "China Rain." Photograph. 1999. AP Images, ID99062401980.
Notes: Eugene Hoshiko, "China Rain," photograph, 1999, AP Images, ID99062401980.
Image from an online database:
Bib: Currier & Ives. "Gray Eagle." Lithograph. ca. 1866. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006676682/ (accessed September 25, 2010).
Notes: Currier & Ives, "Gray Eagle," lithograph, ca. 1866, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006676682/ (accessed September 25, 2010).
Image from a website:
Bib: Wilma, David. "El Centro de la Raza, Beacon Hill, Seattle." Photograph. 2001. HistoryLink.org, http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9186 (accessed September 25, 2010).
Notes: David Wilma, "El Centro de la Raza, Beacon Hill, Seattle," photograph, 2001, HistoryLink.org, http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9186 (accessed September 25, 2010).
Information provided by the Universities Libraries of the University of Washington.