How to find the images you crave

Simple Searching

Type one keyword such as “temple” into the Search box, then click “Go”. In the wink of an eye, our super-fast system will tell you how many images show temples and how many pages of images you can view – and it could be a lot! Only use a “Simple Search” if you’re seeking broad inspirations, and have plenty of time.

Filtering Your Search

Maybe you’ve got a tight deadline, or already have the ideal picture in your mind’s eye. If so, the more specific you can be, the better. Type in all the visual elements as keywords adding “and” between each one – for example, “temple and people and India”. The images found will include all three elements.

You can do the same thing with “or” between each keyword if you can be more flexible in your choices. For example: “temple and India or Thailand” will provide temple images in two locations instead of one.

Using “not” between keywords rules out elements or locations you want to eliminate. For example, “temple and people not children” will ensure that only temple shots showing adults will be found.

Other Options

Refine your Simple Search as you go

Let’s say you searched for “celebration”; now you’ve got hundreds of possible images from many countries. To narrow things down, just tick “Search in Results” and type a more focused word in the Search box, e.g. “wedding”. Now you’ll get a manageable group of images to consider. And you can go on refining by typing in even more specific words, such as “bride” or “bouquet”.

Find it even if you can’t spell it.

Not sure whether it's "Timbucktoo", "Timbuktu" or "Timbouctoo"? then our new auto complete dropdown will help you choose what you want. Simply start to type in "Timbu" and you will see which is the best spelling to use. Just click on the keyword in the dropdown menu and it will search for you. Alternatively type in the search box some of the word "timb" and press "search". As long as "timb" is not a keyword in itself you'll get a list of keywords of every location or object starting with those four letters, and then simply click on the one you want.

Alternatively, try our “Wildcard” option. Select “Filtered Search”. Now type in every letter you are certain of, plus an asterisk, e.g. “Timb*” and press “Go”. Now you’ll see every image whose description or name begins with those letters – including photos of timber, timber-framed cottages and Timbuktu.

But remember, you have to play your Wildcard cleverly. The fewer the letters you type in, the more general the results will be. For example, “Tim*” will give you a varied mix of images including polar bears in snow, which can be found via the keywords “time-related” because they’re seasonal.