It can be hard to find royalty-free or creative commons licensed forestry or free tree photos to accompany an article.
The traditional stock photo and royalty-free photo services sometimes lack species-specific tree and forest pictures. When online stock photo sites do have some photos, they are sometimes mislabeled. The photo description may use the wrong species name or only list a common name.
So, if you’re looking for high quality, high-resolution photos taken by scientists and forestry professionals, you’re in the right place. We’ve put together a list of where to get great silviculture and forestry related images.
Read the image usage guidelines for each website before utilizing any photos. In many cases, these images are free to use for personal and educational purposes. There are specific requirements for commercial usage of photos.
Photos of Silviculture Practices
Are you in need of photos of forest regeneration practices, tree nursery operations, forest products, or timer stand treatments? You can find photos of these silvicultural practices and forest resource images on Forestry Images which holds the archives of images from several institutions and contributors. Contributors include Ohio State University Extension, ScaleNet, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and more.
The thousands of silvicultural images hosted on this website include site preparation photos, natural and artificial tree regeneration photos, thinning treatment photos, fire treatment photos, pine straw production photos, and photos covering all types of forest stands from hardwoods to conifers.
WEBSITE: https://www.forestryimages.org/silviculture.cfm
Photos of Forest Insect Pests
Where can you find images of a leaf eating insect, bark beetles, weevils, or wood boring beetles? What about photos of leaf scale insects or any of the thousands of other bugs that feed on trees or parasitize forest plants? The forest pests image category of Forestry Images is where you will find the perfect insect image.
WEBSITE: https://www.forestryimages.org/insects.cfm
Photos of Forest Diseases
Images of foliage diseases, root diseases, cankers, wilts, stem and leaf rusts, and more caused by tree pathogens, fungi, and insects are available online at Forestry Images. From anthracnose to Armillaria root rot and all tree diseases in between there are hundreds of images covering forest diseases available for use.
WEBSITE: https://www.forestryimages.org/diseases.cfm
Photos of Urban Forestry and Arboriculture
There aren’t a lot of places to find images of urban forestry practices and arboriculture, but Forestry Images has a collection of a few hundred photos you can browse. These photos cover the topics of tree risk management, tree defects, storm damage, tree removal, cabling and bracing, ornamental trees, and urban plant health issues. If your topic includes urban trees and urban landscapes – you’re likely to find the image you are looking for in this collection of forestry pictures.
WEBSITE: https://www.forestryimages.org/urban.cfm
Photos of Forest Understory Plants and Rangeland Plants
There are many plants under the forest canopy and photos of these forbs, shrubs, vines, and grasses can be hard to find. However, Forestry Images has thousands of large size, high quality, high-resolution photos of many understory plant species.
Available photos of understory plants include the following: Japanese honeysuckle, American hazelnut, barberry, black huckleberry, blackberry, Christmas fern, sago palm, bluestem, foxtail, and many, many more plant species.
WEBSITE: https://www.forestryimages.org/plants.cfm
With over 405,000 photos of different plant species, you’re sure to find the one you are looking for at CalPhotos. This photo repository includes many historical images as well. You can browse the plant images by scientific name, by common name, or use the online form for a detailed search.
WEBSITE: https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/flora/
Photos of Forest Tree Species
Wether you need photos of understory trees and canopy trees including conifers, hardwoods, or mixed species stands, we’ve got you covered. Forestry Images has thousands of forest tree photos that can be used per their usage guidelines.
The hundreds of conifer photos include hard-to-find images for species like Chilgoza pine, Caucasian fir, Sargent juniper, Korean fir, Gregg’s pine and more. More common evergreen tree species in the collection include longleaf and loblolly pine, eastern redcedar, Douglas-fir, Sctos pine, and eastern white pine.
Over a thousand photos of hardwood tree species are also in this collection. These images include hard-to-find photos of tree species including umbrella tree, cape beech, mountain mahogany, honey mesquite, mango, and Texas live oak. Similarly, you can also find more common photos of hardwood trees such as tree-of-heaven, black locust, red maple, pecan, European beech, dogwoods, holly, eastern redbud and more.
WEBSITE: https://www.forestryimages.org/trees.cfm
CalPhotos holds over 24,000 photos of different tree species. These photos can be browsed by scientific name, by common name, or perform a detailed search for specific trees.
WEBSITE: https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/flora/
Photo Usage Guidelines
Forestry Images Usage Guidelines
Federal employees or researchers at institutions of higher learning took most of the photos in this repository. They are free for educational and non-commercial usage and can often be used for commercial uses as well. However, for commercial use you must request permission first.
Photographers retain the right to their photography and some may decide to charge a fee for commercial usage. Check out the image usage guidelines before using any of these forestry and silviculture photos.
CalPhotos Image Usage Guidelines
You can use thumbnails of photos on this website under the Fair Use provisions of the Copyright Law of the U.S. However, those seeking to use larger images must request permission from the photographer. Some photos include usage information at the top of the enlargement photo.
For commercial usage of any photos, you must contact the photographer for permission. All photographers retain the rights to their photos and some may charge a usage fee.
Read the photo usage guidelines on CalPhotos website for more details.