Illinois Image Database


Find the Perfect Illinois Photo for your Project

The Illinois Image Database provides consistent, quality images of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that should be used whenever possible to reflect the excellence of Illinois on websites, printed materials, presentations and other communications pieces. Each image was chosen to help you illustrate your program through unique and universally applicable images.

All images in the database are free for use in university promotions; they are not authorized for any other uses.

All images are copyrighted to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Request Access

For first time faculty/staff users of the Illinois Image Database:

  1. Read the Illinois Image Database Policy Agreement.
  2. Send an e-mail to photography@illinois.edu. Include your first and last name and the e-mail address you would like to use for your username.
  3. Once verified, you will receive an email invitation from photography@illinois.edu. Click on the URL to access the Illinois Image Database.
  4. When you arrive at the home page for the database, choose “Sign Up” and create a free PhotoShelter account if you don’t already have one. You should now be able to access the database.

Additional Information

If you have questions or need assistance with the Illinois Image Database, please contact photography@illinois.edu.

General Questions

Who has access to the database?

Illinois faculty and staff may download and use the images in the Illinois Image Database for the purpose of promoting the university and its programs.

Students may be granted access for promotional work sponsored by a campus unit and may be granted access for research purposes with sponsorship by their faculty/staff supervisor. Students will be given access for the academic year during which they are added, and for the full academic year that follows.

External vendors who are commissioned to produce promotional materials for campus or its departments must be sponsored by a faculty/staff member. Access is provided to vendors exclusively for projects commissioned by the sponsoring campus unit. Vendor access will be rescinded at the end of the current academic year. Should the vendor contract with another campus unit for another project, a sponsor from that unit should notify Photo Services, photography@illinois.edu.

All users must agree not to reuse, retain or redistribute the images from the database for any other purpose without written permission from the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing.

Does StratCom charge for use of the images?

The images in the database are free for projects promoting the campus or its units.

Do I need to credit the photos I use from the database?

When using images for internal university materials, photo credit is not required. However, if the design allows captioning, photo credit is always greatly appreciated. In the Illinois Image Database, each selected image will display the name of the photographer in the image description beside it.

When university photos are used externally, photo credit is required and should be written: “University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign / [name of photographer]”.

Technical Support

I set up an account. When I log in, I see PhotoShelter images instead of the Illinois Image Database. Why?

In order to view and download from the Illinois Image Database, you need to obtain access from StratCom. Email photography@illinois.edu with your first and last name and your email address.

We have hired a vendor to create our promotional materials. Can the vendor have access?

Vendors who are commissioned to produce promotional materials for campus or its departments may be given access to the database but must be sponsored by a faculty/staff member. Access is provided to vendors exclusively for projects commissioned by a sponsoring campus unit. Vendor access will be rescinded at the end of the current academic year.

PhotoShelter doesn’t seem to recognize my email address when I try to log in.

The most common reason for this is that PhotoShelter will only recognize your email address if it is written exactly the way it was put into the system when you were granted access. If you were added before the switch to netid@illinois.edu, you will need to use your netid@uiuc.edu email address.

If you are a System employee, be mindful of whether your account was created using netid@uillinois.edu or netid@illinois.edu.

Please note that the password you created for PhotoShelter should not be the same as your university Net ID password.

If you have trouble logging in, please request a new password and be sure to check spam/junk folders if the automated email from PhotoShelter does not appear in your main Outlook inbox.

If you are still experiencing issues, please contact photography@illinois.edu for assistance.

Strategic Communications and Marketing

507 E. Green St | MC-426

Champaign, IL 61820

Phone: (217) 333-5010

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu