Digital Picture Collection Keyword Help

Each image in the The NYPL Digital Picture Collection collection is searchable by its assigned keywords. These words describe the image as accurately and comprehensively as possible and also describe the attributes of the image as a graphic element. Keywords include:

1. Nouns that identify the main subject(s) of the image, such as 'car', 'telephone' and 'sky'.
2. Adjectives that describe these nouns, such as 'rusty' and 'antique'.
3. Verbs that describe the main action(s) in the image, such as 'throw' or 'shave'
4. Approximate age groups of the person or people in the image: 'baby', 'toddler', 'child', 'teen', 'young adult', 'adult', 'mature adult' and 'elderly adult'.
5. Locations, such as cities ('paris'), countries ('france'), regions ('western europe', 'europe') and specific locations ('times square', 'left bank').
6. Image orientation: 'horizontal', 'vertical', 'square', 'panoramic'.
7. Color: 'color', 'black and white', 'sepia', 'infrared'.
8. Specific colors: 'blue', 'green', 'red', 'yellow', 'purple', 'orange', 'brown', 'black', 'white', 'gray', 'pink', 'beige', 'gold', 'silver'.
9. Other technical keywords: 'close-up', 'long shot', 'aerial', 'blur', 'soft focus', 'montage', 'cut out', 'digitally generated', 'three quarter length'.

Using Multiple Keywords

You can narrow or widen your search results by combining keywords with the words 'AND', 'OR' and 'NOT'. Example: flower AND close-up NOT rose This will find close-up images of flowers, but will omit close-ups of roses.

If you find that you receive no results, that your results are unsatisfactory, or that you've received too many results, you may want to read further for information on using our Advanced Search feature.