The Competition

We developed the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands because we could not find suitable images for teaching. While the situation has changed in some ways today, we still believe that the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands provides what no other resources do.

Free Images on the Internet

The availability of images on the internet today is much greater than it was back in 2000 when the first edition of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands was released. Today one can search Google Images, Flickr, and similar sources for thousands of free images. What does the Pictorial Library provide that these sources do not? First, we provide a comprehensive collection that is well-organized. Google can provide you with a variety of images, but you may not understand the context. Or, you may only find a single image of the site you are looking for. Second, our images are accurately identified and described. We recently read a major archaeology textbook that made an embarrassing identification error of a photograph based on an internet source. Third, our images are all in high-resolution. Fourth, with the Pictorial Library you do not need to locate copyright holders, identify what type of usage is allowed, and write to them to request permission. The Pictorial Library provides thousands of high-quality, accurately identified photographs with generous permissions at a reasonable price.

 

Logos

Logos offers "Images of the Holy Land" with 200 photographs for $30.  The photograph resolution is not listed but when we inquired we learned that the average image size is 750x500 pixels - much smaller than the Pictorial Library.

Logos also offers "Photos from the Holy Land" for $30. No quantity of images is given, nor is a resolution listed, but the quality of the sample images do not give us reason to pursue it further.

As part of all of their base packages, Logos includes the BiblePlaces.com Image Library. As you might expect, we think these photographs are superb! This collection includes 350 images of selected biblical sites. The Pictorial Library of Bible Lands has many advantages over the Logos module.

Israeli Companies

An Israeli company produces "Israel Views and Sites" ($49; link no longer valid) with 600 photographs.  These are of varying quality and interest and have a screen resolution of 640x480.  If you want to use the pictures in PowerPoint or elsewhere, you'll have to convert them from bmp and then crop them. (We did it, but then the images are not appropriately named, and ultimately six years later, we haven't used a single one in teaching or research.)

The DavkaGraphics Photo Collection: Jerusalem includes 100 pictures for $20.  The pictures appear to be 440x300 in resolution.  The company's Israel Photo Collection features 200 photos of the same resolution.

Image Pro: Israel may be one of the only comparable products to date.  It claims 1,200 high resolution photos, though it doesn't specify what "high resolution" is.  The price is $70 though we've seen sales from time to time.  All of the images have been scanned in from slides, and the overall quality reflects that--the colors are not bright and the detail is not sharp.  The producer is a Jewish-American and the images on the CD reflect that interest--many biblical sites are represented by only a few photos or are not represented at all, and many Jewish and rabbinic features of less interest to a Christian audience are included.  Interested purchasers should also note the CD license prohibits use of the images for "public display" as well as other uses.  Any altering or modification of the images is also forbidden without permission.  That makes this product suitable for personal viewing only.

Scholarly Sources

Several scholars have produced their own photo collections since we first produced the Pictorial Library. Helmut Koester is the author of Cities of Paul, Images and Interpretations: from the Harvard New Testament and Archaeology Project, a CD-ROM with 900 photographs and accompanying notes and diagrams. It is very expensive for a single disk ($157 at Amazon), and the photographs are limited to nine sites in Turkey and Greece, only five of which are mentioned in the New Testament. (Our blog contains a brief review.)

Carl Rasmussen has been developing Holy Land Photos for a number of years now, gradually expanding the free online collection with the support of donations. A useful source with accurate identifications and explanations, the scope of the collection is more limited than the Pictorial Library, and the images are more difficult to access because each image has to be downloaded one by one.

Leen Ritmeyer has created a number of photo CDs with particular focus on Jerusalem and the temple. His work includes many original diagrams which cannot be found anywhere else. A couple of notable volumes are The Archaeology of Herod's Temple Mount (£15) and Jerusalem in the time of Christ (80 annotated images for £15). Like the works of Koester and Rasmussen above, we believe these can be valuable supplements to the more extensive Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

Other Options

Christian Computer Art offers The Bible Picture Library of Photo Art with 1800 images for about $25.  The ordering page was not working when we last tried, but you can view samples and get an idea for the product.  They have some good reviews and a strong guarantee of satisfaction, but the download samples of the photographs do not impress.

israelimages.com has some excellent photos and a great selection.  The only catch is that each picture costs $60 per year (that's the cheapest price [PowerPoint educational use only]; prices go up to $8,000 per picture).  See holylandimages.com and PhotoZion and Photovault and Fotosearch Stock Photography for more of the same.  These high prices are standard for stock photography and one of the reasons why the Pictorial Library exists - to provide high-resolution, high-quality images to teachers, students, pastors, and churches much more cheaply.  (Note that use of images from the Pictorial Library is granted for personal and educational purposes; commercial use requires permission.)

Biblical Archaeology Society has made available a revised edition of "The Biblical World in Pictures" CD-ROM.  This includes 10 of their slide sets, with 1,300 pictures.  We are disappointed with both the poor image quality and the low resolution.  For a lower price, it might be a worthwhile purchase; for $150, we do not recommend it.  David Padfield recently bought the set but wishes he had not.  Kris Udd of Grace University has written a more detailed review of it in the Journal of Biblical Studies (pdf format).  See also the New Testament Archaeology in Pictures CD-ROM, which includes 285 pictures for $70.

Summary

Few of the above products give any kind of product review from consumers.  We suspect that the reason is that the reviews are not positive; most people we know are disappointed with what is available on the market today.  Either the picture quality is poor, or the resolution is low, or both.

Many companies don't want to provide high-resolution photographs without royalty charges.  They view the risk as too great that the images can be used in commercial projects without proper compensation.  We choose to take that risk and make the best quality, highest-resolution images available.

This is what we say about others; here's what others say about the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.  And we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee–no questions, no hassle, no time limit.

Know of any other options, good or bad?  Please tell us!

Ready to order? Visit our secure ordering site. Or learn why the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands is unique, see what others say, and view our collection of free high-resolution photos.