Search photos

The base URL for this API is:

https://api.unsplash.com/

To search through the Unspalsh API photos, hit this endpoint:

GET /search/photos

Construct your API call like this where YOUR_ACCESS_KEY is your Unsplash API access key and searchTerm is the search term you want to search for:

curl -X GET 'https://api.unsplash.com/search/photos?client_id=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY&query=searchTerm'

The results will be a JSON array of photos matching the search term. You can see an example of this below:

[{
  "id": "qFWy-p1_HU4",
  "slug": "a-room-with-a-desk-chairs-and-a-lamp-qFWy-p1_HU4",
  "alternative_slugs": {
    "en": "a-room-with-a-desk-chairs-and-a-lamp-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "es": "una-habitacion-con-un-escritorio-sillas-y-una-lampara-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "ja": "机と椅子とランプのある部屋-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "fr": "une-piece-avec-un-bureau-des-chaises-et-une-lampe-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "it": "una-stanza-con-una-scrivania-sedie-e-una-lampada-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "ko": "책상-의자-램프가-있는-방-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "de": "ein-zimmer-mit-schreibtisch-stuhlen-und-einer-lampe-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "pt": "uma-sala-com-uma-secretaria-cadeiras-e-um-candeeiro-qFWy-p1_HU4"
  },
  "created_at": "2024-06-23T13:42:33Z",
  "updated_at": "2024-06-26T15:11:24Z",
  "promoted_at": "2024-06-26T13:51:55Z",
  "width": 5477,
  "height": 3651,
  "color": "#c0c0c0",
  "blur_hash": "LSKBO7x]NHNG~qV@RkWVo~s:jFxa",
  "description": "For sale! Curated mid century & postmodern furniture. https://urban-vintage.ro/",
  "alt_description": "A room with a desk, chairs, and a lamp",
  "breadcrumbs": [],
  "urls": {
    "raw": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1719150016704-270c5a0deee4?ixid=M3w2MjQ5MDF8MHwxfGFsbHwxfHx8fHx8Mnx8MTcxOTQxNTQ0OXw&ixlib=rb-4.0.3",
    "full": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1719150016704-270c5a0deee4?crop=entropy&cs=srgb&fm=jpg&ixid=M3w2MjQ5MDF8MHwxfGFsbHwxfHx8fHx8Mnx8MTcxOTQxNTQ0OXw&ixlib=rb-4.0.3&q=85",
    "regular": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1719150016704-270c5a0deee4?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3w2MjQ5MDF8MHwxfGFsbHwxfHx8fHx8Mnx8MTcxOTQxNTQ0OXw&ixlib=rb-4.0.3&q=80&w=1080",
    "small": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1719150016704-270c5a0deee4?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3w2MjQ5MDF8MHwxfGFsbHwxfHx8fHx8Mnx8MTcxOTQxNTQ0OXw&ixlib=rb-4.0.3&q=80&w=400",
    "thumb": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1719150016704-270c5a0deee4?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3w2MjQ5MDF8MHwxfGFsbHwxfHx8fHx8Mnx8MTcxOTQxNTQ0OXw&ixlib=rb-4.0.3&q=80&w=200",
    "small_s3": "https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images.unsplash.com/small/photo-1719150016704-270c5a0deee4"
  },
  "links": {
    "self": "https://api.unsplash.com/photos/a-room-with-a-desk-chairs-and-a-lamp-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "html": "https://unsplash.com/photos/a-room-with-a-desk-chairs-and-a-lamp-qFWy-p1_HU4",
    "download": "https://unsplash.com/photos/qFWy-p1_HU4/download?ixid=M3w2MjQ5MDF8MHwxfGFsbHwxfHx8fHx8Mnx8MTcxOTQxNTQ0OXw",
    "download_location": "https://api.unsplash.com/photos/qFWy-p1_HU4/download?ixid=M3w2MjQ5MDF8MHwxfGFsbHwxfHx8fHx8Mnx8MTcxOTQxNTQ0OXw"
  },
  "likes": 7,
  "liked_by_user": false,
  "current_user_collections": [],
  "sponsorship": null,
  "topic_submissions": {
    "business-work": {
      "status": "approved",
      "approved_on": "2024-06-25T10:40:37Z"
    }
  },
  "asset_type": "photo",
  "user": {
    "id": "tJ_FcPVXguI",
    "updated_at": "2024-06-26T15:07:40Z",
    "username": "urban_vintage",
    "name": "Urban Vintage",
    "first_name": "Urban Vintage",
    "last_name": null,
    "twitter_username": "dmqwe",
    "portfolio_url": "https://urban-vintage.ro/",
    "bio": "We sell curated vintage furniture and home decor.
Use our objects or our space for set decoration.  https://urban-vintage.ro/",
    "location": "Bucharest, Romania",
    "links": {
      "self": "https://api.unsplash.com/users/urban_vintage",
      "html": "https://unsplash.com/@urban_vintage",
      "photos": "https://api.unsplash.com/users/urban_vintage/photos",
      "likes": "https://api.unsplash.com/users/urban_vintage/likes",
      "portfolio": "https://api.unsplash.com/users/urban_vintage/portfolio",
      "following": "https://api.unsplash.com/users/urban_vintage/following",
      "followers": "https://api.unsplash.com/users/urban_vintage/followers"
    },
    "profile_image": {
      "small": "https://images.unsplash.com/profile-1718048948374-5edc6bb23171image?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&crop=faces&fit=crop&w=32&h=32",
      "medium": "https://images.unsplash.com/profile-1718048948374-5edc6bb23171image?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&crop=faces&fit=crop&w=64&h=64",
      "large": "https://images.unsplash.com/profile-1718048948374-5edc6bb23171image?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&crop=faces&fit=crop&w=128&h=128"
    },
    "instagram_username": "urban_vintage.ro",
    "total_collections": 0,
    "total_likes": 176,
    "total_photos": 106,
    "total_promoted_photos": 52,
    "total_illustrations": 0,
    "total_promoted_illustrations": 0,
    "accepted_tos": true,
    "for_hire": true,
    "social": {
      "instagram_username": "urban_vintage.ro",
      "portfolio_url": "https://urban-vintage.ro/",
      "twitter_username": "dmqwe",
      "paypal_email": null
    }
  }
}]

Customise the result

You can customise the resulting Json array by passing similar parameters as in getting all photos. For example, to get the only the first result object in the search results array, you can use customise the per_page parameter like this:

curl -X GET 'https://api.unsplash.com/photos?client_id=MCGA2kGy64QTB01CRM9d_LSu913Bf3vCVmOQddE2A08&per_page=1&query=beach'

Search photos

Customise the result

Further reading