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In some countries, works created by the government are automatically in the public domain, and are not subject to 50, 70 or 100 year rules for the expiry of work's copyright.
The most notable of such countries is the United States, and this is most beneficial, especially as a great amount of US government material is published on the internet or books, and are easily accessible.
While most countries have policies that are not so amenable with Wikipedia's need for free images, the wide influence that the US has in international affairs, through military interventions in other countries, or through a diplomatic presence, means that the US government also holds a great deal of photos that can be used in other country's topics.
Most notably these can include images of American military installations and activities while overseas, but US military or government publications often also discuss military officers or leaders from allied countries, often accompanied by photos of the said people, usually taken by US Embassy staff or other public servants or military officers to keep a record of things.
The most obvious places to look for photos can be
- US Embassy websites
- They tend to keep images of functions in the said country where the ambassador, leading members of executive or legislature etc, meet with government/military officials of the host country or their compatriots abroad.
- On more esoteric matters, the US Embassy sometimes also takes photos of celebrities who go to the US missions in their country to apply for a visa or other promotional events. example
- US military history websites, either for public consumption, or those used for training military officers
- Such websites have hundreds of military history books in electronic form, which are PD as well if one wants to copy their text. The images in these books are usually created by military personnel during their service and should be PD. Searching in the relevant textbooks will also yield many images of military figures and facilities in other countries where the United States was involved, as well as the odd landscape, sometimes with a panoramic aerial view. Maps in government works and reports are also PD, saving the considerable trouble of having to create one.
A list of US government websites, and their corresponding PD resources, can be found on the US task force page.
Aside from the images taken directly from US government sources, government-created images reproduced in third-party books remain in the public domain.
Leaked government reports/textbooks such as the Pentagon Papers are also PD.