Using htaccess, how to restrict seeing directory contents, but allow server to use the contents?

Question

More specifically, I have an htaccess file that restricts anyone from seeing the directory contents. Such that, nobody can see my 1000s of images in www.example.com/images by us

Answer 1

Magicianeer's suggestion is the best for this problem. If your images are broken into subfolders you'd have to put an index file in each one. 'Options -Indexes' only needs to be done once at the root.