The online world is filled with various types of truly stunning images, but that doesn't mean you'll always find the original picture. Many images you come across on blogs and other websites have been sourced from elsewhere. While it may not seem important to you, knowing how to trace back to the original source of images can be very beneficial.
Are you looking for more unique and amazing images for your website? Today, images have become a crucial factor in website evaluation. Why? High-quality images are a powerful way to attract visitors, and that's why if your website features appealing images, people will be more interested in it. On the flip side, if a visitor feels that what is presented lacks quality, they will immediately develop a sense of distrust towards the site, and consequently, you will lose them.
Why is it important to find image sources?
Is there anything more frustrating than seeing a fantastic image online, saving it, and then forgetting where you downloaded it from? Even worse, you then have to waste hours searching through your browser history to find it. All this wasted time and effort can be avoided when you learn how to search for the source of images.
However, you can't just use any random image you find online in your blog. You need to ensure that you have the legal right to use it. Once you find the image source, you'll be able to determine whether you are allowed to use the image or not. Although it's quite rare for small websites to face legal issues due to using copyrighted images, it's always better to be safe.
On the other hand, the original image is usually larger in size and higher in quality. Low-resolution images are poor quality, so you should obtain the image from the original source. Why? Because republished images are often compressed to reduce file size and thus decrease website loading time. This is great for the website, but not so great for you, whether you want to use the image in your marketing presentations or edit it yourself, so being able to find the source is beneficial.
Here’s how to quickly and easily search for image sources:
How to search for image sources
Finding the true source of an image isn't difficult. Here are five different methods you can use to find any image source today:
1. Use Google Image Search to find image sources
Google Image Search is the actual place to find images online. You probably don't need me to tell you that, so all I need to explain is how to use Google Images to find the source of an image.
Go to image.google.com, but instead of typing a keyword, upload your image. Google will display a link to every webpage that contains that image, and it won't be too hard to find the original version.
You can also use Google’s reverse image search on your iPhone by requesting the desktop version of the site in Safari.
2. Use other reverse image tools to find image sources
Have you ever come across an image on Twitter or Facebook and wondered where you could find the original? While it may seem challenging, image search tools make it much easier than you think to find original sources using just the image.
All you need to do is upload the image or copy and paste it into the tool, and the search engine will find every instance of that image online. In most cases, it won't be hard to locate the original image.
There are many reverse image search tools, but here are some of my favorites:
TinEye
TinEye is a program that reveals the origin of an image in seconds. You can search by uploading the URL if you have it or the image itself.
You can also use the TinEye Chrome extension to right-click on any image while browsing and instantly access the data.
Search By Image
Search By Image is an Android app that allows you to perform reverse image searches on Google, TinEye, or Yandex. You can search by uploading images from your phone or opening images from Facebook, Twitter, and other apps.
3. Look for image metadata to find image sources
You can find an amazing amount of information about an image in the file's metadata, and sometimes it will include the image source.
4. Use Chrome browser to search for image sources
If you're using Chrome, you won't need to visit Google Images to perform a reverse image search. Instead, right-click on the image when you find the one you want to search for and click on "Search Google for Image." You'll see the usual reverse image search results.
5. Use Bing Visual Search to find image sources
Bing has its own image search feature called Visual Search that makes reverse image searching easy.
You can drag your saved image into the search bar or upload it, and Bing will display every site it can find online. You'll also get a summary of the image's attributes and any text Bing can find related to that image.
Websites to find great images
The costs of paying for image usage can be a significant burden for small businesses, but that doesn't mean you have to forgo images.
There are plenty of places online where you can find high-quality royalty-free images. Here are a few:
Unsplash
Unsplash is likely the best photography platform in the world, allowing you to use images for free in almost any way you want.
Pexels
Pexels is another great and free image platform like Unsplash, with its own license that specifies what you can and cannot do with the images.
Burst
Burst is Shopify's image platform, allowing you to download images for free without being a Shopify customer.
Flickr
Flickr is a fantastic site for images where you can find thousands of photos to use for commercial purposes for free.
Canva
You may have used Canva to create a new logo or poster, but did you know it also has hundreds of free images you can use? You can even download them without editing.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed how to search for image sources. Finding the source of an image may seem like it requires a lot of work
