How do you find who's stolen your art for their website?
How do you find the source of an image you want to use?
How do you find an artist by using an image?

CONTENTS:
This page provides answers to practical issues to do with:
  • what is a reverse image search?
  • why do a reverse image search?
  • how to do a reverse image search?
  • how reverse search engines work (specifically Google and Tin Eye) - and which works best
  • how to do a reverse search using a mobile phone
  • what is Google Goggles?
You may also be interested in my section about Copyright for Artists - which includes advice on what to do if your images are stolen


​This page builds on my original blog post on my popular art blog MAKING A MARK - How to do a reverse image search
Picture
A Poll I ran on a previous website. Over 100 people responded

What is a reverse image search?
​

Most of the time when we search for things on the internet we use WORDS - such as key words or words used for meta tags.
​
The big difference with a reverse image search is that all we use is IMAGES to look for similar images
  • A reverse image search starts with an image and looks for all similar images.
  • The image is introduced to a specialised search engine (of which more below) and it finds all the results on the Internet which are a good match.
  • All reverse search engines will produce results but.....
  • the number and quality of those results very much depends on how the reverse image search engine works
REFERENCE

Why do a reverse image search?
​

The main reasons for using a reverse image search are listed below.
​Most were listed in my Original Article - Making A Mark - How to do a reverse image search

GOOD REASONS
  • to identify the original source so as to accredit it
  • to identify who produced the image - so you can buy their artwork. Do you tell people how to do this on your website?
  • to identify the owner of an image so you can ask to use it. However this prompts the question of whether or not you, as an artist, have adequate contact details on your site which will allow people to do this

REASON RELATING TO LOOKING AFTER YOUR ARTWORKS & COPYRIGHT
  • to identify if your image has been stolen and used elsewhere on the internet - in order to enforce your rights under copyright law. This may highlight places where:
    • your copyright is being infringed;
    • copies of your images are being sold and/or your images have been altered and represented to be those of another person

OTHER REASONS FOR PEOPLE WANTING TO USE IMAGES
  • to find out where an image came from. If it's an image which has been used quite a few times it can sometimes be difficult to identify the original source
  • to locate internet sites where an image appears - the results provide a URL address - and sometimes lots of URL addresses - which is fine if the image has been properly licensed. 
  • to identify who has already used a publicly available image so as to avoid its use if used too much already.
    • This is particularly relevant to those using images they do not own on blogs and websites.
    • Examples include stock photography and creative commons images with no restrictions
  • to find higher resolution images of an image - search results will tell you where you can find images which are bigger in terms pixels and a higher level of resolution
  • to avoid being duped - so-called viral photos of events are actually unrelated and existed on the internet prior to the event in question

More Reasons to do a Reverse Image Search

This section looks at some of the different reasons people use reverse image search beyond looking for copyright infringement or reasons identified above

These include:
  • find likely scammers (ie they've used other people's photos when listing things to sell)
  • compare your photo of a location to what it looked like in times past

How to do a reverse image search

  • Use a browser with an embedded reverse image search eg Chrome
  • Right click on the image and use the appropriate command
  • In Chrome - click on 'Search Google for this Image'
  • Chrome delivers matching images and pages on which the matching image can be found
  • It also highlights very similar images - although it often seems to focus on colour rather than shapes for this
Alternatively use a browser with a TinEye extension (eg Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, IE)
  • Right click on the image and use the appropriate command
  • In other browsers - click on 'Search Image on Tineye'
  • TinEye tells you how many  results it found - and also likes to tell you how many 
In practice if seriously looking for use of an image because of suspected abuse I will generally use both searches because they deleiver different results

You can then use Google's Copyright Infringement Form - Removing Content from Google - to report any infringement to Google if you wish
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Reverse Image Search Engines
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​Google - Search by Image - a reverse image search engine
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Google's "Search by Image" was launched in the summer of 2011 and was the first serious competition for the TinEye image search engine.

The big difference is that Google's search algorithms are very powerful and tend to return a lot more images than Tineye

Using Google 'Search by Image' you can
  • just put your picture in the search box on images.google.com.
  • click the camera icon in the search box and upload a photo from your computer or paste the URL of an image from the web.
  • drag and drop pictures from webpages or your computer into the search box.
When using Chrome just right click any image and you will find an option to reverse search it using Google Reverse Image Search
​
This search engine works best when there is related and unique content already on the web.
REFERENCE

How to do a reverse image search using a mobile phone

You can also do a reverse image search using Google on mobile devices such as phones and tablets

Use https://reverse.photos/

Google Goggles is:
  • an image recognition application
  • created by Google for Android-based devices 
  • also included as a feature in the Google Mobile app for iPhones.
Reverse image search using your phone or tablet
​
You can search Google to find images that are similar to ones you see in search results. This is available on the Chrome app (Android and iPhone or iPad).
  1. - Use the Chrome app to a search for what you want to find.
  2. - Touch the image you want to search with to open a larger version of the image.
  3. - Press and hold the image. In the box that appears, touch 'Search Google for this image'.
Google: Reverse Image Page (support page) 

Bing Visual Search - See it, search it

The Bing Visual Search Engine allows you to search for images:
  • through dragging an image on the search engine home
  • taking a photo
  • pasting an image or URL
  • Browsing
It also has a library of specialised skills to help you shop, find similar images or just have fun
REFERENCE:
Within an image search, Bing allows you to crop a photograph (button below the source image) to focus on a specific element in said photograph, as seen below. The results with the cropped image will exclude the extraneous elements, focusing on the user-defined box.
Guide To Using Reverse Image Search For Investigations | bellingcat
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TinEye - a product of Idee
​

TinEye was the first image search engine which enabled people to use technology to find results based on searching using images rather than words. This site
  • specializes in intellectual property violations and
  • looks for exact duplicates of images.

It identifies the images found by where they are (URL) and what size the image is. Plus TinEye also allows you to:
  • Find out where an image came from,
  • how it is being used,
  • if modified versions of the image exist, or
  • find higher resolution versions.
  • Search by colour
​It works with all the major browsers - Chrome, Firefox, Safari Opera and IE. There are priced options for doing reverse image searches on mobile or by colour.
TinEye is a reverse image search engine. Search by image: Give it an image and it will tell you where the image appears on the web.
REFERENCE
  • TinEye Reverse Image Search - TinEye is a reverse image search engine. Give it an image and it will tell you where the image appears on the web.
  • TinEye Blog | Blog Archive | A simple TinEye tutorial - A simple TinEye tutorial - For anyone who is new to TinEye (welcome!), or who just wants to brush up on the basics, here is a tutorial covering all of the essentials
  • About - TinEye - A video about TinEye
  • FAQ - TinEye - TinEye Frequently Asked Questions - If your question is not answered here, come visit us at the TinEye Forum or get in touch.
  • TinEye Blog - The blog for TinEye - the reverse image search engine.
  • Plugins - TinEye Plugins, widgets & badges Find out more about the TinEye official browser plug-ins, widgets and bookmarklets to make your searching easier and faster.
The Copyright Zone: A Legal Guide For Photographers and Artists In The Digital Age
by Edward C. Greenberg J.D and Jack Reznicki ​
RECOMMENDED: An accessible guide to copyright (for the American marketplace). It's targeted at photographers, illustrators, artists who need to understand why and how images need to be protected and what their rights are - within the context of digital images and the internet.
​Easy to digest content covers:
  • what is and isn't copyrightable
  • copyright registration
  • fair use
  • model releases
  • contracts and invoices
  • pricing and negotiation
and a lot more! Plus it's accessible and easy to understand.
The authors are American and hence much of the content related to law has an American bias.  They also write a blog called The Copyright Zone - described as a survival blog for photographers, artists and the confused! 

Greenberg is a commercial litigator based in New York. Reznicki is an experienced and commercial people and children photographer.
Paperback: 352 pages
Published by Focal Press in 2015

USA: Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars by 45 customer reviews

BUY THIS BOOK

UK: Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars by 42 customer reviews 

BUY THIS BOOK

​Articles about Reverse Image Search
​

Comments on developments in reverse search engines - and the implications for privacy and law reform

These are articles and posts where people have reviewed this topic and made recommendations as to useful tools.

​A lot of it repeats what is already found on this site - but are provided here just so you can get another perspective.......
​
One of the notable areas for development concerns the analysis of images on Pinterest
Note: I'm not a lawyer and you should not rely on any assertions I make as legal advice. I'm just an ordinary artist and writer who is trying to make sense of copyright in relation to visual art - and what artists can do if their copyright is infringed and/or others act in such a way as to create orphan works from their copyright protected artwork. These pages organises links to what seem to me to be relevant websites. If you need the help of a lawyer you should engage a professional.
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