It has happened to every one of us.
When browsing online, something in a photo catches our eye and we have to have it! Browsing mode has turned into buying, and with credit card in hand you click the image only to be taken to a Pinterest/Tumblr page. Clicking the image again loads another account. And again and again, until finally you reach a dead-end. When the digital footprints stop, more often than not, we give up. Those of us who are truly desperate may post the photo ourselves, begging for anyone to help you identify this must-have.
Alas, there is a better way! Today, we are going to show you our technique for tracking down the original photo with the help of a not-so-secret weapon: Google.
Google offers a couple of helpful tools to locate the source of photos gone rogue, but the best of them all is the Search by image tool.
The first step is to grab the URL of the photo by right clicking the photo and selecting "Copy image URL".
Next, visit Google Images and click the small camera icon at the right side of the search bar. An option is displayed to Seach by image. Paste the image URL into the search field and hit enter.
With any luck, Google will find a number of exact matches for your image and the orginal poster is atop the list. Hooray, your search is over!
Unfortunately, if the image is popular you may have a lot of results to sort through.
When there are a lot of results, a good tip is to select the largest image size available under "Find other sizes of this image". That is because the person who first posted this image is most likely the one with the largest, highest resolution copy.
Google will often also display its "Best guess" for keywords to describe your image. This can be very helpful because often when we can't find something online it's just a matter of searching with the right keywords. You may also want to click through to some of the other websites hosting the photo and see what keywords they have used to describe it.
Sometimes, Google doesn't find your image. But all hope is not lost! Below the message "No other sizes of this image found" you will see Google is displaying Visually similar images. Many times if the original photo was cropped for Pinterest or Tumblr the original will show up here.
One final tip, Google actually offers a Chrome Browser extension that builds the "Search by image" functionality directly into your right-click menu. Simply install the extension (it is super easy and safe), and the next time you want to track down an image, just right click and select Search Google with this image.
Good luck, and happy W'heeln!
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Background: photo by owlandfoxstudios