More than a gimmick?
I used to think that reverse image search was a gimmick, with maybe a rare use case that might save a little time. But one of my projects from the last couple of years has led it to become a regular tool in my toolbox. If you deal with images frequently, it’s worth learning how searching with images can help save you time. Read on to learn the best times to use reverse image search.
What is reverse image search?
Everyone should be familiar with searching with keywords. Search engines like google employ this approach, and it’s the same approach used by most stock agencies like Shutterstock. This approach to finding results has changed little since the first internet based search engine was released in the 1990’s. You enter your keywords and then this text is used to find suitable matches. More recently, new ways to search have started to appear. In 2011, Google released its reverse image search (Google Search by images). Reverse image search uses as a reference image to find similar images.
The two approaches to reverse image search
There are two fundamental ways that reverse image search can be performed. The first is by uploading a reference image. This approach creates more friction in the way you need to find the image on your local machine and then upload it. Therefore, I rarely use this approach. The method I use more often is more streamlined. Most images that I use are already on the internet, so all that needs to be done is to select the image you want to use as the reference and then trigger the process to find similar content.
How stock companies offer reverse image search
The most common implementation of reverse image search is via the upload. More recently, companies such as Envato Elements have offered the ability to ‘find similar images’. This is a nice feature as it is quick to find alternative images. Even if a website doesn’t offer their own image search, you can still use google. If you use Chrome, all you need to do right click on an image and select ‘search image with Google’. This then does an image search for you.
It’s not just about finding similar images
One of my projects needed images for specific locations. Sometimes the meta descriptions on images are poor, it might list the country but not the exact location. It can be surprisingly difficult to find images for specific locations, if you have struggled read this post. I have found images on sites like Dreamstime that I wanted to use but the location wasn’t specified. Using a reverse image search allowed me to find the location of the image based on the results of the search.
