One of the hardest tasks in curation is tracking down the original source of an image. Even if you start with the original source of an article, the images used in it may, and probably did not, originate with the same author.
To track down the original source, try using Google Image Search to find it. Its amazing how accurate it is in finding multiple copies of the image on the web. Unfortunately, it still takes a lot of digging to figure out which one is the original. The following steps will get you started.
Finally, if you can’t find the source, make sure you use a thumbnail. Using just a thumbnail, and not a larger or full size image, is good practice and seems to be a way to share an image without knowing where it is from.
- In Chrome, you can right click an image and choose Search Google for Images. Otherwise go to google image search and drag the image into the search box.
- A page will open with links to where that image is found. Scan for an obvious source for the image. Click on it and use the link to credit the image. If it is a stock photo site, you will often have to pay to use it.
- Many times you’ll have to dig deeper, click on the “view other sizes” link.
- A new page will open with photo links of where the image is found. Usually the largest image is where the original photo is held. Scroll over the top of the images to see the site info. You may have to click through a couple sites before finding the original source.
- Once you find it link properly.