How to find a specific image

[lovecraft68]

Shot in the dark here. I use stock photos to make covers for my e-books. Generally I can find what I need, but lately have run into a story I cannot find the cover I would like for.

I decided to type in my search words into google images to find ideas.

I saw a perfect image and I saw it as three different book covers telling me this is a stock photo.

I am wondering if there is a way to search by image to find the site it can be obtained on?

My problem so far is once I click the image it says search by image, but that only gives me the same cover(because there is now text on it) I am trying to find the raw image.

Is this possible?

 

[RawHumor]

Shot in the dark here. I use stock photos to make covers for my e-books. Generally I can find what I need, but lately have run into a story I cannot find the cover I would like for.

I decided to type in my search words into google images to find ideas.

I saw a perfect image and I saw it as three different book covers telling me this is a stock photo.

I am wondering if there is a way to search by image to find the site it can be obtained on?

My problem so far is once I click the image it says search by image, but that only gives me the same cover(because there is now text on it) I am trying to find the raw image.

Is this possible?

I'm not sure if your results would be different, but you can try saving the image to your computer and then dragging into the google image search area. You might just get back what you've already gotten though.

 

[NippleMuncher]

Type a description of your image in the search bar and try that, since you already know what you're looking for, you will be able to scan through the results pretty rapidly to see if it comes up.

As for finding the originating site or just the raw image, it's a crap shoot, particularly now that Google can't find it's own ass, let alone relevant to what you're searching for.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm not sure if your results would be different, but you can try saving the image to your computer and then dragging into the google image search area. You might just get back what you've already gotten though.

You might also try editing the saved image to obscure the title and anything else that's not part of the original you're looking for, to discourage Google from prioritising the book cover over the original. (Not sure whether blurring them or blacking them out would work better, might have to experiment.)

Edit: also, you can use search options to restrict the sites. For instance, if you add "site:www.stockphotositename.com" into the search box (remove quotes, replace with a stock-photo site) it'll restrict results to that site. I tried this and it appears to work with the image search.

You can also try "related:www.stockphotositename.com" to search sites similar to that site - I don't know how well that works.

You should also be able to exclude specific sites by using -site:blahblah.com but it doesn't seem to be working properly for me.

 

[Emerson40]

There are a couple way to easily search images.

If you have already found the image online someplace, copy the image URL address, open google, click on images, click on the little "camera" in the search bar, paste the copied image URL in the search bar that opens. You will be presented with search results, with options to view the same and similar images, in different sizes (this is where you may find a version of an image you seek without watermarking or "stock image" marking), as well as website links where the image is posted / hosted.

A second way is to use tineye (tineyedotcom). You can paste the image URL and search that way, or if you have the image saved, you can upload it from your computer. You have an option to search for exact, or similar (find originals of photo-shopped or cropped pics), and you can sort your search results by date, which is handy if trying to determine image origin or pedigree.

Good luck!

 

[NippleMuncher]

It just occurred to me, if you can find a .png form of the image with the text on it, you should be able to edit the .png to remove the text overlay. It it is in .jpg format, you're screwed and will need the original, untouched image.

 

[lovecraft68]

There are a couple way to easily search images.

If you have already found the image online someplace, copy the image URL address, open google, click on images, click on the little "camera" in the search bar, paste the copied image URL in the search bar that opens. You will be presented with search results, with options to view the same and similar images, in different sizes (this is where you may find a version of an image you seek without watermarking or "stock image" marking), as well as website links where the image is posted / hosted.

A second way is to use tineye (tineyedotcom). You can paste the image URL and search that way, or if you have the image saved, you can upload it from your computer. You have an option to search for exact, or similar (find originals of photo-shopped or cropped pics), and you can sort your search results by date, which is handy if trying to determine image origin or pedigree.

Good luck!

Thanks a lot, I'll give these a try!

 

[lovecraft68]

Thanks for all the helpful responses, I appreciate you all taking some time to help.

What's funny is, here on the net, on a "porn site" no less everyone is giving me valid lawful advice.

2 of the three people I asked in person came out with "Remove the text and add your own, why the hell pay for it?"