Preliminary information
Before explaining to you how to find a photo on the Internet, I need to provide you with some information related to copyright and rights to use an image. In fact, copyright also applies to images found on Google and this means that the images found on the Internet are generally protected by copyright: this means that their use is allowed only with the authorization of the author of the same.
However, in some circumstances, it is possible to use images made by others without incurring violations and without having to ask for authorization, as in the case of falling within the legislative provision of the fair use which concerns, for example, the possibility of using copyrighted content for educational, information or scientific activities.
Better still, to avoid copyright infringement, you can use the licensed content Creative Commons, which can be used free of charge, with or without mention of the original author and often also for commercial purposes. The license, however, varies from case to case depending on the choices of the author, so you must consult the latter thoroughly before using an image in your own project (especially if this can lead to gains in economic terms).
That said, in the next chapters of this guide I will explain how to search for a photo on the Internet, how to filter the search to find licensed images. Creative Commons and how to find images similar to those you already have. Good continuation!
How to search for a photo on the Internet
Having made the necessary premises regarding copyright, let's see together how to search for a photo on the Internet using the main tools used for the purpose.
Google Images
The well-known search engine Google it is undoubtedly the best solution to rely on to search for images on the Internet, given its extreme ease of use (both from computers and smartphones and tablets).
To start, then connected to the main page of Google and type, in the text field located in the center, the term related to the image you want to search, then press the button Submit or click the button Search with Google.
Once this is done, click on the tab Images located at the top, in order to access the search section of the same. At this point, you can filter your image search through the use of different tools, starting with terms that are shown at the top, which allow you to quickly search for images according to the most searched terms and related to the searched image.
Alternatively, click the button Instruments, to open the panel that allows you to filter images by dimensions (great, medium, small o icon), for colore (black and white o transparent), for type (clipart, drawings o GIF), for date / time (last 24 hours, last 7 days, last month, last year) or even for usage rights, function that allows you to filter the search for images with Creative Commons license or with commercial licenses and other licenses.
Once you have found the image of your interest, you can view it at a larger size by clicking on its thumbnail, then, by clicking on it again, you can go to the official website that published it, in order to download it on your device , under the conditions set out in its license.
If you have any doubts or problems, refer to my guide on how to find a photo on Google and also my tutorial where I explain how to download images from Google.
Other sites to search for a photo on the Internet
As an alternative to Google Images, you can also search for a photo on the Internet by using websites, such as Pexels o Pixabay that allow you to search for images that can be used for free for personal or commercial purposes, without having to worry about limitations of use and without having to ask for the author's permission.
Taking as an example the operation of Pexels, all you have to do is connect to the main page of the latter and type, in the search engine inside the site, the term related to the image to be searched (I suggest you use terms in English, as it is more widespread on international platforms ).
Once this is done, locate the photo you like best and click on its thumbnail to view it at a larger size. Then, to download it, click on the ▼ button located next to the item Free download, in order to view the various formats available (great, half, small). Then select the desired format or set one custom size and press pulsating Free download, to download it.
Be careful because in the searches results coming from sponsored sites could also appear: in those cases, the images are often subject to different licenses, if not paid. To avoid any privacy problem, always check the conditions of use of each image you download and make sure you are downloading from a site dedicated to free images (such as Pexels).
In case of doubts or problems or for other suggestions on how to download free images from the Internet, read the tutorial I dedicated to this topic.
How to find the origin of a photo on the internet
find the source of a photo on the Internet you can use again Google Images and its reverse search tool, through which you can upload a photo and find all similar images on the Internet, in order to discover - with a bit of luck - even the original author of the upload.
To proceed, then connect to Google Images and, if you are acting as a smartphone, activate the desktop mode browser: su Google Chrome you can do it by tapping on the icon (...) located in the upper right corner and ticking the option Desktop site in the menu that is proposed to you; up Safari you can press the icon AA (top left) and select the option Request desktop site give the menu to compare.
Once this is done, in both cases, press onicona della macchina photography and use the text field paste image URL, in case you want to do the reverse search via the image link.
If, on the other hand, the image is on your computer or smartphone / tablet, select the tab Upload an image e poi premi sul pulsating Choose the file, to select the file from your computer memory or mobile device.
At the end of the upload, Google will return, as a search result, all the web pages that contain the image in question or similar photos, so that you can trace, with a little luck, the origin of the same.
As an alternative to Google Images, I point out that there are also other online services that allow you to perform the reverse search of images, such as TinEye or the Bing image search engine, even if, it must be said, their results are often not up to those provided by Google.
Anyway, for more information on how these tools work, I suggest you read my guide on how to search by images.
How to find a photo on the Internet