How to search for information about someone using an image

Do you have a photo of someone but don't know who they are or the meaning behind the image? Use various online image search tools to find duplicates of the photo, trace its origin, and uncover more details. Google Images and TinEye are two of the most popular options, and you can even search directly from your mobile device.

Find the image you want to investigate. Google allows you to search by image rather than text. It will attempt to find similar versions of the image online and display related pictures. This can help you identify the origin of the image and potentially discover other images of the same person. You can search using an image saved on your computer or by using the image's URL.

• To copy the image's address, right-click on the image and select 'Copy image address/URL'.
• To save the image to your computer, right-click on the image and select 'Save image'.
• If you're using a mobile device, click here.

Go to the Google Images homepage. Open images.google.com in your browser. You'll see a search bar just like the one on Google.

Upload the image you want to search for. There are two options to search by image:

• Select 'Paste image URL' and paste the copied image URL into the search field.
• Select 'Upload an image' to browse and upload a saved image from your computer.

Click 'Search by image'. A list of search results will appear. If the image is found in different sizes, these results will be shown at the top. Pages with equivalent images will display underneath, while similar-looking images will appear at the end of the first page of results.

Set up Chrome browser on your device. You can’t use the Google Image Search website to search by image on mobile devices, but you can use the mobile Chrome browser as an alternative. Download the browser for free from your app store if you haven't already. This method works for both iOS and Android devices.

• You can also use TinEye (as mentioned earlier) by copying and pasting the image URL for the search. Press and hold an image, then select 'Copy image address' to copy the URL to your device’s clipboard, and paste it into TinEye’s search field.

Find the image you want to search for. While you can't upload an image directly, you can use any online image you have access to. Use Chrome to navigate to the image you want to search for.

• If the image is only saved on your computer, you can first upload it to a service like Flickr, then navigate to the image on your mobile device.

Press and hold on the image you want to search for. A menu will appear shortly after that.

Select 'Search Google for this image.' Google Images will initiate a search based on the image you've selected.

Review the results. Google will show you the best matches for the image’s name and provide links to pages where the image is used. Similar images may also be found at the bottom of the first page of results.

Find the image you want to investigate. TinEye is a search engine designed specifically for searching by image. You can use either an image URL or upload a file. Since TinEye does not search for similar images, it’s ideal for quickly identifying the origin of a photo.

• To copy an image’s address, right-click on the image and select 'Copy image address/URL'.
• To save the image to your computer, right-click on the image and select 'Save image'.

Go to the TinEye homepage. Navigate to tineye.com in your browser.

Upload an image or paste the copied URL. Click the 'Upload' button to browse for an image file on your computer, or paste the copied image URL into the search box.

Review the results. TinEye will only return images that match the uploaded image, so you'll need to check the results to trace the history of the image.

Visit pages containing images to gather more information. Pages with images can provide valuable details about the identity of a person. Review several results to see if you can find more information about them. Look for captions or surrounding text that may offer further clues.