Reverse-search the web
Discuss reverse-search tools at http://www.facebook.com/webusermagazine 5 - 18 February 2020 49
catching photo thieves.
TinEye’s browser extension (tineye
.com/extensions) adds a ‘Search Image
on TinEye’ option
to your right-click
menu. TinEye
creates a unique
digitalsignature
forthephoto,
thendisplays
a listoflinksto
everyplacethe
photohasever
appeared.
Theresultslist
includescropped,
editedandresized
copies,sothieves
can’tcheatthe
systemusing
Photoshop.You
canfilterresults
toshowwhichcopieshavebeen
changedmost,andtospecifyonline
locationssuchasanti-scammer
databasewww.romancescam.com.
Discoverwhereandwhena
photowastaken
Jeffrey’sImageMetadataViewer(bit.ly/
jeff494) is evenmoreforensic.It ignores
a picture’scontentsandinsteadliftsthe
lidonitsspecs– alsoknownasEXIF
data.Uploadeventhemostmundane
mobilephotoandyou’llbestunnedby
thewealthofinformation:everything
fromtimetakenandcameraused,to
exactstepsin editingsoftware.Youmay
alsodiscoverthelocationand
photographer,dependingonthe
metadataenabledwhenshooting.
ThemostpowerfulEXIF-deducingiOS
appis Fluntro’sEXIFViewer(£2.99,bit
.ly/fluntro494). ForAndroid,usethefree
appPhotoExifEditor(bit.ly/exifed494).
Finda photo’smusicalmatch
Accompanying a creative project with
copyright-free music will add to its
impact. Shutterstock’s new ‘Reverse
Image Search for Video’ tool (bit.ly/
shutter494) lets you search using your
photos. The tool’s basic job is to find
imagesthataresimilartoyours,butit’s
recentlyaddedtheoptiontofindall
sortsof“matching”content,including
video,musicandevenchunksoftext.
Notallofthisthird-partycontentis free
todownloadanduse,butthetoolitself
costsnothing.Reverse-searcha picwith
a right-click
ThebrowserextensionSearchbyImage
(Chrome,Firefox,Opera,bit.ly/
sbimage494– norelationtothe
similarly-namedAndroidapp)letsyou
runanyonlinephotothroughdozensof
reverse-searchenginesin onego.
Tosetthesearchenginesyouwantit
toconsult,clicktheextension’stoolbarbutton, then Options, and add or
remove tools to the right-click ‘All search
engines’ menu. You can stick to photo-
identifying tools such as Google, TinEye
and Bing, or use specialist photo sources
including Shutterstock and Pinterest.Reverse-search a video
usingscreenshots
Berify(berify.com) claimsto“findstolen
videos”byreverse-searchingindividual
frames,butwecouldn’tgetit towork
witha freeaccount.Proaccountscost
fromaround£4permonth.
Here’sa freeandeasyworkaround:
takea screenshotofyourvideo,then
runthatthrougha search.Screenshots
canalsohelpyouresearcha photothat
youcan’tdownloadorright-click,as
wellasidentifya smallpartofa photo,
suchasa facein a crowd.
SearchbyImage(bit.ly/sbimage494)
is thebesttoolforthisjob.Installthe
extensionandgotoOptions,‘Search
mode’,thenchooseSelect.Now,when
youright-clickanonlineimage,
includinga pausedvideo,the‘Searchby
Image’menupromptsyoutoselecta
portionoftheimagetosearch,thenrun
thecroppedscreenshotthroughyour
chosentools.- WhatIs MyMovie?(www
.whatismymovie.com) caneffectively
reverse-searchwhat’sonthetipof
yourtongue,bymatchingyour
naturallanguagequerieswith
metadatatoidentifythefilmsandTV
showsyoucan’tquiteremember. - TuneFind(www.tunefind.com)
helpsyouidentifymysterysongsbut,
unlikeShazam,it doesn’trequireyou
toactuallyplaythesong.Instead,
searchforthefilmorgameyouheard
thetunein,ora snatchofitslyrics,
andthecrowd-sourceddatabasewill
offer links to Spotify and elsewhere. - Reddit is the ultimate crowd-
sourced reverse-search tool. Its
HelpMeFind (reddit.com/r/
HelpMeFind) community is brilliant at
finding similar items (to your beloved
SEARCHUSING THEPICTURES INYOUR HEAD
childhoodtoy,forexample),while
TipOfMyTongue(reddit.com/r/
tipofmytongue) is fullofvague
memoriesseekingenlightenment
suchas‘RussianormaybeEuropean
songthatwentsomethinglikebam
bambam’.Find music or footage that suits your
favourite photo using Shutterstock’s toolSearch by Images’ screenshot tool lets
you reverse-search video framesFind Pinterest images similar to any online
photo using Search By ImageLift the lid on a photo’s EXIF stats with
Jeffrey’s Image Metadata Viewer
TinEye spots that my
photo has been used
without permission