Without belaboring the point re the ‘borrowing’ of photos or efforts of another, I came across this tip while recently watching the TV show Catfish. Perhaps you are familiar with the show? The star, Nev, attempts to flush out pretenders off the net who borrow images and identities of others they believe to be more appealing and carry on relationships under that false pretense. Ok, I watched a few episodes now and then of Catfish, Teen Mom 2 and those Storage Locker train wrecks. Hey! I’m joking.

One tip that Nev offered up was to use a Google Images search to see where a face pic or other image has perhaps been previously used. He, of course, does this with people to help identify images. But, it can be used to help identify many other images’ origins or usage. 

I will generally take the image I am interested in and save it to my photo files.

google camera images
Go to Google Images. Note the Camera Icon in the Search Bar on the right side. Click on the Camera Icon
choose file
Here you receive a prompt to paste or upload a file.
upload file
The downloaded or pasted photograph is loading (the search is commencing).
keys query 2
Here I had downloaded a photograph of a board of collectible whistles from an antique show I had taken. It showed the photo had only been used in a post I had previously written for SwittersB.

For fun, give it a try on faces, other images and you might be surprised on who ‘borrows’ what to create new personas (faces, tattoos, cars, fish, flies etc.)