Every single day there are thousands of photos being uploaded to Instagram, that is million a month, and in that see of photos, there are many that are re-uploaded by someone else, you lose track of whom the photographer is, and who took the picture in the first place. One of the most popular social networks, next to Facebook, it gives publicity to all the new trends and links like-minded people from all over.
Instagram, as a social platform, has a different approach to how it protects its users; all photos are encrypted via Facebook’s servers. That means that you cannot just download a picture and find who posted it originally. That is different from Facebook, where you have a unique number for every photo, and when you download it, you can retrace that image to its owner, not the case with Instagram.
However, there are some ways you can find what you are looking for, with Instagram image search or with Instagram reverse image search. These methods will not pinpoint precisely the profile of a person who first posted the photo, but they can narrow the search.
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Instagram image search and reverse image search
1. Search image on Google
Source: Time Magazine
Do you know of the term “Google it”? This technique of reverse image search can help you find similar results by the photo you upload. If you upload a photo to a search engine, for example, Google Chrome, and click on “Search by engine” that will show you where the image came from, but it will show you all the related photos, then it is up to you to go in every URL and find who posted it originally.
You can use images.google.com, click on a little camera icon in the search bar, upload photo from your device and press enter, that is it. It will take you to a page with results of that particular picture.
2. Tineye
Source: Pixel Productions Inc.
Tineye uses a similar technique as Google but with its algorithms. The procedure is like with Google, you upload the picture, and it will search the web according to that example. When search results are in, you can go one by one until you find what you searched for, if you are lucky you will find the profile of the original post.
3. Bing
Source: Wired
The same method but a different search engine, click on the camera icon, upload a photo you want to know whom it belongs to and the Bing will do its thing. It will show you the search results, and it is up to you to dig the profile up. One thing about Bing it will delete that photo after you upload it, and the search is anonymous so you cannot be traced.
4. Social Catfish
Source: Freelancer
Very popular when trying to find something by an uploaded image, and with Social Catfish it gives better social coverage. Because it uses facial recognition and metadata of the picture, it provides good results for social sites.
Not all these methods do ashore that you will find the exact image result, but it can narrow your search down, the rest is up to you.
