Perform a Google search by entering a common phrase or word and Google will report millions of citations are available. Learn a few simple command words and the search can be narrowed to the specific topic being searched (see Google Filetype Command, Searching Google with Numbers, or Tips to Make Better Google Searches). Google image searches have much the same capabilities. Google image search refinements are easier than ever to use.
Google Image Search Refinements
When Google first offered the ability to search for images, a search for Batman would certainly produce a good number of Batman images from movies, cartoons, comics, and posters. But the same search might also show pictures of a child’s birthday party, a black car, or some other apparently unrelated image. Here are some extras that have been added to make image searches more productive.
- Size of image: medium, large, exactly, etc.
- Type of image: face, photo, clipart, etc.
- Color selection: black & white, color, or dominant color
- Select images from Life Magazine archives
- Public domain or Creative Commons images
Finding a Google Image by Size, Type, or Color
The method for finding an image with Google by size, type, or color parameters follows the same basic steps.
- Access Google Image search.
- Enter keyword/s into search box. When the images appear, the left side of screen provides access to the size, type, and color parameters.
- Select the desired item from a category and Google narrows the search appropriately.
All three categories can be used for the same search. Be aware that all the choices in each category take place immediately. As an example, assume “marathon” is the keyword. Nearly 22 million hits exist. Clicking on Large in the Size category searches reduces the number to 306 thousand. Click on Face in the Type category and the number of hits is reduced again to about 6,500. Finally choose a color, say red. This will result in roughly 1,100 large, face, marathon images with lots of red in them.
Size provides five methods for determining whether the image found will be large or small.
- Medium: 800 x 600 pixels are about the largest image here.
- Large: Images with larger dimensions than medium fit this category.
- Icon: These are usually logos or iconic images less than 100 x 100 but occasionally as large as 256 x 256.
- Larger than: This is a drop down and allows the selection of sizes 400 x 300 to 9600 x 7200. The results will display those images larger than the user’s choice.
- Exactly: This presents the user with the ability to type exactly the pixel width and height (in pixels) of the desired image.
Type contains four categories that are not necessarily mutually exclusive. But only one of the four may be selected.
- Face: This displays primarily images of individuals, usually face shots.
- Photos: Only photos are displayed using this choice. No clip art or line drawings will be displayed.
- Clip art: The only images appearing here will be clip art. Not photographs.
- Line drawing: This also eliminates photographs and any clip art that provides more detail than simple outlines of the desired image.
Coloring differentiates between full color, black and white, and dominant color in an image.
Life Magazine Archives Available on Google.
Google has access to Life Magazine’s archives of images. Some of these images date back to the middle eighteenth century. These can be accessed by adding “source:life” (no quotation marks) after the key word in the search box. Here are three examples.
- Queen Victoria source:life
- Chicago source:life
- Superman source:life
The size, type, and color categories can be used here also but results may be less accurate.
Finding Public Domain Images with Google
If a user plans on using an image for any purpose other than those falling under the parameters of Fair Use, permission must be requested from the copyright holder and received before publication. This requires contacting the copyright owner of the image. Through the use of the Advanced Search feature it is possible to find images that are available for use as public domain or creative commons images.
- Click on Advanced Image before entering keywords in search box. This will take the user to a form screen.
- Type the keywords in the appropriate field box.
- Click on the pull-down box at Usage Rights.
- Select either “Labeled for commercial reuse” or “Labeled for commercial reuse with modification.”
- Click the Google Search button.
- Click on the desired image.
- Verify the appropriate licensing is acceptable.
Even under Fair Use, Public Domain, and Creative Commons licensing, the use of an image should be cited to the owner of the image and the source.
Whether looking for an image or a website, Google is not perfect. Through the correct use of operant menus and command words, a Google image will contain less inappropriate hits and get the user closer to the image they desire.
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