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Reverse image searching tools or techniques?

tamarok
Apr 29, 2021 - permalink

Reverse image search tools allow you to provide an image, either via link or upload, and to try to find other occurrences of the images on the internet. In the context of GWM, they are useful to try to work out what they name of an athlete is in an unnamed image.

I mainly using Google Images (clicking on the camera button, in desktop mode) for this, but this doesn't always work. For example, this often doesn't work for Instagram based images.

What other approaches and tools do you use to try to find a name of the athlete in an image?

Imagine
Apr 29, 2021 - permalink

Mainly Google Images, but as you already said that doesn't work all the time and after just a few hours the only search result will be the unnamed image on this site, because Google already indexed it. If this doesn't work, I'll look at the filename and try to find a match or even decipher some useful informations (timestamp, username, reference to another website). Then I'll search through the main subreddits regarding fitness girls and if I still haven't found anything, I'll bookmark the unnamed image and check frequently if someone added the name.

cgsweat
Apr 29, 2021 - edited Apr 29, 2021 - permalink

It depends on the image, what your odds of success are. I use Google images as well, but I'm usually searching from the internet itself (rather than desktop images). So of course it's right click > "Search Google for image"

Google then usually auto fills the search bar with something very generalized like "fitness girl" or "bikini" or whatever. So then I try to narrow it based on my knowledge of the photo. And this goes with what Imagine was saying about looking for clues. I tend to take great interest in professionally shot photos, so in those cases I might narrow the search by photographer. This also applies to photographer social media pages, so if Google fails me, then I might take the time to browse through and see if the image comes up on their IG, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Google also has that "Similar Images" section which can be useful, sometimes. You may get lucky and find a less cropped, higher quality version of the photo you're using for the search, and if you're luckier you'll get more information and possibly a name out of the link. Sometimes, especially if it's from a series of photos from a photoshoot or event, you'll also see those other photos come up in Similar Images as well.

On a side note, I almost never deal with reddit or tumblr. It's a trove for unnamed content, but that's about it. I find that spending more time on sites like Instagram and less time on reddit, I tend to know about 95% of the content I see on there anyway (and the other 5% being typically not worth knowing).

Apr 30, 2021 - permalink

I use google, tineye, and yandex. You can use all of them at once via imgops.com, though I normally use this extension.

tamarok
Apr 30, 2021 - permalink

On a side note, I almost never deal with reddit or tumblr. It's a trove for unnamed content, but that's about it. I find that spending more time on sites like Instagram and less time on reddit, I tend to know about 95% of the content I see on there anyway (and the other 5% being typically not worth knowing).

Also a source of bad names, so a name there usually requires an extra name search to validate.

Apr 30, 2021 - permalink

I use a Firefox extension to search multiple sources simultaneously, Google Images, Bing, Tineye, Yandex, and others are available.

Shoutout to Yandex - it often doesn't yield the original image, but it does yield shockingly similar images. It's more powerful than Google that way. I've had a lot of success tracking down obscure models with Yandex where all else have failed. Often you will find an entirely different picture of the same person, and that picture is better sourced or has a name.

cgsweat
Jul 04, 2022 - permalink

Google searches anymore give poor quality results. Image searches depend on "Google Lens" now which is atrocious in my opinion. My results using it are about 10% accurate vs. 60-70% accurate like it used to be. And of course searching anything else prioritizes shopping ads and sites that paid to be placed higher in the search. Google is a joke now.

/endrant

Jul 04, 2022 - permalink

For facebook images you can try following technique (although low success rate, < 10 %): If you know the filename

{some numbers}-{some numbers}_{some numbers}_n.jpg

you copy the middle group of numbers and paste it after https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=

This way I was able to identify the girl of

as Anja Zeidler (source name is 10345738_10152513278494686_9042155704952063414_n.jpg and facebook search page is https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152...).

I guess this works for public available photos only. In most cases you get an error message.

cgsweat
Jul 04, 2022 - permalink

I guess this works for public available photos only. In most cases you get an error message.

Yes most profiles are private anymore. Facebook isn't nearly as fruitful as it used to be. Even if you do have access to a private profile, 9 times out of 10 there's nothing muscle related in it anyway.

Jul 04, 2022 - permalink

I've just found out there is a similar tool for flickr images. First you have to find an image with a flickr-filename like

{some (10?) numbers} _ {some (10?) hexadecimal characters (0-9,a-f)} _ {o for original, b for big?, l for large?}.jpg

You copy the first group consisting of the numbers and paste it after https://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=

It works fine and may have a higher success rate than the facebook tool (tested for some old, unknown favorites only). For example: https://www.girlswithmuscle.com/95910/ you find the source name 4295025979_0d295c8715_b.jpg and the flickr search page is https://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=4295025979 and this page redirects you to https://www.flickr.com/photos/edermelo/4295025979/. You get the image title (Florianópolis - SC Jurêrê Internacional), some other informations (photo taken on 2010-01-15), but not the name of the woman (unfortunately). Looking at the source code you get the link to the original image: https://live.staticflickr.com/2729/4295025979... which is much larger. (Question: How can I get the current image replaced by the larger image? Do I have to upload the larger image first and then report the smaller image? Is there another way?)

The flickr page even tells you if the image still exists, but is set to private. Example:

with filename 1350732381_b58e4e1631.jpg (last part with the single letter seems to be missing) will get you this message: https://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=1350732381

Aug 29, 2022 - permalink

(Question: How can I get the current image replaced by the larger image? Do I have to upload the larger image first and then report the smaller image? Is there another way?)

See this thread. Exactly as you say: upload the larger / better quality image and then report a duplicate.

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