It's obvious that Google finds an image if exactly the same file is embedded by a web page or there's a link to that file. Google also finds images if you resize them, crop them or apply various photo effects.
Here's an image from a Wikipedia page, after resizing it and applying the pixelate effect from Picasa. Can Google find it?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lbiYmHvJrxK8SPjcaNtoRC4mFZOhyphenhyphenlb8MDaIBEpdg1K6PrSwFBr5RVirEyG1R0ywZWNBP3n0clVfvOi6K3lH3eLUy8_AP2MkBtTTaKiNXvitqJQldppIml1yYnzGh0__JZZXuA/s640/pixelated-photo.jpg)
Google can't find other sizes of the image, but if you look at the "Pages that include matching images" section, you'll find the image.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6m7pZPYP4rWad0KqZ0csKasfrp6a8sLUllbrLtdZ1_4H8iU8vSPc4-iP748kdqqEx172NDLNFsnH0UjS6amQf1s4PEs3vDFtHMTqgwpiHsNO-szjwoQpQjOLoyG72_XlRJ5eg5w/s640/google-reverse-image-search.png)
What if you convert the photo to black and white? Will Google's reverse image search engine be able to find it?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3pMXJx99dE4uirBz_bRzDLbeqGnp4Gn9LBaubxz0aRmrzj618fNIAHT23tHACiPNjYqdyxsjHPjM9dsRoAkQAbR3gPydpjdeGazWwOSgGVcf_EAdZr2LkwCZoJV1L91g9IUi6sg/s640/bw-photo.jpg)
You'll get the same pages that include matching images:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6m7pZPYP4rWad0KqZ0csKasfrp6a8sLUllbrLtdZ1_4H8iU8vSPc4-iP748kdqqEx172NDLNFsnH0UjS6amQf1s4PEs3vDFtHMTqgwpiHsNO-szjwoQpQjOLoyG72_XlRJ5eg5w/s640/google-reverse-image-search.png)
Let's try something more difficult - apply multiple Picasa effects: soft focus, tint, filtered black-and-white and posterize. There's no way to recognize this image, right?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFEtqDCTB0YuFwYFZF7ag9UzaIFwtPqnG0Qd7Xrsm2Fhsdgq7Gjm3nB8TWvdEegVfq3cMjXviWy4gitBzwlQgHAbNYvDSSc_B7wuOPEG5H8b2cyIu8vpm9sbKv4ry3_s0zN2L26g/s640/multi-effects-photo.jpg)
Wrong.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-RcxNLcajA8zrI8D18y6WMnI1YziiB51i26J-pP9-N_pqBm8LLQ89fg8ULZJXcT0LTVMCtWIbbC3t45SzQ7ae4H7P8FHqS7IbiX5cnXiFcHGjf9XvaJtv8lkfqR1Y6PHRmtqYOQ/s640/google-reverse-image-search-2.png)
I used IrfanView to remove EXIF data and compress the image above a lot more. Here's what I got:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu2cTodDpJ9j2tfFz5MhGX-NX_CP633xWBj-0f2JEWjf1Te07WV19Xs41GRcBkhrHUa8UE8H2X-LU2S5EJ1-XgN7hH-PMEVB_meVJg0k8l6wNOMHyC6a6YC1jZ-GUEIV05afk73w/s640/google-reverse-image-search-3.png)
I edited the image in Paint and added some random shapes:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzVoZJVVpPbrQsbqJ2vKuEovpBzoHvBGOU5wl8SmbQxQNCeFFG6GEzeHjoW9SJLnw8fBaMkvyc0dtDD_3uqdkpBYDdNwA3xPhyphenhyphenMqHE8qX8-8RdtwSNm7Tc9F2JZ2KePFMG8e7ZbA/s640/multi-effects-photo-compressed-paint.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu2cTodDpJ9j2tfFz5MhGX-NX_CP633xWBj-0f2JEWjf1Te07WV19Xs41GRcBkhrHUa8UE8H2X-LU2S5EJ1-XgN7hH-PMEVB_meVJg0k8l6wNOMHyC6a6YC1jZ-GUEIV05afk73w/s640/google-reverse-image-search-3.png)
Here's the original photo:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhESkSknHEdFoZIfPxdPyc5ngWd6jD0qSsqPS5-J6bGETzlrwbTR7OSgJtw1G_rQyzzp-F0dwbO6rwI93G73Q01nvJUQk2qa1DMD_P14na6612txgCeqgkTUC5nA6dJ6BmZNHM9_g/s640/original-photo.jpg)
To call this impressive is an understatement. It's a resilient algorithm that goes beyond matching pixels, colors, shapes - it understands the structure of the image, its essence.
{ The image from this post ("a red flower in the Philippines") has been licensed as Creative Commons Attribution by bingbing. Thanks, Brian Anderson. }
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