essay how to reference images

• The University of Western Australia
• University Library
• Visit our libraries
• Using the Library
• Stay updated

Referencing style - APA 7th: Images, tables and figures

• Introduction
• Books and book chapters
• Journal and newspaper articles
• Reports, theses and grey literature
• Web sources
• Conference papers
• Images, tables and figures
• Music and audiovisual resources
• Data sets and standards
• Secondary Sources
• Personal Communication
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Legal sources
• Example text
• Images and Copyright
• Tables and Figures
• More information

APA examples: Images, tables and figures

All images, figures and tables referred to in the text or reproduced in an essay, assignment or presentation, must be cited and included in your reference list. 

See this guides images, figures and tables tab to view how the attribution of these examples below are treated within the text. 

See  APA Style examples, Clip Art Image and  Artwork References  for general notes and more examples. 

• << Previous: Conference papers
• Next: Music and audiovisual resources >>
• Last Updated: Mar 1, 2024 3:59 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.uwa.edu.au/apa

CONTENT LICENCE

• logo-uwa-breadcrumb.png
• Library Guides

• Research excellence
• Centres & Institutes
• Alumni and friends

Staff & Students

• Current Students
• 35 Stirling Highway Perth WA 6009 Australia
• (+61 8) 6488 6000
• Campus tour
• Emergency (+61 8) 6488 2222
• Indigenous Commitment
• Privacy at UWA
• Disclaimer and Copyright
• Accessibility
• Group of 8 Australia member

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

• Exhibitions
• Visit and Contact
• UCD Library
• Current Students
• News & Opinion
• Staff Directory
• UCD Connect

Harvard Style Guide: Images or photographs

• Introduction
• Harvard Tutorial
• In-text citations
• Book with one author
• Book with two or three authors
• Book with four or more authors
• Book with a corporate author
• Book with editor
• Chapter in an edited book
• Translated book
• Translated ancient texts
• Print journal article, one author
• Print journal article, two or three authors
• Print journal article, four or more authors
• eJournal article
• Journal article ePublication (ahead of print)
• Secondary sources
• Generative AI
• Images or photographs
• Lectures/ presentations
• Film/ television
• YouTube Film or Talk
• Music/ audio
• Encyclopaedia and dictionaries
• Email communication
• Conferences
• Official publications
• Book reviews
• Case studies
• Group or individual assignments
• Legal Cases (Law Reports)
• No date of publication
• Personal communications
• Repository item
• Citing same author, multiple works, same year

Back to Academic Integrity guide

Images or photographs (print)

Reference : Photographer/Creator Last name, Initial(s). (Year) Title of image/photograph [Photograph/Image]. Place of publication: Publisher.

Example : O’Meara, S. (2014) Orchid [Photograph]. Co. Clare: Collins Press.

In-Text-Citation :

• Author(s) Last name (Year)
• (Authors(s) Last name, Year)
• O’Meara (2014) shows a perfect example of the epipactis atrorubens.
• The velvety red of the epipactis atrorubens is captured beautifully in the above image (O’Meara, 2014)....

Still unsure what in-text citation and referencing mean? Check here .

Still unsure why you need to reference all this information? Check here . 

Images or photographs (online)

Reference : Photographer/Creator Last name, Initial(s). (Year)  Title of image/photograph . Available at: URL (Accessed Day Month Year).

Example : O’Meara, S. (2014) Orchid . Available at: www.theburrenorchidcollection.ie (Accessed 3 February 2014).

As detailed for Images/Photographs (print).

• << Previous: Podcast
• Next: Lectures/ presentations >>
• Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 9:51 AM
• URL: https://libguides.ucd.ie/harvardstyle

Images: Referencing & Captioning in APA 7th

This page provides information on referencing images in the APA 7th referencing style . For help referencing images in other referencing styles, ask a librarian. 

If you are using Indigenous content or works, please note there are additional sensitivities and legal/cultural issues  and care should be taken in reusing or repurposing Indigenous work in your studies. Please check with the Library for assistance. 

Referencing images in APA 7th

When you mention, describe or analyse an image or artwork in the text of your work, you are referring to the image and therefore you will need to reference it .

If you are copying an image and placing it in your work, then the rules can vary, depending on whether you are a student submitting an assignment or whether you are writing for publication, for example writing a PHD dissertation or a journal article. If you are submitting a work for publication, then you will have to write a copyright note beneath the image you are reproducing. You can find more information on how to do this on pp164-167. of the Library's APA 7th Referencing Guide (linked below this box)

Rules for Copying/Reproducing an image in your work: 

• APA 7th Guide
• Referencing & captioning your own work

If you created an image and used it in your assessment, you are required to caption it, even though it’s your own creation.

Your caption should include: 

• A Figure number
• A title or description

You do NOT need to include a copyright attribution.

However, you should make it clear in the text of your assessment that the image was created by you.

Images referencing: Hints & tips

• For photographs or images taken of an artwork or other creative work, reference the date of the work depicted in the image (e.g. for a photograph of the Mona Lisa, the date referenced should be the date the Mona Lisa was created, NOT the date the Mona Lisa was photographed). 
• When including images in your work, these can go either in the body of your work, or after the reference list but before any Appendices.
• << Previous: Evaluating Images
• How to Find Images (Planning)
• Where to Find Images
• Evaluating Images
• Referencing Images in APA 7th
• Images referencing: Hints & Tips

Related Guides

• Animation Guide
• Design Studies Guide
• Visual Communication Guide
• Data Science
• Architecture Study Guide
• Interior Architecture Guide

Need more help?

• Last Updated: Feb 12, 2024 5:01 PM
• URL: https://studyguides.lib.uts.edu.au/images

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / How to Cite a Picture or Image in MLA

How to Cite a Picture or Image in MLA

Photograph – An image produced by a camera.

Citing a photograph or image displayed in a museum or institution (viewed in-person)

The citations below  are based on information from the MLA Style Center .

View Screenshot | Cite your source

Citing a photograph or image from a museum or institution (viewed online)

Many museums have online collections of their work. The citations below  are based on information from the MLA Style Center .

Citing a digital image on a web page or online article

Digital Image – A picture that can be viewed electronically by a computer.

Here’s the standard structure for a digital image citation found on a website. It follows guidance found in the MLA Style Center .  

 View Screenshot | Cite your source

Image search: Do not cite the search engine (example: Google Images) where the image is found, but the website of the image the search engine indexes.

Citing a photograph from a book

Citing a photograph you took.

The photo would be considered as part of a “personal collection.” The example below follows guidance found in the MLA Style Center .  

Citing a photograph from a database

  View Screenshot | Cite your source

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Updated April 26, 2021.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• Works Cited
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

To cite an image with no author in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the title or description, museum or website name, date, and URL if applicable. Templates and examples for in-text citations and works cited list entries for an image with no author (viewed online) are provided below:

In-text citation template and example:

For citations in prose and parenthetical citations, use the title of the image.

Citation in prose:

The photograph Robert Frank in Automobile ….

Parenthetical:

….( Robert Frank )

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

Viewed online:

Title of Photograph or Description. Date Published.  Name of Gallery/Museum or Website Name, URL.

Robert Frank in Automobile. 1958. National Gallery of Art, https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.89153.html.

To cite an image with no date in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the artist name, image title, and either the website where the image was viewed online or the museum or gallery name where it was viewed in person. If no date information is provided for an online image, omit the publication date details and instead provide the date you accessed it. Templates and examples for in-text citations and works cited list entries for an image with no date (viewed online and firsthand) are provided below:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the artist on the first occurrence. For subsequent citations, use only the surname. In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the artist.

First mention: Janet Cameron ….

Subsequent occurrences: Cameron ….

….(Cameron).

Viewed firsthand :

Artist Surname, First Name. Title of the Image. Name of the Museum or Gallery, Physical Location (Major City or City, State).

Muybridge, Eadweard. Attitudes of Animals in Motion . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Viewed online :

Artist Surname, First Name. Title of the Image. Name of the Website , URL. Accessed Date.

Cameron, Janet. Who Was Cleopatra? Decoded Past , www.decodedpast.com/philosophy-2/ . Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.

MLA Citation Examples

Writing Tools

Citation Generators

Other Citation Styles

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

APA 7th referencing style

• About APA 7th
• Printing this guide
• In-text references
• Direct quotations
• Reference list
• Author information
• Additional referencing information
• Using headings
• Book chapter
• Brochure and pamphlets
• ChatGPT and other generative AI tools
• Conferences
• Dictionary or encyclopaedia
• Government legislation

Images - from a website

Infographic, photographs, stock image or clip art, instagram photo.

• Journal article
• Lecture notes and slides
• Legal sources
• Newspaper or magazine article
• Other web sources
• Patents and standards
• Personal communication
• Press (media) release
• Secondary source (indirect citation)
• Social media
• Software and mobile apps
• Specialised health information
• Television program
• Works in non-English languages
• Works in non-English scripts, such as Arabic or Chinese
• << Previous: Government legislation
• Next: Interview >>
• Last Updated: Apr 18, 2024 12:58 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/apa7

FLEET LIBRARY | Research Guides

Rhode island school of design, how to cite images.

• Chicago/Art Bulletin Style

MLA Caption Style

• When citing an image, the caption should be labeled as Figure (usually abbreviated Fig.), assigned a number, and given a title or caption
• For images found in a book or journal, include the publication information of the text.
• A caption ordinarily appears directly below the illustration and have the same one-inch margins as the text of the paper.
• Captions should be numbered consecutively.

Fig. 1. Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child , Wichita Art Museum. Illus. in Novelene Ross, Toward an American Identity: Selections from the Wichita Art Museum Collection of American Art (Wichita, Kansas: Wichita Art Museum, 1997) 107. Source: Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook . 8th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

Additional Sources

MLA Style Center

Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Format

MLA Handbook (8th Ed) in the library

Citing Unidentified Images

When all or part of an image source is unknown or unknowable, use these points to guide your MLA image caption:

Unknown Artist, Author or Creator List that source by title in your works cited list. The title should be followed by the name of the source in the citation, and the remainder of the citation composed as appropriate for the source type. Alphabetize reference list entries beginning with a title using the primary word of the title (excluding a, an, or the).

An Image without a Title If an image is not titled, create a brief, descriptive title for it. Do not italicize this title or place it in quotes, and capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns.

Undated Sources Use "n.d." (for "no date") in the appropriate place in your citation. When this is used after a period in a citation, capitalize the "n" ("N.d.").

Sources consulted: MLA Citation Examples University of Maryland University Colleges Libraries Miscellaneous Photographs Collection , Archives of American Art

• << Previous: Image Captions
• Next: Chicago/Art Bulletin Style >>
• Last Updated: Feb 26, 2024 6:20 PM
• URL: https://risd.libguides.com/citingimages

• Ask a Librarian

Locating and Using Images for Presentations and Coursework

• Free & Open Source Images
• How to Cite Images
• Alt Text Image Descriptions

Copyright Resources

• Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States from Cornell University Library
• Copyright Overview from Purdue University
• U.S. Copyright Office
• Fair Use Evaluator
• Visual Resources Association's Statement of Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study
• Creative Commons Licenses

Attribution

Again, the majority of images you find are under copyright and cannot be used without permission from the creator. There are exceptions with Fair Use, but this Libguide is intended to help you locate images you can use with attribution (and in some case, the images are free to use without attribution when stated, such as with stock images from pixabay). ***Please read about public domain . These images aren't under copyright, but it's still good practice to include attribution if the information is available. Attribution : the act of attributing something, especially the ascribing of a work (as of literature or art) to a particular author or artist. When you have given proper attribution, it means you have given the information necessary for people to know who the creator of the work is.

Citation General Guidelines

Include as much of the information below when citing images in a paper and formal presentations. Apply the appropriate citation style (see below for APA, MLA examples).

• Image creator's name (artist, photographer, etc.)
• Title of the image
• Date the image (or work represented by the image) was created
• Date the image was posted online
• Date of access (the date you accessed the online image)
• Institution (gallery, museum) where the image is located/owned (if applicable)
• Website and/or Database name

Citing Images in MLA, APA, Chicago, and IEEE

• Directions for citing in MLA, APA, and Chicago MLA: Citing images in-text, incorporating images into the text of your paper, works cited APA 6th ed.: Citing images in-text and reference list Chicago 17th ed.: Citing images footnotes and endnotes and bibliography from Simon Fraser University
• How to Cite Images Using IEEE from the SAIT Reg Erhardt Library
• Image, Photograph, or Related Artwork (IEEE) from the Rochester Institute of Technology Library

Citing Images in Your PPT

Currently, citing images in PPT is a bit of the Wild West. If details aren't provided by an instructor, there are a number of ways to cite. What's most important is that if the image is not a free stock image, you give credit to the author for the work. Here are some options:

1. Some sites, such as Creative Commons and Wikimedia, include the citation information with the image. Use that citation when available. Copy the citation and add under the image. For example, an image of a lake from Creative Commons has this citation next to it:  "lake"  by  barnyz  is licensed under  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 .

2. Include a marker, such as Image 1. or Figure 1., and in the reference section, include full citation information with the corresponding number

3. Include a complete citation (whatever the required format, such as APA) below the image

4. Below the image, include the link to the online image location

5. Hyperlink the title of the image with the online image location

• << Previous: Free & Open Source Images
• Next: Alt Text Image Descriptions >>
• Last Edited: Jun 8, 2023 3:28 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.purdue.edu/images

Finding Images

• Finding Still Images
• Finding Moving Images

Referencing your images

• Reverse image searching
• Academic Skills Gateway
• Book an ASC Appointment

Like any book or journal article, images created by someone else must be cited with a 'sufficient acknowledgment'. This means every time you use an image in an essay  you must provide a citation where the image appears and then an entry in your reference list or bibliography. You must also provide a citation to any images you use in presentations, blogs or websites.

It is vital that you keep an accurate record of everything you consult when doing your work and cite what you have used clearly so that:

• You can find the original source  again yourself
• Someone reading your work will be able to  find the original source
•  You can avoid plagiarism by making clear what is your work and what is in the source

You can maintain a record of the references you using either a bibliographic software package such as EndNote or by recording the details manually on reference cards.

 For more information on quoting and managing references see the  i-cite website

Sufficient Acknowledgment

To comply with copyright law, even within educational exceptions, you must always include a sufficient acknowledgment when using still and moving images. Think of this like referencing a text - if you did not include the reference you would be plagiarising another person's work.

A sufficient acknowledgement should include the following:

• Artist/ maker/ author
• Title of the work and date made
• Source of the reproduction/film

For example: Julia Margaret Cameron, The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty, 1866, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Image databases, like Bridgeman and Artstor, often include an acknowledgement for you to use which can be directly copied and pasted into your work. 

When using an image from Flickr or Creative Commons, the name of the person who has uploaded the image can also be used. This is usually included in the details section of the image. 

• << Previous: Copyright
• Next: Reverse image searching >>
• Last Updated: Sep 14, 2023 1:26 PM
• URL: https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/subjectsupport/skills/images

• Subject guides
• Citing and referencing
• Images / Figures

Citing and referencing: Images / Figures

• In-text citations
• Reference list
• Books and book chapters
• Journals/Periodicals
• Newspapers/Magazines
• Government and other reports
• Legal sources
• Websites and social media
• Audio, music and visual media
• Conferences
• Dictionaries/Encyclopedias/Guides
• Theses/Dissertations
• University course materials
• Company and Industry reports
• Patents and Standards
• Tables and Figures
• Abbreviations used in referencing
• Medicine and Health sources
• Foreign language sources
• Music scores
• Journals and periodicals
• Government sources
• News sources
• Web and social media
• Games and apps
• Ancient and sacred sources
• Primary sources
• Audiovisual media and music scores
• Images and captions
• University lectures, theses and dissertations
• Interviews and personal communication
• Archival material
• In-Text Citations: Further Information
• Reference List: Standard Abbreviations
• Data Sheets (inc. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS))
• Figures & Tables (inc. Images)
• Lecture Materials (inc. PowerPoint Presentations)
• Reports & Technical Reports
• Theses and Dissertations
• Reference list guidelines
• Journal articles
• Government and industry publications
• Websites, newspaper and social media
• Conference papers, theses and university material
• Video and audio
• Images, graphs, tables, data sets
• Personal communications
• In-text Citations
• Journals / Periodicals
• Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
• Interviews and lectures
• Music Scores / Recordings
• Film / Video Recording
• Television / Radio Broadcast
• Online Communication / Social Media
• Live Performances
• Government and Organisation Publications
• Medicine & health sources
• Government/organisational/technical reports
• Images, graphs, tables, figures & data sets
• Websites newspaper & magazine articles, socia media
• Conferences, theses & university materials
• Personal communication & confidential unpublished material
• Video, audio & other media
• Generative AI
• Indigenous knowledges

Turabian Contents

• Introduction to Turabian Style
• Websites / Blogs
• Audiovisual
• Exhibitions
• Magazines / Newspapers
• Citing a source within a source
• University course materials / Theses / Exegeses

Rules for images

1. If you include any images in your document, also include a figure caption. See the "Positioning images in your document" box for more information.

2. If you refer to any visual material, i.e. art, design or architecture, you have seen in person and you are not including an image of it in your document, provide a detailed in-text citation or footnote. See the "Art, design and architecture you have seen in person" box for more information. 

3. If you have sourced an image from the web or a publication:

a) Notes Bibliography style: you need to include the publication information or web address in the footnote. See the "Images from the web" or "Images from books or other published sources" for more information. 

b) Author Date style: you need to include a brief in-text citation AND a full bibliography entry. See the "Images from the web" or "Images from books or other published sources" for more information. 

Positioning images in your document

• Author-Date (Parenthetical citations)

Positioning images in your document 

Figures are any images that you include in your document, i.e. illustrations, diagrams, graphs, photographs, images of artworks and etc. Whenever you include a figure in your document, you also provide a caption. Captions give concise descriptions, explanations, legends, or identify elements—depending on the type of figure. Position a caption below each figure.

Begin each caption with a figure number. And in your text, refer to the particular figure as you introduce it, spell out the word 'figure' if its in your sentence, or abbreviate to 'fig.' if it's written in parenthesis i.e. "in figure 1 you can see..." or (see fig. 1).

You may be the author of a figure in your document or you may have sourced it from elsewhere. If figures aren’t your work, captions can provide reference information, i.e. authors, titles and sources. Some assessments may require you to include a courtesy line acknowledging the name of the source organisation, archive or database, followed by an access date and the web address. 

Example:  In his painting The Banquet of Cleopatra (see fig. 1), Venetian artist Giambattista Tiepolo portrays a famous contest where Cleopatra wins a wager with Mark Antony by dissolving a pearl earring in a glass of vinegar and drinking it.  Tiepolo stage this scene amid columns of the composite order (see fig. 2), which visually underline links to ancient Rome (see fig. 3). 

Figure 1. Giambattista Tiepolo,  The Banquet of Cleopatra , 1743-44, oil on canvas, 250 x 357 cm. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Victoria, accessed 12 March, 2020, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/4409/.

Figure 2. The composite order, showing a , the entablature and b , the column capital. Courtesy of OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay, accessed 12 March, 2020, https://pixabay.com/vectors/column-capital-composite-antiquity-148231/.

Figure 3. The Arch of Septimius Severus, 203 ce., Roman Forum, Rome. Courtesy of Artstor, accessed 12 March, 2020, https://library-artstor-org.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au.

Example:  In his painting  The Banquet of Cleopatra  (see fig. 1), Venetian artist Giambattista Tiepolo portrays a famous contest where Cleopatra wins a wager with Mark Antony by dissolving a pearl earring in a glass of vinegar and drinking it. Tiepolo stage this scene amid columns of the composite order (see fig. 2), which visually underline links to ancient Rome (see fig. 3). 

Figure 2. The composite order, showing  a , the entablature and  b , the column capital. Courtesy of OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay, accessed 12 March, 2020, https://pixabay.com/vectors/column-capital-composite-antiquity-148231/.

Figure 3. The Arch of Septimius Severus, 203 ce., Roman Forum, Rome. Courtesy of Artstor, accessed 12 March, 2020, https://library-artstor-org.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au.

Art, design and architecture you have seen in person

If you are referring to art, design or architecture and you are not including the image in your document, you only need to provide a detailed footnote.

Include the following information:

• artist or designer
• title of the work
• year of creation of work
• type of materials (optional)
• dimensions of the work (optional)
• location of item, e.g. name of the institution that houses the work, or city the building is in

Footnote     1. Giambattista Tiepolo, The Banquet of Cleopatra , 1743-44, oil on canvas, 250.3 x 357.0 cm, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

If you are referring to the actual artwork and you are not including the image in your document, you only need to provide a detailed in text citation. 

• location of item, e.g. name institution that houses the work,  or city the building is in

Parenthetical (In Text)     (Georgia O'Keeffe, The Cliff Chimneys , 1938, Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin )

Images from the web

• Author-Date (Parenthetical citations)

If you found the image online you will need to include in your footnote:

• title of work
• access date

1. Giambattista Tiepolo, The Banquet of Cleopatra , 1743-44, oil on canvas, 250.3 x 357.0 cm, accessed 24 May, 2012, http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/col/work/4409 .

2. Max Dupain, The Sunbaker , 1937, gelatin silver photograph, 38.0 x 43.1 cm, accessed 24 May, 2012 , http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/col/work/7621 .

If you found the image online you need to include a brief parenthetical (in text) citation and a bibliography entry that includes:

​ Examples:

Parenthetical (In Text)

(Tiepolo 1743-44)

(Dupain 1937)

Bibliography

Tiepolo,  Giambattista. 1743-44.  The Banquet of Cleopatra. Oil on canvas. A ccessed 24 May, 2012.   http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/col/work/4409 .

Dupain, Max. 1937. The Sunbaker . Photograph. A ccessed 24 May, 2012.  http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/col/work/7621 .

Images from books or other published sources

If you found the image in a book or other published source you will need to include in the footnote:

• date of creation of work
• author of book
• title of book
• place of publication
• date of publication
• figure or plate number of the reproduction (optional)

1. Giambattista Tiepolo, The Banquet of Cleopatra , 1743-44, in Ted Gott and Laurie Benson, Painting and Sculpture before 1800 in the International Collections of the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2003), 102.

2. Max Dupain, "The Sunbaker", 1937, in Isobel Crombie, Body Culture: Max Dupain, Photography and Australian Culture 1919-1939 (Images Publishing Group in association with National Gallery of Victoria, 2004), 150, 17.1.

If you found the image in a book or other published source you will need to include an in text citation as well as a bibliography entry that includes:

(Georgia O'Keeffe, The Cliff Chimneys , 1938, in Lynes, Poling-Kempes, and Turner 2004, 25)

Lynes, Barbara Buhler, Lesley Poling-Kempes, and Frederick W. Turner. 2004. Georgia O'Keeffe and New Mexico: A sense of place . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Finding and referencing images: Referencing images

• Referencing images
• Finding images and videos

Introduction

In this guide, ' IMAGE ' is used to refer to any visual resource such as a diagram, graph, illustration, design, photograph, or video. They may be found in books, journals, reports, web pages, online video, DVDs and other kinds of media. This guide also refers to ‘ CREATOR ’. This could be an illustrator, photographer, author or organisation.

The examples are presented in Harvard (Bath) style and offer general guidelines on good practice. For essays, project reports, dissertations and theses, ask your School or Department which style they want you to use. Different referencing styles require the use of similar information but will be formatted differently. For more information on other referencing styles, visit our referencing guide .

Using images to illustrate or make clear the description and discussion in your text is useful, but it is important that you give due recognition to the work of other people that you present with your own. This will help to show the value of their work to your assignment and how your ideas fit with a wider body of academic knowledge.

It is just as important to properly cite and reference images as it is the journal articles, books and other information sources that you draw upon. If you do not, you could find yourself accused of plagiarism and/or copyright infringement.

Using images and copyright

For educational assignments it is sufficient to cite and reference any image used. If you publish your work in any way , including posting online, then you will need to follow copyright rules. It is your responsibility to find out whether, and in what ways, you are permitted to use an image in your coursework or publications. Please refer to our copyright guidance and ask for further assistance if you are unsure.

Some images are given limited rights for reuse by their creators. This is likely to be accompanied with a requirement to give recognition to their work and may limit the extent to which it can be modified. The ‘Creative Commons’ copyright licensing scheme offers creators a set of tools for telling people how they wish their work to be used. You can find out more about the different kinds of licence, and what they mean, on the organisation’s web pages .

What is a caption?

Any image that you use should be given a figure number  and a brief description of what it is. Permission for use of an image in a published work should be acknowledged in the figure caption. Some organisations will require the permission statement to be given exactly as they specify. If they are required, permissions need to be stated in addition to the citing and referencing guidance given below.

Referencing images in PowerPoint slides

For a presentation you should include a brief citation under the image. Keep a reference list to hand (e.g. hidden slide) for questions. Making a public presentation or posting it online is publishing your work. You must include your references and observe permission and copyright rules.

Example of a caption

Figure 1. Library book. Reproduced with permission from: Rogers, T., 2015, University of Bath Library

Citing and referencing images

Citing images from a book or journal article.

If you wish to refer to images used in a book or journal, they are cited in the same way as text information , for example:

The functions and flow of genetic information within a plant cell can be visualised as a complex system (Campbell et al., 2015, pp. 282-283).

Campbell et al. (2015, pp. 282-283) have clearly illustrated how a plant cell functions.

If you were to include this example in an essay the caption and citation below the image would look similar to this:

Figure 7. The functions and flow of genetic information within a plant cell (Campbell et al., 2015, pp. 282-283).

The reference at the end of the work would be as recommended for a book reference in our general referencing guide .

For a large piece of work such as a dissertation, thesis or report, a list of figures may be required at the front of the work after the contents page. Check with your department for information on specific requirements of your work.

Google images

When referencing an image found via Google you need to make sure that the information included in your reference relates to the original website that your search has found. Click on the image within the results to get to the original website and take your reference information from there. Take care to use credible sources with good quality information.

Citing and referencing images from a web page

If you use an image from a web page, blog or an online photograph gallery you should reference the individual image . Cite the image creator in the caption and year of publication. The creator may be different from the author of the web page or blog. They may be individual people or an organisation. Figure 2 below gives an example of an image with a corporate author:

List the image reference within your references list at the end of your work, using the format:

NASA, 2015.  NASA astronaut Tim Kopra on Dec. 21 spacewalk [Online]. Washington: NASA. Available from: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-astronaut-tim-kopra-on-dec-21-spacewalk [Accessed 7 January 2015].

Wikipedia images

If you want to reference an image included in a Wikipedia article, double-click on the image to see all the information needed for your reference. This will open a new page containing information such as creator, image title, date and specific URL. The format should be:

Iliff, D., 2006. Royal Crescent in Bath, England - July 2006  [Online] .  San Francisco: Wikimedia Foundation. Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Crescent_in_Bath,_England_-_July_2006.jpg [Accessed 7 January 2016].

Images and designs from exhibitions, museums or archives

If you want to reference an image or design that you have found in an exhibition, museum or archive, then you also need to observe copyright rules and reference the image correctly. The format is:

For example, if you want to reference an old black and white photograph from 1965 that is held in an archive at the University of Bath:

Bristol Region Building Record, 1965. Green Park House (since demolished), viewed from southwest [Photograph]. BRBR, D/877/1. Archives & Research Collections, University of Bath Library.

NB if you were to reproduce this archive image in your work, or any part of it (rather than just cite it), you would also need to note ‘© University of Bath Library’. This copyright note should be added to the image caption along with the citation.

Referencing your own images

If you take a photograph, you do not have to reference it. For sake of clarity you may want to add “Image by author” to the caption. If you create an original illustration or a diagram that you have produced from your own idea then you do not have to cite or reference them. If you generate an image from a graphics package, for example a molecular structure from chemistry drawing software, you do not need to cite the source of the image.

Referencing images that you adapt from elsewhere

If you use someone else’s work for an image then you must give them due credit. If you reproduce it by hand or using graphics software it is the same as if you printed, scanned or photocopied it. You must cite and reference the work as described in this guide. If the image is something that you have created in an earlier assignment or publication you need to reference earlier piece of work to avoid self-plagiarism. If you want to annotate information to improve upon, extend or change an existing image you must cite the original work. However, you would use the phrase ‘adapted from’ in your citation and reference the original work in your reference list.

AI generated images

If you have used an AI tool to generate an image you must acknowledge that tool as a source  (see point 7 of the  academic integrity statement ).

This content is not recoverable; it cannot be linked or retrieved. There is no published source that you can reference directly. Instead you would give an in-text, ‘personal communications’ citation , as described in part 15 of our 'Write a citation' guidance (from the Harvard Bath guide). This type of citation includes the author details followed by (pers. comm.) and the date of the communication.

For example, an image of a shark in a library generated with Craiyon with a ‘personal communications’ citation included in the image caption:

Figure 3. Shark in a library image generated using an AI tool (Craiyon, AI Image Generator (pers. comm.) 14 July 2022). 

Online images and resources for your work

The library has compiled a list of useful audio-visual resources, including images, that can be used for essays or assignments. Visit the ' finding images and videos ' tab of this guide to find out more.

• Next: Finding images and videos >>
• Last Updated: Apr 15, 2024 2:32 PM
• URL: https://library.bath.ac.uk/images

• AUT Library
• Library Guides
• Referencing styles and applications

APA 7th Referencing Style Guide

• Figures (graphs and images)
• Referencing & APA style
• In-text citation
• Elements of a reference
• Format & examples of a reference list
• Conferences
• Reports & grey literature

General guidelines

From a book, from an article, from a library database, from a website, citing your own work.

• Theses and dissertations
• Audio works
• Films, TV & video
• Visual works
• Computer software, games & apps
• Lecture notes & Intranet resources
• Legal resources
• Personal communications
• PowerPoint slides
• Social media
• Specific health examples
• Standards & patents
• Websites & webpages
• Footnotes and appendices
• Frequently asked questions

A figure may be a chart, a graph, a photograph, a drawing, or any other illustration or nontextual depiction. Any type of illustration or image other than a table is referred to as a figure.

Figure Components

• Number:  The figure number (e.g., Figure 1 ) appears above the figure in bold (no period finishing).
• Title: The figure title appears one double-spaced line below the figure number in Italic Title Case  (no period finishing).
• Image: The image portion of the figure is the chart, graph, photograph, drawing, or illustration itself.
• Legend: A figure legend, or key, if present, should be positioned within the borders of the figure and explain any symbols used in the figure image.
• Note: A note may appear below the figure to describe contents of the figure that cannot be understood from the figure title, image, and/or legend alone (e.g., definitions of abbreviations, copyright attribution). Not all figures include notes. Notes are flush left, non-italicised. If present they begin with Note. (italicised, period ending). The notes area will include reference information if not an original figure, and copyright information as required.

General rules

• In the text, refer to every figure by its number, no italics, but with a capital "F" for "Figure". For example, "As shown in Figure 1, ..." 
• There are two options for the placement of figures in a paper. The first option is to place all figures on separate pages after the reference list. The second option is to embed each figure within the text.
• If you reproduce or adapt a figure from another source (e.g., an image you found on the internet), you should include a copyright attribution in the figure note, indicating the origin of the reproduced or adapted material, in addition to a reference list entry for the work. Include a permission statement (Reprinted or Adapted with permission) only if you have sought and obtained permission to reproduce or adapt material in your figure. A permission statement is not required for material in the public domain or openly licensed material. For student course work, AUT assignments and internal assessments, a permission statement is also not needed, but copyright attribution is still required.
• Important note for postgraduate students and researchers: If you wish to reproduce or adapt figures that you did not create yourself in your thesis, dissertation, exegesis, or other published work, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder/s, unless the figure is in the public domain (copyright free), or licensed for use with a Creative Commons or other open license. Works under a  Creative Commons licence  should be cited accordingly. See Using works created by others for more information. 

Please check the APA style website for an illustration of the basic figure component & placement of figure in a text.

More information & examples from the   APA Style Manual , s. 7.22-7.36,    pp. 225–250

Figure reproduced in your text

Note format - for notes below the figure

In-text citation:

Reference list entry:

Referring to a figure in a book

If you refer to a figure included in a book but do not include it in your text, format the in-text citation and the reference list entry in the usual way, citing the page number where the figure appears.

Note format -  for notes below the figure

Referring to a figure in an article

If you refer to a figure in an article but do not include it in your text, format the in-text citation and the reference list entry in the usual way for an article, citing the page number where the figure appears.

Note format - for notes below the figure

Reference list:

Referring to a figure on a webpage

If you refer to a figure on a webpage and do not include it in your text, format the in-text citation and the reference list entry in the usual way for a webpage,

Not every reference to an artwork needs a reference list entry. For example, if you refer to a famous painting, as below, it would not need a reference.

Finding image details for your figure caption or reference

• clicking on or hovering your mouse over the image
• looking at the bottom of the image
• looking at the URL
• If there is no title, create a short descriptive one yourself and put it in square brackets e.g. [...]
• For more guidance, see Visual works

If it has been formally published reference your work as you would any other published work.

If the work is available on a website reference it as a webpage (see examples in the webpage section ).

Citing your own figures, graphs or images in an assignment:

• Include the title
• Add a note explaining the content. No copyright attribution is required.
• You can, if you wish, add a statement that it is your own work
• You do not need an in-text citation or add it to your reference list
• See example in APA manual p.247, Figure 7.17 Sample photograph

Great Barrier Island 

Note. Photo of Great Barrier Island taken from Orewa at sunrise. Own work.

• << Previous: Reports & grey literature
• Next: Tables >>
• Last Updated: Apr 15, 2024 3:37 PM
• URL: https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

How to Cite an Online Image in Harvard Referencing

3-minute read

• 5th August 2020

Want to use an image you found online in your academic writing ? Read our guide below and find out how to cite an online image using Harvard referencing , including the in-text citations and reference list entry.

To cite an image found online in Harvard referencing, you need to give the creator’s surname and the year of creation in the in-text citations :

This picture depicts George V and Nicholas II in Berlin (Sandau, 1913).

If you name the creator in the main text, though, you only need to include the date in brackets. For example:

Sandau’s (1913) photograph depicts George V and Nicholas II in Berlin.

You won’t always be able to find the creator or date for images you find online, though. In these cases, you’ll need to adapt the citation accordingly:

• If you cannot find an image’s creator, give its title in italics (if you can’t find the title either, use a short description of what the picture depicts).
• When the date is missing, use the abbreviation ‘n.d.’ (short for ‘no date’).

This might work in practice as follows:

Rasputin was known for his piercing gaze ( Detail of Rasputin , n.d.).

Here, for instance, we give a description of the photo you can see below. And the reader would then use this description to look up the photo in the reference list, where you’ll provide full source information.

Online Images in a Harvard Reference List

The reference list format for an online image in Harvard referencing is:

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

Creator surname, Initial. (year) Title of image , Collection (if applicable) [Online]. Available at URL (Accessed date).

So, for our first example above, the full reference would be:

Sandau, E. (1913)  Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia (1868-1968), and King George V (1865-1936) , Royal Collection Trust [Online]. Available at https://www.mountainsandmegapixels.com/?lightbox=dataItem-kas62h851 (Accessed 4 March 2019).

As with citations, though, you’ll need to adapt the reference if you don’t have the creator’s name or year of production. The key points here are:

• When no creator name is available, use the image title (or a description) in its place. You will also use this to determine the position of the source in an alphabetical reference list.
• For images with no date, use ‘n.d.’ in place of the year.

Thus, we would reference the second example above as follows:

Detail of Rasputin (n.d.) [Online]. Available at http://www.referenced.co.uk/ten-historical-figures-who-died-unusual-deaths/ (Accessed 8 May 2020).

Harvard Variations and Proofreading

Harvard referencing is a style, not a system. Consequently, the exact format used for citations and references may vary. We’ve used the guidelines set out in the Open University’s guide to Harvard referencing [PDF] , but make sure to check your university’s style guide if you have one.

Whatever style of referencing you use, though, clarity and consistency are key. So, to make sure your academic writing is always error free, why not ask Proofed’s referencing experts to check your citations are all in order?

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Get help from a language expert. Try our proofreading services for free.

2-minute read

How to Cite the CDC in APA

If you’re writing about health issues, you might need to reference the Centers for Disease...

5-minute read

Six Product Description Generator Tools for Your Product Copy

Introduction If you’re involved with ecommerce, you’re likely familiar with the often painstaking process of...

What Is a Content Editor?

Are you interested in learning more about the role of a content editor and the...

4-minute read

The Benefits of Using an Online Proofreading Service

Proofreading is important to ensure your writing is clear and concise for your readers. Whether...

6 Online AI Presentation Maker Tools

Creating presentations can be time-consuming and frustrating. Trying to construct a visually appealing and informative...

What Is Market Research?

No matter your industry, conducting market research helps you keep up to date with shifting...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

Extended Essay Resources: Finding and Citing Images

• Research Video Tutorials
• Video Tutorials
• In-text Citations
• Finding and Citing Images
• Plagiarism VS. Documentation
• MiniLessons
• Human Rights News
• Peace & Conflict News
• Primary Sources
• Introductory Resources
• Narrowing Your Topic
• Subject Resources

Using Images in a Presentation

Is the image for decoration? If yes, follow below. No? Keep scrolling.

1. Royalty-free clipart does not require an attribution.

2. Public domain images don't require an attribution. However, it's considered good form to allow your audience to find your images. You should make an attribution in a caption beneath or adjacent to the image that states the title/name of the image, the author/creator (if you can find it), the source, and the license. Then h yperlink the title of the image and author to the source of the image. See the box below for more information on creating attributions.  For example:

Lightbulb by ColiN00B is licensed under Creative Commons CC0 

Photo by ColiN00B on Pixabay

Is the image for analysis or to support your argument? If yes, follow below.

1. In this case, you are using the image in an academic way so you should provide an MLA citation.  Remember, a URL is not a citation. You must provide a citation for an image in the same way that you make a citation for a book or a website. Use NoodleTools to help. You can list citations like this:

Creator’s Last name, First name. “Title of the digital image.”  Title of the website , First name Last name of any contributors, Version (if applicable), Number (if applicable), Publisher, Publication date, URL.

Vasquez, Gary A. Photograph of Coach K with Team USA.  NBC Olympics , USA Today Sports, 5 Aug. 2016, www.nbcolympics.com/news/rio-olympics-coach-ks-toughest-test-or-lasting-legacy.

2. You can put the citation as a caption beneath the image. You can also list it with your other references in your "Works Cited" list. 

Creative Commons and Royalty-Free Media

• 10 Websites with Free Stock Video Footage Free royalty free stock footage is hard to find but we have compiled a list of some of the better sites that are offering a selection of video clips available for download and use in personal and commercial projects.
• Compfight Locate the visual inspiration you need. Super fast!
• Creative Commons Search for images and videos with a Creative Commons re-use license on multiple websites.
• Flickr Commons Images with no known copyright restrictions from various cultural heritage institutions
• Getty Search Gateway The Getty Search Gateway allows users to search across several of the Getty repositories, including collections databases, library catalogs, collection inventories, and archival finding aids.
• Google Images Choose "Tools" > Choose "Usage Rights" > Choose "Labeled for reuse"
• Morguefile Morguefile is a free photo archive “for creatives, by creatives.”
• Open Clipart Free, public domain clip art.
• Pexels.com Pexels provides high quality and completely free stock photos licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
• Photos for Class Search now to download properly attributed, Creative Commons photos for school!
• Pixabay Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images and videos. All contents are released under Creative Commons CC0, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist - even for commercial purposes.
• Snappygoat.com Over 13,000,000 free public domain images.
• Tineye Have an image but not sure where it's from? Try this reverse image search.
• Unsplash Over 1,000,000 free (do-whatever-you-want) high-resolution photos brought to you by the world’s most generous community of photographers.
• Video Assets from Camtasia Royalty-free elements to enhance your videos in Camtasia
• Wikimedia Commons Over 40 million freely usable media files. Attributions provided. This is a great source for finding historical images, as well.

How to make attributions next to an image

• Creative Commons - Best practices for attribution You can use CC-licensed materials as long as you follow the license conditions. One condition of all CC licenses is attribution. Here are some good (and not so good) examples of attribution.

If you use images, such as photographs or clipart , in your presentation, you should also credit the source of the image. Do not reproduce images without permission. See the box "Finding Public Domain Images" in this guide to find sources for images that are "public use".

Use the acronym TASL to remember how to attribute images:

T - Title/Description

A - Author or creator

S - Source & date (Name of the website the image is from)

L - License or location (Creative Commons license or URL)

For example...

" Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt " by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is licensed under CC by 2.0

Title: Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt  Author: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Source: Flickr (linked in title)  License: CC by 2.0

Quick Guide

Citing images in mla.

• OWL Purdue - Images
• OWL Purdue - Tables and Figures The purpose of visual materials or other illustrations is to enhance the audience's understanding of information in the document and/or awareness of a topic. Writers can embed several types of visuals using most basic word processing software: diagrams, musical scores, photographs, or, for documents that will be read electronically, audio/video applications.
• OWL Purdue - Other types of sources Several sources have multiple means for citation, especially those that appear in varied formats: films, DVDs, T.V shows, music, published and unpublished interviews, interviews over e-mail; published and unpublished conference proceedings.

Public Domain Images

These images are in the public domain. They are free to use, but you must make an attribution or citation.

• << Previous: In-text Citations
• Next: Plagiarism VS. Documentation >>
• Last Updated: Aug 15, 2023 3:34 PM
• URL: https://libguides.aisr.org/extendedessay

APA 7th Edition Referencing Guide1

• What is APA?
• In-text citations
• Reference list
• Chapter in an edited book
• Journal articles & Databases
• Works with multiple authors
• Webpages/online & software
• General images faqs
• Audiovisual media
• Personal communication
• Study material
• New Zealand legislation
• Other resources
• Tricky health resources
• Health books
• Health journals
• Health web resources
• Systematic reviews
• Point-of-care resources
• Visual health resources
• Tricky health FAQs
• APA for publication

Quick links for using your own images

* { box-sizing: border-box; } .row { display: flex; } .column { flex: 50%; padding: 10px; height: }.

Using your own images, tables or graphs in a written assignment

You do not need to reference any images, graphs, or tables you have created, or any photos you have taken. However, as your tutor may not know where the image or photo came from, it is good practice to indicate that you provided it. However, this is not necessary for tables or graphs .

The best place to do this is underneath your media. There is no reference list entry required.

Example for a written assignment

Sheep in Paddock

(Photograph supplied by author)

How to reference photographs you have taken yourself

If you provide photos you have taken yourself, you do not need to reference them . This means you do not need to include an in-text citation or a full reference entry in your reference list.

However , it is good practice to indicate to your audience and your tutor where the photographs came from. Do this underneath your photo, where the in-text citation would normally go.

(Photograph taken by author)

• Last Updated: Apr 22, 2024 11:37 AM
• URL: https://libguides.wintec.ac.nz/APA7

How to Cite Google Images

Create citations for free.

Website Book Journal Image

They say a picture tells a thousand words—so photographs can serve an important purpose in essays or presentations you’re working on. Google Images, which contains images from thousands of websites at the click of a button, is one of the easiest places to find photos on the Internet. So knowing how to cite an image found on Google Images is pretty helpful.

While you might know how to cite a thousand-word-long journal article, citing an image might seem more difficult, especially if you’ve obtained that image from an online source. Luckily, citing a picture you’ve found on Google Images isn’t all that different from citing a website you found after doing a quick Google search.

Say you’re working on a biographical paper or PowerPoint presentation about President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and you want your title page or opening slide to contain a photograph of the former president, who has the distinction of being the only president to serve more than two terms throughout much of World War II, and who led the country out of the Great Depression.

Google Images has you covered on the picture—the site has pages and pages of images, including this neat one of FDR sitting at his desk in the Oval Office—and if you want to cite the photo in MLA format , APA format , or Chicago style, we’ve got you covered on that.

Copyright Considerations

Before continuing, you should understand that many of the images found through Google and other search engines are copyright protected. This means that you are not allowed to make money from the use of these images. For example, it is illegal to make and sell t-shirts that display this image of Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, according to Chapter 1, Section 107, of the Copyright Law , you are allowed to use images for research and classroom purposes.

Information Needed for the Citation

After finding the image that you’d like to use, to the right of the image, click the button that says, “Visit page.” This is where you’ll find the information you need to cite the image.

Here’s the specific information you’ll need to locate when citing an image you found on Google Images:

• Full name of the image’s creator, such as the name of the photographer or illustrator (if available)
• Formal title of the image (if available) or a description of the image
• Name of the website where the image lives (Do not use Google as the name of the website!)
• Publisher of the website where the image was found on
• Date this information was published on their site

*Please note that if putting these citations in a printed paper, the lines should be double-spaced and indented.

How to cite an image from Google Images in MLA 9:  

Last name, First name of creator. “Title” or description of the image. Title of the Website , Publisher, Date of publication, URL or DOI.

• In MLA, if the image has a title, place it in quotation marks and use title case: capitalize the first letter of each important word and pronoun. If the image does not have an official title, create a simple description and use sentence case: only capitalize the first letter in the description and the first letter of any pronoun.
• Only include the name of the publisher if it is different than the name of the author and title of the site.
• For URLs or DOIs, copy them exactly as shown in the address bar or link from your browser.

How to cite the example image in MLA 9:

Photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt at his desk. The Washington Post , 25 Apr. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/04/25/the-white-house-boo-boo-in-counting-roosevelts-executive-orders/?utm_term=.06cac0ac12e5.

If you need help with in-text and parenthetical citations, CitationMachine.net, can help. Our MLA citation generator is simple and easy to use!

How to cite an image from Google Images in APA:

Image creator’s Last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Year published). Title of image [Photograph, Cartoon, Painting, etc.]. Website Name. URL.

The reference list entry for the image consists of its author, year of publication, title, description in brackets, and source (usually the name of the website and the URL).

• In APA, if the image does not have a formal title, describe the image and place the description in brackets.
• In APA, do not place a period at the end of the URL

  How to cite the example image in APA:

US National Trust. (2017). Franklin D. Roosevelt at his desk [Photograph] . Google Images. https://www.google.com/images/the-white-house-boo-boo-in-counting-roosevelts-executive-orders/?utm_term=.06cac0ac12e5

How to cite an image from Google Images in Chicago:

Last name, First name Middle initial of creator of image. “Title of image” or Description. Digital Image. Title of Website. Month Day, Year Published. Accessed date. URL.

• If the image does not have an official title, create a description. Do not place the description in quotation marks.
• Only include the date the image was accessed if there is no publication date!

How to cite the example image in Chicago:

Franklin D. Roosevelt at his desk. Digital Image. The Washington Post. April 25, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/04/25/the-white-house-boo-boo-in-counting-roosevelts-executive-orders/?utm_term=.8d30c188c74c.

Works Cited

  “Chapter 1: Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright.” Copyright Law of the United States , p. 19, www.copyright.gov/title17/chapter1.pdf.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Google Images is an aggregator or search engine for images. It is not a repository of images by itself. Since Google Images is not the original source for the images found there, you cannot cite or mention “Google Images” as the source of your images.

Instead of citing “Google Images,” you must cite the original source of the image. For any image found from Google Images, find the original source of the image by clicking the “Visit page” button. Then, the image should be cited using the following details (if available) as per your class style (APA, MLA, or Chicago):

• Full name of the image’s original creator
• Formal name of the image or description of the image
• Original website source (not Google Images)
• Website’s publisher
• Date of publication of the image

It is easy to search for relevant images using an online search engine like Google Images, but the issue of copyright has to be addressed when using images found online.

Most images are copyright protected. Copyrighted images belong to the original illustrator, agency, or organization that designed and created them. You cannot use these images for your business needs without the permission of the creator. However, you can use these images for your research and class needs, as long you provide a citation to the source of these images.

Cite the original source of the image (not “Google Images”) per your class style (APA, MLA, or Chicago) using the below details:

• Reference Image
• Photoshop User Guide
• Dream it. Make it.
• What's new in Photoshop
• Edit your first photo
• Create documents
• Photoshop | Common Questions
• Photoshop system requirements
• Get to know Photoshop
• Work with Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
• Work with Photoshop files in InDesign
• Substance 3D Materials for Photoshop
• Use the Capture in-app extension in Photoshop
• Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
• Get to know the workspace
• System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
• Create, open, and export documents
• Work with layers
• Draw and paint with brushes
• Make selections and add masks
• Retouch your composites
• Work with adjustment layers
• Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
• Apply transform operations
• Crop and rotate your composites
• Rotate, pan, zoom, and reset the canvas
• Work with Type layers
• Work with Photoshop and Lightroom
• Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
• Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
• Manage app settings
• Touch shortcuts and gestures
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Edit your image size
• Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
• Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
• Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop on the iPad
• Work with Camera Raw files
• Create and work with Smart Objects
• Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
• Auto adjustment commands in Photoshop on the iPad
• Smudge areas in your images with Photoshop on the iPad
• Saturate or desaturate your images using Sponge tool
• Content aware fill for iPad
• Common questions
• System requirements
• Supported file types
• Introduction to the workspace
• Open and work with cloud documents
• Generative AI features
• Basic concepts of editing
• Quick Actions
• Retouch images and remove imperfections
• Make quick selections
• Image improvements with Adjustment Layers
• Move, transform, and crop images
• Draw and paint
• Work with anyone on the web
• Generate Image
• Generate Background
• Get started with Creative Cloud Beta apps
• Photoshop (beta) on the desktop
• Generate image with descriptive text prompts
• Generate background with descriptive text prompts
• Common questions on generative AI in Photoshop
• Generative Fill in Photoshop on the desktop
• Generative Expand in Photoshop on the desktop
• Generative Fill in Photoshop on the iPad
• Generative Expand in Photoshop on the iPad
• Generative AI features in Photoshop on the web
• Content credentials in Photoshop
• Identity and provenance for NFTs
• Connect accounts for creative attribution
• Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
• Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
• Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
• Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
• Unable to create or save a cloud document
• Solve Photoshop cloud document errors
• Collect cloud document sync logs
• Invite others to edit your cloud documents
• Share files and comment in-app
• Workspace basics
• Preferences
• Learn faster with the Photoshop Discover Panel
• Place files
• Default keyboard shortcuts
• Customize keyboard shortcuts
• Tool galleries
• Performance preferences
• Grid and guides
• Touch gestures
• Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
• Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
• Technology previews
• Metadata and notes
• Place Photoshop images in other applications
• Show or hide non-printing Extras
• Specify columns for an image
• Undo and history
• Panels and menus
• Position elements with snapping
• Position with the Ruler tool
• Photoshop for design
• Device Preview
• Copy CSS from layers
• Slice web pages
• HTML options for slices
• Modify slice layout
• Work with web graphics
• Create web photo galleries
• How to resize images
• Work with raster and vector images
• Image size and resolution
• Acquire images from cameras and scanners
• Create, open, and import images
• View images
• Invalid JPEG Marker error | Opening images
• Viewing multiple images
• Customize color pickers and swatches
• High dynamic range images
• Match colors in your image
• Convert between color modes
• Color modes
• Erase parts of an image
• Blending modes
• Choose colors
• Customize indexed color tables
• Image information
• Distort filters are unavailable
• About color
• Color and monochrome adjustments using channels
• Choose colors in the Color and Swatches panels
• Color mode or Image mode
• Add a conditional mode change to an action
• Add swatches from HTML CSS and SVG
• Bit depth and preferences
• Layer basics
• Nondestructive editing
• Create and manage layers and groups
• Select, group, and link layers
• Place images into frames
• Layer opacity and blending
• Mask layers
• Apply Smart Filters
• Layer comps
• Move, stack, and lock layers
• Mask layers with vector masks
• Manage layers and groups
• Layer effects and styles
• Edit layer masks
• Extract assets
• Reveal layers with clipping masks
• Generate image assets from layers
• Work with Smart Objects
• Combine multiple images into a group portrait
• Combine images with Auto-Blend Layers
• Align and distribute layers
• Load selections from a layer or layer mask's boundaries
• Knockout to reveal content from other layers
• Get started with selections
• Make selections in your composite
• Select and Mask workspace
• Select with the marquee tools
• Select with the lasso tools
• Adjust pixel selections
• Move, copy, and delete selected pixels
• Create a temporary quick mask
• Select a color range in an image
• Convert between paths and selection borders
• Channel basics
• Save selections and alpha channel masks
• Select the image areas in focus
• Duplicate, split, and merge channels
• Channel calculations
• Replace object colors
• Perspective warp
• Reduce camera shake blurring
• Healing brush examples
• Export color lookup tables
• Adjust image sharpness and blur
• Understand color adjustments
• Apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment
• Adjust shadow and highlight detail
• Levels adjustment
• Adjust hue and saturation
• Adjust vibrance
• Adjust color saturation in image areas
• Make quick tonal adjustments
• Apply special color effects to images
• Enhance your image with color balance adjustments
• View histograms and pixel values
• Crop and straighten photos
• Convert a color image to black and white
• Adjustment and fill layers
• Curves adjustment
• Target images for press
• Adjust color and tone with Levels and Curves eyedroppers
• Adjust HDR exposure and toning
• Dodge or burn image areas
• Make selective color adjustments
• Camera Raw system requirements
• What's new in Camera Raw
• Introduction to Camera Raw
• Create panoramas
• Supported lenses
• Vignette, grain, and dehaze effects in Camera Raw
• Automatic perspective correction in Camera Raw
• Radial Filter in Camera Raw
• Manage Camera Raw settings
• Open, process, and save images in Camera Raw
• Repair images with the Enhanced Spot Removal tool in Camera Raw
• Rotate, crop, and adjust images
• Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
• Process versions in Camera Raw
• Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
• Remove objects from your photos with Content-Aware Fill
• Content-Aware Patch and Move
• Retouch and repair photos
• Correct image distortion and noise
• Basic troubleshooting steps to fix most issues
• Replace sky in your images
• Transform objects
• Adjust crop, rotation, and canvas size
• How to crop and straighten photos
• Create and edit panoramic images
• Warp images, shapes, and paths
• Vanishing Point
• Content-aware scaling
• Transform images, shapes, and paths
• Paint symmetrical patterns
• Draw rectangles and modify stroke options
• About drawing
• Draw and edit shapes
• Painting tools
• Create and modify brushes
• Add color to paths
• Paint with the Mixer Brush
• Brush presets
• Gradient interpolation
• Fill and stroke selections, layers, and paths
• Draw with the Pen tools
• Create patterns
• Generate a pattern using the Pattern Maker
• Manage paths
• Manage pattern libraries and presets
• Draw or paint with a graphics tablet
• Create textured brushes
• Add dynamic elements to brushes
• Paint stylized strokes with the Art History Brush
• Paint with a pattern
• Sync presets on multiple devices
• Migrate presets, actions, and settings
• Add and edit the text
• Unified Text Engine
• Work with OpenType SVG fonts
• Format characters
• Format paragraphs
• How to create type effects
• Line and character spacing
• Arabic and Hebrew type
• Troubleshoot fonts
• Create type
• Use the Liquify filter
• Use the Blur Gallery
• Filter basics
• Filter effects reference
• Add Lighting Effects
• Use the Adaptive Wide Angle filter
• Use the Oil Paint filter
• Apply specific filters
• Smudge image areas
• Save your files in Photoshop
• Export your files in Photoshop
• Supported file formats
• Save files in graphics formats
• Move designs between Photoshop and Illustrator
• Save and export video and animations
• Save PDF files
• Digimarc copyright protection
• Understanding color management
• Keeping colors consistent
• Color settings
• Work with color profiles
• Color-managing documents for online viewing
• Color-managing documents when printing
• Color-managing imported images
• Proofing colors
• Video editing in Photoshop
• Edit video and animation layers
• Video and animation overview
• Preview video and animations
• Paint frames in video layers
• Import video files and image sequences
• Create frame animations
• Creative Cloud 3D Animation (Preview)
• Create timeline animations
• Create images for video
• Print 3D objects
• Print from Photoshop
• Print with color management
• Contact Sheets and PDF Presentations
• Print photos in a picture package layout
• Print spot colors
• Print images to a commercial printing press
• Improve color prints from Photoshop
• Troubleshoot printing problems | Photoshop
• Creating actions
• Create data-driven graphics
• Process a batch of files
• Play and manage actions
• Add conditional actions
• About actions and the Actions panel
• Record tools in actions
• Photoshop UI toolkit for plug-ins and scripts
• Fixed issues 
• Known issues
• Optimize Photoshop performance
• Basic troubleshooting
• Troubleshoot crash or freeze
• Troubleshoot program errors
• Troubleshoot scratch disk full errors
• Troubleshoot GPU and graphics driver issues
• Find missing tools
• Photoshop 3D | Common questions around discontinued features

Learn how to add more control over your generated outputs by uploading a reference image in Photoshop on web.

    Reference Image is a beta feature in Photoshop on web now available for testing and feedback.

Upload a reference image to guide the style and content of variations when using Generative Fill . This gives you more control over the generated outputs so they are more relevant and customized without depending exclusively on text prompts, which is especially helpful when specific styles or details are hard to describe. ​

Select the Lasso  tool from the toolbar and make a freehand selection.

In the Contextual Task Bar that appears, select Generative fill      .

Select the  Reference Image     icon to the right of the prompt text field to upload the reference image.

Select  X  located on the image thumbnail to remove the reference image.

Type in your descriptive prompt and pair it with the reference image to inform the generated output and select Generate     .

Choose your favorite variation from the  Properties  panel or  Contextual Task Bar .

More like this

• Create images from text prompts using generative AI

Get help faster and easier

Quick links

Legal Notices    |    Online Privacy Policy

Share this page

Language Navigation