Google Images is a search engine that provides images of things such as buildings, cars, and people. It can be used to find pictures of products or services. When you search for a picture on Google Images, you can click on the “Search” button and enter in the keyword you want to find pictures of. Then, you can click on the “Results” button to see all the pictures that match your keyword. When you click on one of the pictures in Results, it will take you to a page where you can see all the details about that picture. You will also see a link to the website where that picture was taken. If there is a copyright notice on that picture, it will also be shown. If there isn’t any copyright notice, then you will just see a thumbnail image of that picture. If there is a copyright notice on a picture, then Google will ask if you want to remove it before displaying the full results page. If there isn’t any copyright notice, then Google will show all of the images in Results with no warning about removing them. You can either remove the picture or leave it up because it’s an interesting photo or because someone else has taken it and put their ownCopyright Notice on it.
If you’ve ever searched for a transparent image on Google, you’ve probably run across “fakes.” You save an image only to realize the checkered background is solid. Thankfully, there’s a simple little trick in Google Images to avoid this.
For those unfamiliar with this phenomenon, allow me to explain. Images that have transparency often illustrate it by using a gray and white checkered pattern. The idea is that you can see which parts of the image will be transparent before you save it.
Here’s how it plays out: You search for an image, maybe a logo with a transparent background, and you see a result like this:
It appears that the background behind the Microsoft logo will be transparent when you save the image, but here’s what it actually looks like (black border added):
The checkered pattern is the background. There’s no transparency. Here’s how to prevent that from happening.
Go to Google Images in your desktop web browser (such as Chrome or Microsoft Edge) and search for something with transparency. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work on the Google mobile site.
Next, click “Tools” underneath the search bar.
A toolbar will expand with a few extra options. Select “Color.”
From the drop-down menu, choose “Transparent.”
That’s it. All of the results will now be images that contain at least partial transparency.
Now, this photo is a truly transparent image.
As someone who dabbles in design, this “problem” has always bothered me. I’ve learned how to spot the fakes, but with this trick, you don’t even have to. It’s a real game-changer.
