Using photos to search for its match on the Internet is kind of new. I never have thought that there is such a thing like this. The first that I have heard of capable of doing this is the image based search engine called TinEye. This visual search engine was just recently been opened up to the public beta test mode.

Searching is similar to any search engine like Google, Yahoo, MSN or others, but the difference is you use an image as a search criteria instead of text. This may not be very useful for the ordinary person but maybe useful for photographers to check who is using their photos without permission.

Here’s what TinEye is all about:

Using sophisticated pattern recognition algorithms, TinEye creates a unique and compact digital signature or ‘fingerprint’ for each one and adds it to the index.

When you want to find out where an image is being used on the web, you submit it to TinEye. The attributes of the image are analyzed instantly, and its fingerprint is compared to the fingerprint of every single image in the TinEye search index. The result? A detailed list of any websites using that image, worldwide.

— source: ideeinc.com

So, try photo or visual searching with TinEye. The only thing I don’t want with it is the need to register first before you can use the search engine. If they could remove this restriction then it would be more accessible to people for use.