Image citation generator
Cite any image, photo or chart you found online, in any citation style.
or fill in the details below
How to cite an image
A photo citation or picture citation takes three steps, whether you found the image on a stock site, in a news article or through Google Images.
Step 1
Find the page the image is on
Cite the website that hosts the image, not a search engine. Paste its link above and we fill in the creator, date, site and license wherever the page shares them.
Step 2
Check the details
Make sure the title is the image’s own, not the page’s. If the image has no title, describe it instead, like Photograph of a red fox in snow.
Step 3
Copy your citation and caption
Add the reference entry to your list, cite the image in your text, and use the figure caption if you put the image in your paper.
APA image citation
To cite an image in APA, give the creator, the year, the title in italics, a description of the image in square brackets, the site and the URL. APA 7 leaves the site out when it’s the same as the creator.
Format
Creator, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of image [Photograph]. Site Name. URL
Example
Denali National Park and Preserve. (2013). Lava [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/
In-text citation
Parenthetical: (Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013)
Narrative: Denali National Park and Preserve (2013)
Figure number, title and note
Figure 1
Lava
Note. From Lava [Photograph], by Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/). CC BY 2.0.
The number and title go above the image, and the note goes below it.
APA still needs a reference entry when you credit an image in a figure note. The exception is an image whose license says no credit is needed, such as photos from Unsplash, Pexels or Pixabay: APA then needs no note and no reference entry, though your instructor may still ask for them.
MLA image citation
To cite a picture in MLA, give the creator, the title in italics, the website in italics, the date and the URL. MLA 9 uses title case, and an untitled image gets a plain description.
Format
Creator. Title of Image. Website, Day Month Year, URL.
Example
Denali National Park and Preserve. Lava. Flickr, 2013, https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/.
In-text citation
Parenthetical: (Denali National Park and Preserve)
Caption
Fig. 1. Denali National Park and Preserve, Lava, Flickr, 2013, https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/.
Artwork seen on a museum’s website
van Gogh, Vincent. Shoes. 1888. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436533.
For a work of art, the year it was made comes after the title.
MLA says a caption with the full source details means you don’t need a Works Cited entry for the image, unless you also cite it in your text.
Chicago and Harvard image citations
Chicago usually credits an image in its caption and leaves it out of the bibliography. Harvard, in the Cite Them Right version many UK universities use, lists the image in the reference list and credits it in the caption.
Chicago bibliography
Denali National Park and Preserve. Lava. 2013. Photograph, Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/.
Chicago caption
Figure 1. Denali National Park and Preserve, Lava, 2013, photograph, Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/. CC BY 2.0.
Harvard reference list
Denali National Park and Preserve (2013) Lava [Photograph]. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/ (Accessed: 26 September 2026).
Harvard caption
Figure 1: Lava (Source: Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013). CC BY 2.0.
How to cite an image with no author, no title or no date
Each example uses the same Flickr photo with one detail taken away, so you can see what each style does instead.
No creator (APA)
Lava [Photograph]. (2013). Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/
The title moves to the author position, and its description in brackets moves with it.
No title (APA)
Denali National Park and Preserve. (2013). [Photograph of a sled dog resting on snow]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/
Describe the image in square brackets, not in italics.
No title (MLA)
Denali National Park and Preserve. Photograph of a sled dog resting on snow. Flickr, 2013, https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/.
MLA uses a plain description, not italic and not in quotation marks.
No date (APA)
Denali National Park and Preserve. (n.d.). Lava [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/
APA writes n.d. for no date, in the reference and in the text.
No date (MLA)
Denali National Park and Preserve. Lava. Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2026.
MLA leaves the date out and adds the date you accessed the image.
How to cite a picture from Google Images
Google Images is a search engine, not the source of the picture. To cite a picture you found through Google Images, cite the website that hosts it.
Click the image in Google Images, then click Visit to open the page it comes from. Copy that page’s link and paste it above. If you paste a Google Images link instead, we look for the original page for you.
Many pictures in search results are copyrighted. To find images you can reuse, open Tools in Google Images, choose Usage rights and pick Creative Commons licenses, then check the license on the image’s own page.
How to cite an AI-generated image
Styles credit AI images differently. APA names the company as the author, MLA describes your prompt and never treats the tool as an author, and both ask you to say in the caption or figure note that you used AI.
APA, with a share link
OpenAI. (2024, September 23). Two people on a beach, expressionist style [AI-generated image]. DALL-E 3. https://chatgpt.com/share/66f1c3a3-3f90-8000-9750-82c57c4a6592
With a link to the chat, APA cites the chat itself, dated to the day.
APA, without a share link
OpenAI. (2024). DALL-E 3 [Image generator]. https://openai.com/index/dall-e-3/
Without one, APA cites the tool in general, with the year.
APA figure note
Figure 1
Two People on a Beach, Expressionist Style
Note. This image was generated by DALL-E 3 (OpenAI, 2024) from the prompt “Create an expressionist-style image of two people standing on a beach looking at the ocean.”
MLA
“Create an expressionist-style image of two people standing on a beach looking at the ocean” prompt. DALL-E, version 3, OpenAI, 23 Sept. 2024, https://chatgpt.com/share/66f1c3a3-3f90-8000-9750-82c57c4a6592.
Check your instructor’s or school’s policy on AI images before you use one in your work.
Figure captions and notes: when you need them
When you put an image in your paper, it becomes a figure. Each style labels and credits figures its own way, and the generator writes the caption for you.
APA 7
Put the figure number in bold and a short title in italics above the image. Below it, add a note that credits the source and its license, like CC BY 2.0 or In the public domain. Keep the reference entry too.
MLA 9
Label the image Fig. 1 and write the caption below it, with the creator, title, site, date and URL. A full caption replaces the Works Cited entry unless you also cite the image in your text.
Chicago
Write Figure 1 and a caption below the image, crediting the source the way a footnote would. The bibliography entry is usually optional for images.
Harvard
Write Figure 1, a short title and the source in brackets below the image, like (Source: Author, 2013), and list the image in your reference list.
Your own photos
No style needs a reference entry for a photo you took. APA and Chicago can say Photograph by the author in the note or caption, and MLA assumes any image you don’t credit is yours.
Other styles
The generator writes captions for APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard. For other styles, cite the image in your reference list and follow your instructor’s figure format.
Frequently asked questions
How do I cite an image in APA?
Give the creator, the year, the title in italics, a description in square brackets such as [Photograph], the site name and the URL. In the text, cite the creator and year, for example (Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013). If you reproduce the image, add a figure note that credits it.
How do I cite a picture in MLA?
Give the creator, the title in italics, the website in italics, the date and the URL. In the text, cite the creator’s name. If you put the picture in your paper, a caption with the full details can replace the Works Cited entry.
What if the image has no title?
Tick No title? Describe the image instead, and write a short description such as Photograph of a red fox in snow. APA puts it in square brackets, and MLA uses it as plain text.
What if there is no author or creator?
Leave the creator blank. APA and MLA then start the citation with the title, and the in-text citation uses the title too.
Is this image citation generator free?
Yes. It’s free with no signup. The images you cite here go into the same list as the main Citation Generator, so you can cite a book there and an image here and copy them together.
Do I need to cite photos from Unsplash, Pexels or Pixabay?
Their licenses don’t require credit, so APA says no reference entry or figure note is needed. Your instructor may still expect one, and the generator makes it either way.
How do I cite an image from a book or journal article?
Choose In a book or article. Most styles cite the book or article itself and credit the figure in its caption, with the page number. Tick I changed or redrew it if you adapted the figure, and the note says Adapted from.
How do I cite an AI-generated image?
Choose Made with AI and add the tool, the company, your prompt, the date and a share link if you have one. The generator follows each style’s own AI guidance and adds a figure note that says you used AI.
Do I need both a caption and a reference entry?
In APA and Harvard, yes, for images you reproduce. In MLA, a full caption can replace the Works Cited entry. In Chicago, the caption usually does the job and the bibliography entry is optional.
Which citation styles does it support?
APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard and more than 10,000 other styles for the reference entry and in-text citation. Figure captions are written for APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard.