How to Cite an Image
Your bibliography
0 sourcesHow to cite an image means crediting the picture’s creator, title, date, and where you found it, formatted for APA, MLA, or Chicago. Paste the details into the generator above and it builds a correct reference and matching in-text citation instantly.
How do I use this image citation generator?
Choose your style (APA, MLA, or Chicago), select “image” or “artwork” as the source type, then enter the creator, title, year, the website or museum where you saw it, and the URL. The tool formats the reference and the in-text citation for you to copy.
If the image has no formal title, type a short factual description instead. If a field is genuinely unknown, leave it blank rather than inventing data. The generator adjusts punctuation, italics, and word order automatically, so you never have to memorize where each comma belongs.
What information does an image citation need?
Every image citation answers five questions: who made it, what it is called, when it was created, what type of image it is, and where you accessed it. Missing the medium label or the source location is the most common reason an image citation gets marked down.
The example below is a single Library of Congress photograph formatted in APA. The colored parts map to the reusable pattern behind almost every style.
- Creator — the photographer, artist, or organization responsible for the image.
- Title & medium — the italicized title followed by the format in square brackets, such as [Photograph].
- Source — the website, gallery, or museum where the image lives.
- Date — the year the image was created or published.
- URL — a direct link to the image, since it can be hard to relocate otherwise.
How do you cite an image in APA?
In APA 7, list the creator’s surname and initials, the year in parentheses, the title in italics with the format in square brackets, the site name, and a URL. For untitled images, replace the italic title with a plain-text description in brackets that also serves as the format label.
The reference-list pattern is: Creator, A. A. (Year). Title in sentence case [Photograph]. Site Name. URL
APA referenceTipton, W. H. (1870). Fortifications on Little Round Top [Photograph]. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018652217/
No titleDenali National Park and Preserve. (2013). [Photograph of lava rock formations]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/
When you reproduce the image in your own paper, present it as a numbered figure with a copyright note under it, and still include the source in your reference list.
How do you cite an image in MLA?
In MLA 9, follow the container model: creator, the image title in italics, the creation year, the website or institution as the container, and the URL without https://. Treat a standalone artwork’s title as italic; use quotation marks only for a titled digital image embedded within a larger site.
The works-cited pattern is: Surname, First. Title. Year, Container, URL.
MLA works citedTipton, William. Fortifications on Little Round Top. 1870, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2018652217/.
No authorOrange Grove, Clewiston, Florida. 1920, Florida Memory, floridamemory.com/items/show/138653.
If you place a full citation directly in the figure caption and never mention the image in your prose, MLA lets you omit a separate works-cited entry.
How do you cite an image in Chicago style?
Chicago 18 notes-and-bibliography style cites images mainly in footnotes, adding a bibliography entry only when the image is central to your argument. Both formats carry the creator, title, year, medium, source, and URL; the note separates elements with commas while the bibliography uses periods.
Chicago note1. William Tipton, Fortifications on Little Round Top, 1870, photograph, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2018652217/.
Chicago bibliographyTipton, William. Fortifications on Little Round Top. 1870. Photograph. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018652217/.
Author-date users cite the same image as (Tipton 1870) in text with a reference-list entry that moves the year forward after the creator’s name.
How do in-text citations and figure captions work?
In-text citations point readers to the full reference using the creator and year. APA uses (Tipton, 1870), MLA uses just the creator’s name as (Tipton) since no page number applies, and Chicago author-date uses (Tipton 1870). Each links back to your reference list.
Whenever you actually display an image in your document, add a figure number and caption beneath it. APA labels it Figure 1 with a title and a source or copyright note; MLA and Chicago place the citation information in the caption itself. Below is how the same photograph resolves across all three styles.
| Style | Reference / entry | In-text or note |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Tipton, W. H. (1870). Fortifications on Little Round Top [Photograph]. Library of Congress. URL | (Tipton, 1870) |
| MLA 9 | Tipton, William. Fortifications on Little Round Top. 1870, Library of Congress, URL. | (Tipton) |
| Chicago 18 | Tipton, William. Fortifications on Little Round Top. 1870. Photograph. Library of Congress. URL. | 1. William Tipton, Fortifications… |
How accurate is this generator, and what are the limits?
The generator applies the published APA, MLA, and Chicago rules precisely to whatever you enter, so its output is only as accurate as your input. It formats punctuation and structure reliably, but it cannot verify that a creator’s name, date, or medium is factually correct.
Watch three things a tool cannot judge for you. First, confirm the medium: a scan of an oil painting is still a painting, not a photograph. Second, distinguish the artist from the website that hosts the image, since Getty or Flickr is rarely the creator. Third, for museum-held artworks viewed in person, add the institution and city rather than a URL. Always give the final citation a quick human review against your assignment’s style edition.
Frequently asked questions
How do I cite an image with no author or title?
Move the description into the author’s place or use a bracketed description in place of the title. In APA write [Photograph of a coastline]; in MLA lead with the image description; in Chicago give a short description followed by the source and URL.
How do I cite an image I found on Google Images?
You never cite Google Images itself, because it is only a search engine. Click through to the original hosting page, then cite the creator and website where the image actually lives, using that page’s URL.
Do I need to cite an image I made myself?
No formal reference is required for your own photographs or figures. In APA you note “own work” in the figure caption; MLA and Chicago simply label it as your original image without a works-cited entry.
How do I cite an image from a museum website?
Credit the artist as creator, italicize the artwork’s title, add the year and medium, then name the museum as the source and include the page URL. For a work you viewed in the gallery instead, list the museum and city rather than a link.
What is the difference between citing a photograph and citing a painting?
The structure is identical; only the medium label changes. Use [Photograph] or [Painting] in APA and the matching medium word (photograph, painting) in Chicago, so readers know the image type at a glance.
Do I still cite an image if I put the full source in the caption?
In MLA, a complete citation inside the figure caption can replace the works-cited entry if the image is not discussed in your prose. APA and Chicago generally expect both a caption note and the reference or footnote.
Related tools & guides
Build a full paper’s sources with our APA citation generator, format visual sources in MLA style, or handle footnotes with the Chicago citation generator. New to referencing? Start with what is a citation? to understand how in-text markers and reference lists work together.