How to Cite an Image in APA 7: Formats and Examples

To cite an image in APA 7, provide the creator, date, image title, image type, source, and URL. The exact treatment depends on whether you merely discuss the image or reproduce it in your paper. Discussing an image requires an in-text citation and reference entry, while reproducing it also requires APA figure formatting and a source note.

The basic reference format for an image found online is:

The bracketed description identifies the medium, such as “[Photograph],” “[Painting],” “[Map],” or “[Infographic].” Use the most specific description you can verify. Do not identify every online image as a photograph simply because it appears in a digital format.

What information do you need to cite an image?

Before creating the citation, locate the image’s original page and record the creator, publication date, title or description, image type, website or collection name, and URL. The creator might be a photographer, artist, organization, or government agency. Use the person or group responsible for the image rather than the person who uploaded an uncredited copy.

Google Images and other search engines help you find images, but they are not normally the source you cite. Open the result and trace the image to the photographer’s website, museum collection, stock-image page, report, or other original host. This step also helps you find copyright and licensing information that may not appear in search results.

APA reference format for an online image

For a named individual, write the surname followed by the creator’s initials. Put the year in parentheses, italicize the image title, and add a bracketed description of the medium. Finish with the website name and URL, without placing a period after the URL.

The following fictional source demonstrates the structure without presenting an invented URL as a real source:

If an organization created the image, place the organization’s full name in the author position. When the creator and website name are identical, omit the repeated website name. This follows APA’s general rule against repeating the author as the source.

How to cite an image with no title

When an image has no official title, provide a concise description in square brackets where the title would normally appear. Do not italicize the bracketed description. Describe what the image shows without inventing a creative title or adding unsupported details.

A supplied description should make the image identifiable without becoming a full caption. Include the medium within the description when it is clear, as in “[Photograph of …].” You do not need to add a second “[Photograph]” label after it.

How to cite an image with no date

Use “n.d.” in parentheses if the original source does not provide a publication or creation date. Do not use the date you found, downloaded, or added the image to your paper. Check the image page, metadata, caption, and collection record before concluding that no date is available.

How to reference an image from a website APA 7

To understand how to reference an image from a website APA 7 style, first determine whether the image has its own title, creator, and dedicated page. If it does, cite the image itself using the online-image format. If the image is simply part of an article and has no separate source information, cite the webpage or article that contains it instead.

For an image with its own credited creator:

For an image that is not separately credited, cite the webpage:

Do not assume that the webpage author created every image on the page. A caption may credit a photographer, agency, museum, or stock-image provider separately. Follow that credit to the original image whenever possible, especially when you intend to reproduce the image rather than merely mention it.

How to cite an artwork from a museum website

For a painting, sculpture, or other artwork, use the artist as the author, the work’s date, its italicized title, and a description of the medium. Identify the museum or collection that houses the work and include the collection-page URL when available. Dates written as a range may be retained when the institution identifies the work that way.

For example, the Museum of Modern Art’s online record for Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night can be referenced as follows:

How to cite an image APA in-text

The answer to how to cite an image APA in-text follows the standard author–date system. Use the image creator’s surname or organization name and the year. The name in the in-text citation must match the first element of the reference entry.

Parenthetical citation:

Narrative citation:

Add a locator only when it helps readers find a specific element within a larger source. For example, when discussing an image inside a numbered report, you might identify it as Figure 4 in your sentence. Do not use the figure number as a replacement for the author and year.

How to reproduce an image as an APA figure

An image inserted into your paper is treated as a figure. Place the bold figure number above the image, followed on a new line by an italicized title in title case. The image appears beneath the title, and any explanatory or source note appears below it.

A reproduced figure generally follows this structure:

Use “From” when reproducing an image without changes and “Adapted from” when you modify it. The note should identify the original work and communicate relevant copyright, license, or permission information. Also include the source in the reference list unless your instructor, publisher, or applicable APA guidance specifies otherwise.

If the image uses a Creative Commons license, name the license and link to it where required. If the work is in the public domain, state that status in the note when it is relevant. Never label an image public domain merely because it is freely accessible online.

What if you created the image yourself?

You do not need an in-text citation or reference entry for an original photograph, chart, diagram, or illustration that has not been published elsewhere. Label it as a figure if it appears in the paper and give it a clear title. A note may still be useful when readers need an explanation of abbreviations, data, or image alterations.

If your image was previously published, cite the earlier publication and address any applicable reuse rights. Images created from another source’s data may also require a source citation. “Created by the author” does not remove the need to acknowledge underlying information or adapted visual material.

Using an APA Citation Generator for images

When learning how to cite an image, the APA Citation Generator tool can help arrange the creator, date, title, medium, source, and URL into a reference entry. It is particularly useful when you need to keep citations consistent across photographs, artworks, maps, and infographics. Enter information from the original image page rather than from a search-results preview.

Always check the generated reference against the source. Automated tools may mistake the webpage author for the photographer, overlook a museum’s creation date, or treat a page title as the image title. You must also add the correct figure note and review reuse rights when placing the image inside your paper.

Common image citation mistakes

Citing Google Images

Google Images is a discovery tool, not the image’s original source. Open the result, locate the creator and host page, and cite that source. If you cannot verify where an image came from, choose a better-documented alternative.

Confusing a reference with a figure note

A reference-list entry helps readers retrieve the source, while a figure note attributes an image reproduced in the paper. An embedded image may need both. An in-text citation alone does not provide complete attribution for a reproduced figure.

Ignoring copyright or license terms

An image being visible or downloadable does not mean it is free to reuse. Review the source’s license, public-domain statement, or permission terms before reproducing it. For public or commercial distribution, seek permission when the intended use is not covered by a license or legal exception.