Tricks for saving images from IMDB and other sites.

Sometimes it's not so easy to save an image to your computer when the website is working against you. After cataloging images from the internet for years, I've come to learn somethings that I think everyone faces at one time or another. Whether you wanted to keep something interesting or beautiful from a website, the pictures can be downloaded from a website.

The usual "right-click"->"save image as" or "save picture as" options are very easy to do and that is why most people don't have to worry much about downloading pictures. However there are some obstacles on that when the the website owners specifically make it an obstacle for you. Some sites do not want you to download them.

Take for instance IMDB. They have a block that prevents users from right-clicking on images so you can't save the image. Here's a trick to get past that. I will offer solutions for the browsers Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Opera.

• FIREFOX: A method I discovered years ago on forums is that you have to look at the page info page. Go to the Tools, Page Info, and then the Media tab. There, you'll find all the images that are saved for this particular web page. Scroll through them and you will see the pictures on the bottom of the page displayed. Click the save as button to save the picture you selected.


• INTERNET EXPLORER: For Internet Explorer this is what you'll need to do. The key to getting the right-click to work is to disable the Javascript on Internet Explorer. First go to tools and click on internet options. Select the security tab, and then the custom level button. Under "scripting" you will need to choose the disable radial button for active scripting and click ok. Restart Internet Explorer and you will be able to right-click on the images on imdb. I do not recommend leaving the settings that way for long. You can reset the Javascript by following the same instructions I provided above, but click enable instead of disable for active scripting. Now that you can right-click, you will also be able to use the "save picture as" option. Thanks to mozillazine forums for providing the info.


• CHROME: This is what I discovered for Google Chrome. When you go to an imdb page with an image you want to download, right-click and select "inspect element." A new box will appear on the bottom of the page. Select the "Resource" tab and you will see all the images from the webpage listed for you. Find the image you wanted to download and right-click the image and save it. While the imdb website does not allow you to download the image on their page, the resources box on Google Chrome will.


• OPERA: The case for the Opera browser seems to be the same as Internet Explorer. You will have to disable Javascript in order to right-click on the image and save it. To locate that option, click on the menu, then settings, then preferences and then the content tab. There will be an check box for enabling Javascript, leave it unchecked to disable it. Restart the browser and you should be able to right-click. Again I suggest re-enabling Javascript afterwards.

Here is a video tutorial for all four cases

Others have different methods..

This article provided an amazing method for downloading the all the images in a website. The only downside is that the program is a free trial so you can't keep it for long. But it's pretty cool.

I can't stress enough how important it is to remember that these are not your images. I never use the images for gains nor in my own projects. I suggest saving them for your viewing pleasure, no more. They belong to the original owners from the sites you appropriated them from.

With these methods, you can save images from any website, not just imdb.com.

The one exception is if the image is published under a creative commons license. These photos below were obtained through http://www.bestpicturegallery.com/. While I am showing them on my blog, they will have to site the original creator and source.

Hope you like this article. Comment please.

by Elfreda, Eden Project

by owenbooth

by Christopher Chan