Software Magic: Recognizing People in Photos

What automated face tagging in Photoshop Elements 8 can, and can't, do to help organize digital photos

October 28, 2009 RSS Feed Print

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Once a face is identified, Photoshop Elements can try to find it in other photos.

A potential trap. One criticism of all photo-organizing software is that it can lock users into one system. The tags applied through Photoshop Elements can't be easily transferred to competing programs. Elements allows users to write tags to a photo's metadata, which is like a small database that accompanies the actual image files. But it doesn't work for files in all formats, and not all programs read metadata the same way. So users who spend a lot of time organizing their photos with tags will feel safest, or stuck, with the program they've been using—quirks, frustrations, and all.

It's fun. Organizing photos is a tedious, time-consuming process, whether they're in shoe boxes or hard drives. Face recognition eases the grind with some charm. As the software throws up a series of thumbnails, users get a quick look at the faces of friends and loved ones through the months or years. It helps get the organizing process started, and it might encourage us to stay on top of all our new digital photos. Maybe.

Tags:: photos,; technology

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Another thing, alot of my friends were unfairly barred from your casinos as part of your Facial Recognition Research. I feel you probably did them all a favor; however, it wasn't very american how you discriminated against them publicly, labeling them as "undesirable". (Thank goodness, at least the local judges aways threw your "trespassing" cases out of court.)
Now that the testing is out in the open and you can get the software free on Google, why don't you let the poor jaded human guinea pigs that you outwardly and publicly labeled at "undesirables" for no good reason, back through your casino doors? Though you may have saved their pocketbooks (to some extent), you really assaulted many of their egos - and unfairly so. Plus, their money spends as good as anyone elses.
Give up the charade. Think of how they feel. Unless there is a good reason, why don't you accept them back?

Chris Torvik of CA 4:05AM November 13, 2009

...And to think that only 10 years ago the casinos thought they really had an "in" with Uncle Sam when he used them to test his new-found defense toy: Facial Recognition. What a coveted secret that was. Now, 10 years later, you can get it for free on Google.
Ha, Ha. Gotta love it.

Chris Torvik of CA 3:53AM November 13, 2009

I have been taking photos since I was 20, that is for 49 years. In that time I have moved to the US, got married, had children, joined Scouts with them, been camping and canoeing, visited family and the ocean, had grandchildren, watched my parents grow old. Photos are a vital part of one's life. Just going through the 15 or 20 GB of files I have has taken many hours, but has reminded me of the most important parts of my life. I have not finished yet, and may never complete the task, because I am still clicking away.
I used Picasa, which works well enough for my purposes. I have about 200 people in the index, including pets. The hardest part is setting up the files and folders in an orderly way, so they can be backed up. My wife and I both take pictures, and the two sets have to be integrated.

Eric Scott of NY 3:57PM October 30, 2009