2022-10-11
Finding a person from a photo is not an easy task. However modern web services (and extensive databases) allow a relatively fast search, requiring a good quality image and a few minutes of time.
Why use a search by photo
The reasons for searching a person by photo may be the following:
- For obtaining information on a new personality that is not yet very well known but is slowly "gaining currency".
- For checking if a person is a fraudster who is impersonating someone else.
- In order to study his page in the social networks, a better image should be available.
- To get a better resolution photo.
- To find a young man or girl met by chance and photographed in the street or in the subway, etc.
There may be several ways to solve the problem.
Preparing a photo for searching
Electronic systems perform the search similar to the text search: the image is decomposed into small fragments which are recognized by the system as virtual words.
For the process to be successful, the photo has to be brought in a proper shape.
Formative requirements:
- if there are multiple people in the frame, it is possible to crop the photo using Paint or similar programs in order to avoid confusing the system;
- the photo must be clear;
- from 50KB to 1MB size;
- the ideal reference is a passport photo.
as a test pattern we generate the photo through the service //www.thispersondoesnotexist.com/. It generates photos of people that do not exist, based on neural network algorithms.
Method 1: Search by photo through Google Images
The search engines Google and Yandex allow us to search a person by photo. However, a successful outcome is likely only if a person has a lot of photos in the social networks in the public domain. Google is meant more for searching images of a different kind. This is why a request may fail: a user will be offered similar options but it will not turn out to be what he/she needs. However it's possible to try to use the search.
Let's look at the algorithm of actions in the case of Google. To find a person by picture you need:
- Go to the Google Images service: //images.google.com.
- Click the "camera" icon (the "Search by Picture" pop-up appears).
- In the window that appears, provide a link to the picture or download the file from your PC or phone.
- After you have downloaded a file to your search, the system provides the matching options and their definition (particularly the first and last name).
The advantages:
- The results of this search can be very funny and unpredictable.
- The service is free and always available.
- No registration required, fast.
- Huge base to find for any length of time.
Disadvantages:
- Google can hide most results if they minimally reveal personal information.
- Service is not optimal for these tasks.
Method 2. Searching for personas through Yandex
The search algorithm for Yandex photos is similar to Google:
- Go to the Images section at //yandex.ru/images/.
- Go to this section from the main page of the search.
- Click the icon on the right side of the search bar.
- Load a photo by clicking Select file or provide a link to the image.
- Find the url address of the picture simply by right clicking on it and selecting "Copy picture".
- Choose a suitable option from the list of those offered.
The search engines use different algorithms (e.g. Yandex is more "geared" to Russian resources), therefore Yandex can find what Google did not find and vice versa.
Method 3. TynEye
Another analogue of Yandex and Google is TynEye. This resource was originally created to search by photos and pictures. However, keep in mind that the application was developed by a Canadian company and therefore will primarily search foreign sites.
To use the search you need:
- Go to //www.tineye.com/.
- Click the arrow (to the left of the search bar).
- Select the desired file from your computer and download it.
Method 4. Search in VK by photo
To find a person in the social networks VKontakte or Odnoklassniki, you can use a special service created to search for people by photo - Search4faces. The developers say that this application is based on a self-training neural network.
Best applications to search by photo through VK
To do this you should:
- Go to the site //search4faces.com/
- Load a photo where you can clearly see the person's face in the search box. If you have additional information - you know a person's age, country or city of residence - this may also be useful.
- If a match is found, the service will provide links to go to the person's page.
- To repeat the search, you must refresh the page.
This application is an analog of the "shot" spring 2016 service FindFace. At first FindFace was a free service, but soon its creators began to cooperate with the state authorities, after which FindFace stopped providing services to find people by photo, which is notified by the banner on the main page of the site.
Method 5. FindMeVK
FindMeVK is another service for searching people in VKontakte.
In order to use this search you should:
- Go to the site findmevk.com.
- Load the photo of the searched person
The system will show the results. Reasons for this may be:
- The person's privacy settings are set in such a way that most of the data is not visible to users that are not his friends.
- The search services have not yet worked with the pages containing the user's photos. It is recommended to repeat the search after some time.
- The quality of the photo you searched for is not good, or the photo was taken many years ago.
Benefits of search engines
There is currently no service that guarantees a one hundred percent search result.
Benefits of search engines are numerous:
- It is very easy to determine if a photo belongs to a specific person or was taken from the Internet (for example if a fake photo was taken from a dating site, the search engine will find it and indicate the source).
- It is possible to find a better quality photo (if, for example, the available one is not clear enough).
- It is possible to find the person's pro/files in other social networks, etc.
