FindFace: an application that allows you to find any person on the Internet using a photo. FindFace – photo dating service
Today there are special applications for smartphones and PCs that allow you to find out basic information about a person from a photograph. Some of them have migrated to online applications, which makes it possible to quickly search for people on the Internet who have a similar appearance. Although the accuracy in certain cases leaves much to be desired.
Recognition occurs using a built-in neural network that quickly searches for similar photos based on certain characteristics, initially the most basic ones, for example, the weight of the image, its resolution, etc. Based on this feature, links to profiles/websites may appear in your search results completely different from the person depicted in the photo, but, fortunately, this happens extremely rarely. There are usually people with a similar appearance or similar situation in the photo (for example, if faces are hard to see).
When working with photo search services, it is advisable not to upload photos where several people are in focus. In this case, you are unlikely to get an adequate result.
Additionally, you need to take into account that if you want to find his VKontakte profile using a person’s photo, then it is worth remembering that in the privacy settings of this social network, the user can check certain boxes, which is why his page will not be able to be scanned by search robots and viewed by users , not registered in VK. If the person you need has such privacy settings, then it will be very difficult to find his page by photo.
Method 1: Yandex Images
Using search engines may seem a little inconvenient, since one image may show several links where it was ever used. However, if you need to find as much information as possible about a person using only his photograph, then it is better to use a similar method. Yandex is a Russian search engine that does a good job of searching the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet.
Instructions for searching through this service look like this:
If you are unhappy with the search result, you can use the following methods.
Method 2: Google Images
In fact, this is an analogue of Yandex Images from the international corporation Google. The algorithms used here are somewhat similar to those of the competitor. However, Google Images has a significant advantage - it is better at searching for similar photos on foreign sites, which Yandex does not do quite correctly. This advantage can also become a disadvantage if you need to find a person on the RuNet, in which case it is recommended to use the first method.
One of the most accessible methods to find a person is to search on social networks, including VKontakte. You can search using different parameters, it all depends on what data you have. There are two ways to find the page you need by photo.
You have an image and, based on it, you need to find the person’s page. It should be said that for a successful search, the photo should not be covered by the user’s settings. In this case, attempts will not yield results.
Another problem is the lack of photography as such on the Internet. Some people prefer to put beautiful pictures instead of their photos. Therefore, the search becomes more difficult.
To find a user by photo:
- Log in to your VK account;
- Upload an image to your profile;
- Click on the picture to open it in full size;
- In the line where the page address is written, select the photo id and copy;
- Click on the News tab (in the column on the left);
- In the folder that opens on the right, select “Photos”;
- Place the cursor in the search bar and enter “copy:id from image”;
- Click search. The system will display all the results found. There may be a lot of them or none at all.
If there are many matches, you will have to check each of them. To do this, select a photo and, by clicking on it, see who posted the image. In this way you check everything until you find what you are looking for.
Please note that there are fake pages, so-called fake profiles. When they deliberately create accounts with the names and photographs of real people. This is done mainly for the purpose of fraud.
Through browsers
Any browser has the ability to search for images and photos. When using them, the system searches for matches across the entire existing database, and not just in the VK social network. To get started, open your browser. The principle is the same everywhere, let's look at an example using Google Chrome.
If you didn’t find the account you were looking for with such a photo, then it doesn’t exist or the photo is in a closed album.
In another browser, follow the example above. The algorithm is the same, only the interface may differ.
In the Yandex browser, select the Pictures tab on the main page.
Next, enter the path to the image you saved and click “Find”. Sometimes this way you can view already deleted photos in contact. And even pages. If your search is unsuccessful, do not be discouraged.
In recent times, facial recognition programs have been exclusively used by government agencies. They help identify a person based on facial features. Nowadays, the use of such software is most often seen in security systems and in commercial activities related to advertising and promotion of various services.
Also, some semblance of such online services and programs is available to ordinary users; they can be found on the Internet. An example is the Lenovo Veriface program. This is a proprietary built-in utility that allows you to unlock your device by analyzing your face.
How does face search work?
In some services, search by faces works on based on neural network technology. The search is based on certain basic features: image weight, resolution, color correction, exposure, resolution, etc. Nowadays, neural network technology is developing, in addition to the basic characteristics, the definition occurs using additional features: skin texture, shape of mouth, ears, hair color, eye location, etc.
To find a similar person, you must upload clear photos, otherwise the search will fail. It is also worth saying that social networks protect information about their users. Most social networks have built-in profile protection features that allow you to hide a person’s photos.
Facial recognition programs
Facial recognition systems (programs) from photos and videos use more advanced algorithms. Similar systems not publicly available, they are used in security services, to control and prevent emergency incidents in large cities and in crowded places.
Such software most often uses the Viola-Jones recognition algorithm. Using this method, the program recognizes faces even when rotated by 30 degrees. Method based on Haar characteristics, which are a set of black and white masks of various shapes and sizes. Masks are applied to the image and pixel brightness is calculated by adding, after which the difference in values is calculated.
Next, the system compares the results with the accumulated data, and having identified the face in the image, it continues to track it to select the optimal angle. After this, the reading process starts and the software finds reference points on the face. Next, the image is analyzed with the data that is in the databases. If they match, the person is identified.
FindFace
FindFace is a Russian facial recognition program, a powerful solution that will allow you to recognize a face in a photo. FindFace offers not only tools for ordinary users, but also for government corporations and businesses. With its help you can find a person registered on VKontakte.
From September 1, the public Find Face service will stop working; for some time, only those users who have purchased a PRO account will be able to use it. The authors will then abandon the public domain version entirely in favor of their commercial product.
Google Images
Google.Images search allows you to find identical photos based on search engine data, including searching for a person by face. More focused on search in foreign resources:
Yandex Pictures
A domestic analogue of the previous service, which will help you find a person by photo on the Internet and search by photo on social networks:
Pictriev
An English-language service that allows users to find a similar person and recognize a face from a photo online. First of all, it is focused on comparison with celebrities, so the results may not be entirely correct:
Sometimes you need to find duplicate photos. For example, a beautiful girl posted a photo on the Internet, but you are not sure that it is she in the picture. In this case, you may need to search the photo on the Internet. If the network is full of such photos, then it is clearly fake. Special services and programs have been created for this purpose. Let's look at some of them.
How to find duplicate photos on the Internet
So, you have a photo and you want to find all its duplicates on the Internet. Use services from Yandex or Google, or separate programs.
The algorithm of actions is as follows:
- Follow the link.
- In the search bar, click on the camera thumbnail.
- Provide a link to the desired photo or upload a photo from your PC.
- Click on the link “All sizes”.
Now the sites where this image appears will be displayed.
Yandex
Yandex also has a service similar to the previous one:
Teeneye
Another service for searching by image is Tinay. Along with duplicate photos, he also finds their components. Tineye has its own, largest database of indexed images. It has everything, and this is not sarcasm. It's simple to use:
FindFace
In addition to online services, there is a special program for searching photos on the Internet. FindFace searches for people's pages on the VKontakte social network that have a similar photo. It works online, that is, it does not require installation on a computer:
To my surprise, she actually selected 30 pages with faces as close as possible to the original. However, FindFace only searches for people in Russia.
By the way, you can download the FindFace application for Android on Google Play and use it from your phone.
PhotoTracker Lite
To quickly search for similar images using services from Yandex, Google and Tinay, install the PhotoTracker Lite browser extension. It works with almost all modern browsers. You can find it in the Chrome extension store.
After installation, you need to right-click on any picture on the Internet and select “Find this image”.
Conclusion
Now you know how to find duplicate photos of people, objects and other objects on the Internet.
The FindFace service, developed for users of Russia’s largest social network VKontakte, will be able to find any person in the virtual space using just one photo. The project is based on facial recognition technology created by N-Tech.Lab.
FindFace allows you to find a person, find out public information and contact him through an account on a social network, and for all this a photo taken with a mobile phone is enough. Poor lighting or a bad angle will not prevent the algorithm from quickly finding the right person. The service identifies the person in the photo with an accuracy of about 70%, and if the desired person was not found, FindFace offers to look at photos of similar people, which makes it unique among modern dating services.
A new type of social service was developed based on technology from N-Tech.Lab, a company specializing in solutions in the field of neural networks. Such networks are capable of analyzing information and learning like humans, but they do it much faster. It takes the N-Tech.Lab algorithm less than a second to find the desired file in a database of 300 million photos. This solution was recognized as the best at the international competition The MegaFace Benchmark, organized by the University of Washington.
Now you can use FindFace using mobile applications for iOS and Android, as well as through a browser. All necessary calculations are performed on remote servers, so the requirements for gadgets are minimal. The service allows you not only to find the right user, but also to send him messages, like, view photos and other information.
At the first stage of its development, the new service will operate on the VKontakte social network, whose daily audience exceeds 100 million people. In the future, FindFace will become available to users of other social networks.
Basic functionality is free. For users with a wider range of capabilities (unlimited number of queries per month, complex search settings, etc.), the service will cost from 149 to 459 rubles per month.