Cupertino, We have a problem...

I've recently started tagging "Faces" after updating to iPhoto '11. It's really cool, but there's a really big problem. My friends and family are multiracial. As a former art historian who spent 15 yrs. teaching courses about the visual representation of race, I am very much aware of the technical problems involved in photographing people with dark skin tones or including people with strongly contrasting skin tones in the same frame. But I am also aware that, as British film scholar Richard Dyer and others have pointed out, people who work with images--photographers, art directors, digital designers, etc.--make choices about lighting, resolution, etc. that reflect their social, economic and aesthetic priorities.

OK, that's a perhaps highfalutin way of saying I get really frustrated when "Faces" won't let me tag ANY of the dozen of so art historians (most, but not all of whom, are African American) in a group photo from a conference I particularly cherish. Yes, it's a flash photo taken outside a restaurant at night, so the overall lighting is dim. But if I can make out details like the color and shape of the earrings I and several other participants are wearing, I don't see why "Faces" can't recognize that the large ovals (in various shades of pink, beige and brown) to which these earrings are attached are, well, faces. . .

And it isn't just a problem that occurs with low-light photos. I've just added some old photos from a childhood visit to my grandfather's desert ranch in Arizona. They're all outdoor shots and very brightly lit. "Faces" offers tags for all the light-skinned family members and for medium-toned ones if they aren't surrounded by shadows. But my really dark-skinned grandfather? Forget it! Whether he's in shade or bright sunlight, I had to use "Add a Face" every time.

I think this is a "technical difficulty" the geniuses in Cupertino will want to resolve as they seek to stay relevant in our rapidly changing world. . .