Faces not recognised

Question

Level 1

19 points

Faces not recognised

Hei,

I've ~14,000 photos that were imported into Photos using AppleScript (How to import Finder folders as Albums into Photos app?Import Folders of Image Files into Library as Albums).

All images imported into respective Albums.

However, the faces aren't recognised in most of the photos.

Faces are recognised in only ~4,000 out of ~14,000 photos.

Other objects like Balloons, car, water etc are recognised only in few photos.

What should I do to make the app recognise faces?

I deleted all photos and imported again. Still, the same.

Defining faces individually is not a good idea considering the huge number of photos.

Also, in 2 similar photos, taken in consecutive moments, face in one photo is recognised and not recognised in the other. As a whole, the face recognition seems to be totally messed up.

I've left my computer ON, on AC power, Photos app not running to allow the app to create the database.

Next, is there any way to know the list of 'objects' (like balloons, water, bus etc) recognised by the app?

-Babloo.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Nov 20, 2016 2:18 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,819 points

Nov 20, 2016 3:15 AM in response to Bablooroyal

Has Photos finished the scan for faces or categories?

If you open the People album and there is no longer a message about scanning faces, it has finished and found all faces it can find.

Photos can only scan for faces in photos that are stored locally on your Mac, not the optimized versions of an iCloud Photo Library. If your library is an iCloud photo library, view the photos enlarged, where faces are missing. Enlarging or going into edit mode will download the originals.

Next, is there any way to know the list of 'objects' (like balloons, water, bus etc) recognised by the app?

Apple has not published a list of categories, as far as I know.

I found some by trial and error. Many kinds of animals are recognized. Searching for dog, cat, pig, donkey, bird, lion, leopard, elephant, etc will produce good results. Also searching for vehicles: car, train, yacht.

Furniture like bed or desk does not seem to be recognized, but drinks and food: Beer, wine, drink, bread, fruit, meat arefound.

Also searching for landscape categories: Beach, Water, Mountain, street, River, Dunes,

or searching for the time of day: Nightfall, sunset, sunrise, sun, moon, starry,

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Answer 2

Bablooroyal Author

Level 1

19 points

Nov 20, 2016 3:35 AM in response to léonie

Hei,

Thanks for your response.

My replies are as below:

Yes, Photos has completed the scan. I don't see the message that scan is in progress.

The photos are stored locally on my MBP. They are not within the Photos app, but in a different folder.

The option, "Copy items to photo library" was disabled as I didn't want to duplicate the photos.

However, I don't think it is a problem.

Any further help on this would be greatly appreciated.

I found one list of categories here.

https://writekay.github.io/Updated-Photos-App-Recongnizes-Thousands-of-Objects/

-Regards,

Babloo

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,819 points

Nov 20, 2016 6:51 AM in response to Bablooroyal

I found one list of categories here.

https://writekay.github.io/Updated-Photos-App-Recongnizes-Thousands-of-Objects/

That is great list. Thanks for posting it.

Yes, Photos has completed the scan. I don't see the message that scan is in progress.

Photos may not be able to recognize the missing faces because of a pixel size that is too small or the lighting or similar.

Do you have identified photos, where Photos should have found faces, but did not recognize them? Try to import one of them into a new, empty library, to see if Photos can scan them.

Did you click the "Add Faces" button at the bottom of the People album to see all faces that have been detected?

Are any people in the "Hidden Faces" section?

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Answer 4

Bablooroyal Author

Level 1

19 points

Nov 23, 2016 3:37 AM in response to léonie

Hei,

Sorry for delayed post.

Apple Support suggested me to 'repair' the Photos database.

This can be done by firing Photos app with CMD & OPTION buttons pressed.

After completing the repair, Photos app displayed a message that 11000+ images were scanned and ~3000 images are remaining.

So, with AC power ON & Photos app not running, I left the computer running.

Though these numbers remained same, number of photos with each face is increasing. I mean, for face X, the number of photos was ~100 earlier and now it is 400+ and counting.

So, things definitely seem to be improving. Will update the post after all the images are scanned.

I contacted Apple Support via Chat. They could support me only up to the point of telling me to repair the database. They told me to contact on their phone support if things don't improve.

-Babloo

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