# Using face recognition tags from PSE or Picasa



## Julian Roberts (May 9, 2010)

Can someone pls point me towards a link that talks about using face recognition tags from Elements or Picasa in LR? Which app would be the better choice?

Thanks very much


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## johnbeardy (May 9, 2010)

I don't think there is any discussion on this. http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/picasa-face-import is the only link I know about.

John


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## dj_paige (May 9, 2010)

I haven't tried to do this, but in general I don't recommend people try to use two different organizers and somehow obtain benefits of both. To make this work, you need an in depth understanding of how both Organizer work, and usually, that level of knowledge isn't there. And without that in depth knowledge of how both organizers work, disaster is sometimes the result.

But, if you really want to do this, why don't you experiment in a way that can do no harm? Create a small set of photos that require face recognition, import those photos into a small Lightroom catalog, do the face recognition in Picasa or PSE, and see how it works. Take notes. And of course, report back. You will be increasing our level of knowledge.


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## Julian Roberts (May 9, 2010)

Thanks. As I suspected this is not straight forward. Think I'll wait until we have face recognition in LR, or a more reliable means of using a plug-in.


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## jonsl (May 19, 2010)

Hi guys,

I'm new to all of this so please be gentle... in fact, this is my first post 

I've been trying to find a piece of software to organise my photos and I think I'm settling on LR. I've also looked at Elements 8 and Picasa. I also own Photoshop CS4 (which includes Adobe Bridge).

I take a lot of pics of my kids so I need something that helps me to tag them easily.  Am I right that LR3 beta 2 (the version I'm using at the moment) doesn't have face recognition? This is somewhat annoying for me but I came up with the idea of doing the following workflow, what do people think of this?

[list type=decimal]
[li]Import using bridge - this would mimic some of the things that LR does such as create a decent file structure and add Copyright info.[/li]
[li]open up picasa and get it to search for faces. Once this is completed, filter by those faces in Picasa and then manually add the keyword tag (faces seem to go into a .picasa file in the same directory instead of updating the keyword of the image itself)[/li]
[li]import that directory into LR - this way, LR adds the keywords on import[/li]
[/list]

I could simplify this workflow (i.e. import in LR and then open Picasa to search for faces - but in doing this, I can't get LR to "know" that keyword tags have been updated). If I could find a way for LR to re-import keyword tags from photos, that would be fab, but I don't know how to do this... Does anyone know? Do I have to remove a photo and then add it again or something?


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## Brad Snyder (May 19, 2010)

jonsl, welcome to the forums.

I've explained a bit of this in the other thread where you've posted.


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## Loki (Jul 29, 2010)

I have solution for import contacts from picasa to lightroom.
http://alna.spb.ru/en/lightroom_face_importer
Here some information. But remember that it's a first alpha, so you can use it for your own risk.
I've test it at lightroom 3 and picasa 3.6


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## pliep (Aug 6, 2010)

Has anybody tried this?


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## snapper (Aug 24, 2010)

I've just tried the above program, using LR RC3.2 on winXP (it's a windows programme) and it appears to work ok - though it puts all the new keyword tags under a Russian top level keyword! Easily edited though. Not sure if there are any long term effects.

I started playing with face recognition in Picassa yesterday as I wanted to get some of my now extensive family digital photo collection tamed, as we're in the process of having lots of significant birthdays . I'm afraid I agree with Jeffery's Blog post quoted above. Face recognition in Picassa is frustrating and not yet there - even in the latest version of Picassa. And Picassa's inability to be able to write the info back to IPTC data is a real disappointment. However it should also be said that despite it's shortcomings it's still pretty amazing technology and has saved me a significant amount of time tagging images.

As well as Jeffery's plugin (Could that now be updated as it appears we can write back to proper keywords in LR3?? And as it's a plugin it will work on both Mac and PC platforms) I also found another solution that appears to work - though too is not without it's bugs - http://www.anvo-it.de/wiki/avpicfacexmptagger:main 

[quote author=dj_paige link=topic=9774.msg66238#msg66238 date=12734'4314]
I haven't tried to do this, but in general I don't recommend people try to use two different organizers and somehow obtain benefits of both. 
[/quote]

No - you shouldn't. But leveraging the benefits of both sometimes works. There's a few very clever functions in Picassa - the new Face Movie being rather fun, and some of the collages/output functions are nice to play with. LR will never support those more consumer orientated function (IMHO!) I just aim Picassa at my Non work folders and let it do it's thing....

regards

Gareth


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## johnbeardy (Aug 24, 2010)

I was also looking at this today, Gareth, as I've seen contradictory information about Picasa 3.8's new ability to write XMP metadata. I was rather hoping that it would write to the Person Shown field (not keywords) or could be made to do so, but try as I might, I couldn't get it to write back metadata even with simple JPEGs. But it's great that they've begun writing to XMP addresses, so that gives me hope. 

John


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## Loki (Aug 24, 2010)

[quote author=snapper link=topic=9774.msg72812#msg72812 date=1282649777]
I've just tried the above program, using LR RC3.2 on winXP (it's a windows programme) and it appears to work ok - though it puts all the new keyword tags under a Russian top level keyword! [/quote]
The program tries to find the tag "faces" and if not found - creates it's own.


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## snapper (Aug 25, 2010)

John: Hope springs eternal!

 I'm sure it will get there. I wonder if Google doesn't relly like standards like XMP/IPTC etc as it's so used to free search? Or setting standards??

 The other problem is there does seem to be an acute lack of documentation for the product. The forums are also full of what I would term misinformation - well meaning but wrong (unlike here  )

Loki: Ah - so I now know the Russian for Faces! - Seriously - you perhaps need to examine the Language settings in Lightroom before you enter the new Keyword Tag


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## johnbeardy (Aug 25, 2010)

Well, it doesn't rely on them for its searches, but I think they recognise they can suck out a lot of searchable information out of pictures (and then serve them stripped of copyright info!)

As it is, the data appears to be stored in a way that a Lightroom plug-in can access....

John


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## edgley (Aug 25, 2010)

As you have a MacBook Pro, can you not using iPhoto for face tagging?
I do all my work in LR, then export the photos I want other people to be able to see to iPhoto, add the extra details, and publish.


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## johnbeardy (Aug 25, 2010)

Could be wrong, but I thought iPhoto face data was firmly stuck in iPhoto or in images you publish, but couldn't easily be added to your originals in Lightroom, let alone be taken to Gareth's Windows machine. As a downstream application, OK, but it's less use going upstream or for long term DAM requirements. The advantage of Picasa is it's not Mac-limited, the metadata is a bit more accessible, and Picasa also reads IPTC-Extension metadata added in Lightroom.

John


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## Loki (Aug 25, 2010)

[quote author=snapper link=topic=9774.msg72884#msg72884 date=128273'164]
Seriously - you perhaps need to examine the Language settings in Lightroom before you enter the new Keyword Tag
[/quote]
Great idea! Thanks!
If this information is present in a Lightroom DB I will use it in upcoming versions.


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## johnbeardy (Aug 25, 2010)

I found this thread interesting, especially the comment by a Google employee:

"It's great to see so many passionate Picasa users, and thank you everyone for sharing your workarounds and hacks. We realize we need to make it easier to migrate your Picasa name tags, and we're currently working on several changes to address this."

I've now got a working plug-in that reads Picasa name tags into the IPTC Extension person shown field.... 

John


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