That Google Photos, Mountain View’s cloud image (and video) service, It has won a place in the memory of our mobile it’s pretty obvious. It achieved this with a set of useful features and photography-focused tricks, despite the end of free storage.
one of these utilities seems fictional: we refer to the magic eraser, capable of eliminating objects and subjects that interfere with the final image. Plus, now available on all Android phones, it’s a great feature if intruders sneak up on you as you take the shot. All is well, but something essential is missing: eliminating human faces.
The magic eraser is no longer: its weak point is the faces
This problem with the algorithm that camouflages people or invasive objects was noticed by the specialized media Android Police, in which they tested the tool exhaustively, obtaining results worthy of a horror movie.
The medium wonders if the error is something specific, or on the contrary can be reproduced. The correct answer is the second, because it is not so difficult to repeat this terrifying result. For our part, we tested it, obtaining the following results:
- In this first selfie, the tool begins to show its flaws. Remember that we are trying to “pixelate” or obscure our face.
Although he encircles the figure with his finger, the mouth is still present and the rest has formed a sort of ghostly halo.
- By testing with two people on a photo, we obtain something similar to the previous case, with two faces that neither disappear nor hide.
In this second case, we again see something similar.
- Third, directly treated the face as a background element, removing it and erasing said background. By itself, it’s the one that best resembles the original purpose, although it still doesn’t serve our particular purpose.
Here he managed to eliminate it completely, but he does not reach our goal.
As we have been able to verify, it is not recommended at all use the Magic Eraser feature to cover human faces. The result may be good on some occasions, but it directly depends on what the algorithm wants to interpret.
Therefore, we must limit ourselves to using magic eraser for his original objective: Remove objects and people from the background of an image, so that they magically disappear. As Google itself confirms, it’s not a tool to remove details or fix imperfections, or at least that’s not always the case when we’re looking for a “normal” photo.
If we want to hide a face without altering the photo, it will be better to use basic tools from other photography applications.
On the other hand, given the inability of this function, we are missing a tool that allows us to add blur or some sort of image censorship, so use it with that goal in mind. Considering this utility as something basic, or so almost all image editing apps deal with it, Google should rethink it.
Yes, it’s true that we can use markup tools and use the pencil to cover our face, but the output image does not show the same quality. In addition, it turns out to be more tedious, since you have to press the screen several times to hide the information.
As described in the middle, the primary reason The reason Google doesn’t add such a basic feature has to do with privacy: it’s relatively easy to reverse pixelated or smudged images. In case of doubt, the search engine has opted for the simplest, to offer nothing. Let’s remember the serious error that affected the Google Pixel and its screenshots.
Through | android font
In Xataka Android | Five ways to send photos and videos from one mobile to another without losing quality
