Handy app

[Betty LaRue]

I just visited the fujix-forum, and saw a video about Google Lens. It is an app that comes on a lot of the android phones, I believe through Google photos, but is available for download and use on iPhones also. I assume it could be downloaded to iPad? Unsure.

Anyway, in action, if you have a good photo of an insect, a plant or a dog, the app will identify it or give you several similar options to investigate. In the video, it identified plants, bugs and a labradoodle was in a 3 option suggestion.

 

Might be worth having. I would want to see if it can be downloaded to my iMac, where I work.  It doesn’t do that well with rare seldom seen insects. Anyway, I think sometimes for me I’d like something to give me at least a place to start investigating. I think anyone using it for stock should verify, for sure.

Betty

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Lens

[Michael Ventura]

Years ago, when I had a non Apple phone, I had an app called Google Goggles and it sounds like a similar offering.  With that tho, you had take a picture of something, while using that app, and it would attempt to identify it.

[BidC]

On 17/08/2019 at 01:35, Betty LaRue said:

I just visited the fujix-forum, and saw a video about Google Lens. It is an app that comes on a lot of the android phones, I believe through Google photos, but is available for download and use on iPhones also. I assume it could be downloaded to iPad? Unsure.

Anyway, in action, if you have a good photo of an insect, a plant or a dog, the app will identify it or give you several similar options to investigate. In the video, it identified plants, bugs and a labradoodle was in a 3 option suggestion.

 

Might be worth having. I would want to see if it can be downloaded to my iMac, where I work.  It doesn’t do that well with rare seldom seen insects. Anyway, I think sometimes for me I’d like something to give me at least a place to start investigating. I think anyone using it for stock should verify, for sure.

Betty

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Lens

 

Betty - the app itself isn't available for the iMac, but I've used it within the Google webpages - so instead of entering words, there's a camera icon (same as the Alamy search interface), and images can be uploaded that way. You've probably worked that out by now, but just in case  

Edited August 31, 2019 by BidC

[Betty LaRue]

8 hours ago, BidC said:

 

Betty - the app itself isn't available for the iMac, but I've used it within the Google webpages - so instead of entering words, there's a camera icon (same as with the Alamy search interface), and images can be uploaded that way. You've probably worked that out by now, but just in case  

Thanks!

[KFisher]

I love this app! I use it when I have one of my photos up ready to upload of a church or identifiable building and I don't recall the name of it. The majority of the time, I snap a photo of my monitor and it identifies it. Really, really useful in those circumstances when my memory fails me (or I never knew the building to begin with).

[Marianne]

14 hours ago, BidC said:

 

Betty - the app itself isn't available for the iMac, but I've used it within the Google webpages - so instead of entering words, there's a camera icon (same as the Alamy search interface), and images can be uploaded that way. You've probably worked that out by now, but just in case  

 

How do you use it on your Mac? Are you just talking about using a google photos search to find your photo (and similar ones - which it does sometimes)? Or is there some other way?

Does Google photos work the same way as Google Lens for an iPhone? Google Lens itself isn't available on the app store for IOS devices. 

Thanks! 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by Marianne

[KFisher]

27 minutes ago, Marianne said:

 

How do you use it on your Mac? Are you just talking about using a google photos search to find your photo (and similar ones - which it does sometimes)? Or is there some other way?

Does Google photos work the same way as Google Lens for an iPhone? Google Lens itself isn't available on the app store for IOS devices. 

Thanks! 

 

 

The difference for me is that google photo search works when you're online. Google checks for that photo and brings back online results that match. I use google lens for photos that aren't online - for instance just in my photo gallery on my desktop or other application. I open my photo on the computer, take a pic with google lens with my phone, and it pulls up information based on the images which usually tells you what the photo is based on similarities with online photos. It's helped me identify church interiors taken in Rome, types of plants, landmarks, etc. that I couldn't identify from memory. Because of the way I use it, it would work on mac or windows.

 

[Marianne]

1 minute ago, KFisher said:

 

The difference for me is that google photo search works when you're online. Google checks for that photo and brings back online results that match. I use google lens for photos that aren't online - for instance just in my photo gallery on my desktop or other application. I open my photo on the computer, take a pic with google lens with my phone, and it pulls up information based on the images which usually tells you what the photo is based on similarities with online photos. It's helped me identify church interiors taken in Rome, types of plants, landmarks, etc. that I couldn't identify from memory. Because of the way I use it, it would work on mac or windows.

 

 

So if the app works on my iPhone I can use it to take a photo of my screen? I think that's what you're saying. Thanks. (otherwise I'll have to steal my husband's phone LOL). Or ask the forum. 

[Marianne]

I see that it works on the iPhone via Google Photos.  

Anyone know of a similar app specifically for the iPhone? Or Betty you have it on your iPhone? Or your Android and thinking of your iPad (it should work since it's an iOS device) 

 

Here's one by state or (some) provinces for wildflowers (it does other plants too) - only for the US and parts of Canada but it's got links for Android and iPhone for all of them  - and it has a database for Yellowstone/Grand Teton too - larger app (100 megs) as works offline. Good if you're out in the woods without a good signal. https://www.wildflowersearch.org/search?page=Apps 

 

One I downloaded ages ago and then forgot about is LeafSnap, started in the northeastern US and Canada but now covers the UK too and will soon cover the rest of the US. They also have a website:

http://leafsnap.com/

 

Hope this isn't considered off topic but there are a lot of handy apps out there. It's great to share those we've tried and which work best. 

 

Thanks for the suggestion Betty and the help/any further help re: online use.

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by Marianne

[BidC]

9 hours ago, Marianne said:

 

How do you use it on your Mac? Are you just talking about using a google photos search to find your photo (and similar ones - which it does sometimes)? Or is there some other way?

Does Google photos work the same way as Google Lens for an iPhone? Google Lens itself isn't available on the app store for IOS devices. 

Thanks! 

 

 

Hi Marianne - to be honest, I've not used the actual Google lens app on my phone, so not sure if they work in exactly the same way, but don't see why there would be a difference. As for the search in Google, yes - its a search using Google, and uploading a photo to Google using the camera icon in order to search for an image. Alamy have added a same/similar feature recently. Not sure if that helps clarify  .... (?)

[Marianne]

10 hours ago, BidC said:

 

Hi Marianne - to be honest, I've not used the actual Google lens app on my phone, so not sure if they work in exactly the same way, but don't see why there would be a difference. As for the search in Google, yes - its a search using Google, and uploading a photo to Google using the camera icon in order to search for an image. Alamy have added a same/similar feature recently. Not sure if that helps clarify  .... (?)

 

It does, thanks!

[Betty LaRue]

I haven’t tried it, Marianne. I’m in the middle of another home project and have been too busy to mess with it. I’m finishing a cedar beam to look rustic like driftwood.

First I beat, scratched and stabbed it with various tools. Then sanded. Next 2 coats of wood conditioner, 2 coats of pickling paint, and 2 coats of gray stain. Then some sanding involved.  Multiply 4 sides and 2 ends. Looking beautiful. It will be my new mantel. Almost done but it’s too hot in the garage right now.

I’ve searched bug sites in the past but there was no ID function connected to a photo.  There are some plants/flowers that I’ve spent hours on, but never identified. I hate that. Anything that would narrow choices down to a few would be nice.

Betty

[Marianne]

20 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I haven’t tried it, Marianne. I’m in the middle of another home project and have been too busy to mess with it. I’m finishing a cedar beam to look rustic like driftwood.

First I beat, scratched and stabbed it with various tools. Then sanded. Next 2 coats of wood conditioner, 2 coats of pickling paint, and 2 coats of gray stain. Then some sanding involved.  Multiply 4 sides and 2 ends. Looking beautiful. It will be my new mantel. Almost done but it’s too hot in the garage right now.

I’ve searched bug sites in the past but there was no ID function connected to a photo.  There are some plants/flowers that I’ve spent hours on, but never identified. I hate that. Anything that would narrow choices down to a few would be nice.

Betty

 

Waiting for the weather to cool down a bit more here to work on a wood project of my own. I bought a beautiful old maple table with two leaves that pull out on the sides to use as a studio table and extra work space in my office at an antique store over the weekend. I need to "sand" it with some fine steel wool and then am trying this restore a finish which I had read about and which the seller recommended. I paid $35 for the table and about $18 for the products to refinish it - but it should make a great surface to shoot on as well as a nice large surface for paperwork. I'll let you know how those other apps work out when I try them.