Dreamstime Reverse Image Search

Posted on 12/17/2018 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (1)

Sometimes companies get so anxious to promote themselves that they announce new programs before they are actually functioning properly or ready for release.

Last week Dreamstime announced its “New Reverse Image Search” and said it “makes finding the perfect stock image a snap.”

If you go Dreamstime.com you will find an eye with a magnifying glass at the left end of the search bar. If you click on the eye it will take you to your desktop and allow you to click on any image you have there. In theory, if the image is in the Dreamstime collection it will find it. If Dreamstime doesn’t have that specific image, it will show you similars from its collection.



I decided to try it and downloaded an image of a “couple hugging” from Shutterstock that I though was probably also in the Dreamstime collection. Not only did the search not find the image, but it didn’t find anything even close. Instead, it gave me pictures of pregnant women, babies and a woman lifting barbells.

Then, I decided to pull Antonio Guillem’s image number 50172591 from the Dreamstime collection and see if their reverse image search could find it. It couldn’t!



For similars it did find a picture of a “ferret sitting on it’s owner’s shoulders” and image 109392432 of a “couple sitting outdoors looking at a computer.” The girl did have her hand on the boy’s shoulders, not exactly what I would call a hug. It didn’t find any of the much better pictures of couples hugging that are in the Dreamstime collection, if you simply enter the keyword “couple hugging.”

If you want to have some fun, try using Dreamstime’s Reverse Image Search with some of your own images and see what Dreamstime thinks are similar.


Copyright © 2018 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

Comments

  • Serban Enache Posted Dec 27, 2018
    Hello Jim, how unfortunate is to write an article without asking for a comment from the company. You've been asking our PR company for technical details, despite exchanging emails with me just one month ago.
    Jim, this feature is new and like any new feature, it may have glitches. Nonetheless, it is not outrageous to not detect watermarked images such as the one you tested. Watermarks are there with a purpose, to avoid the image from being stolen. Image tracking algorithms may be confused by watermarks. However, the search works pretty well for non watermarked images, such as the ones that abound in search engines at high resolution.
    I'm glad for your feedback, it helps us to improve this functionality. I just wish you'd be impartial.
    Merry Christmas.

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