This is part 6 of 19 in the Storefront Photography Series. Click/tap here to see the Series Index.
Welcome back.
Photos without recognizable people are preferred by Google Maps. This week you can learn how to blur faces and license plates.
Quote from Maps User Contributed Content Policy under Privacy:
While we welcome you to contribute content that illustrates your world, it’s critical that you do so in a manner that respects the privacy preferences of others.
The privacy issue also extends to not posting pictures of license plates on vehicles.
Google Streetview images are automatically fixed so faces and license places are made unsharp and impossible to read. Unfortunately, this is not done automatically on images uploaded by Local Guides. So we have to do it manually if we were unable to take photos without any recognizable faces and license plates.
The process of blurring is to make select areas unsharp. Some also call it Pixilation.
I use the camera roll app that came with my Huawei phone to blur faces. It has a smart Mosaic tool that works great. I made this video so you can see how it’s done.
Unfortunately, the mosaic tool is not available in Google Photos. In Google Photos you need to use the Markup tools found under Edit. Use the Pen and select the color that will blend in the best. With so few colors drawing over faces and license plates will be a lot more noticeable compared to using a mosaic tool.
Alternatively, you can use the free Snapseed app from Google. In Google Photos you tap Edit, then scroll all the way right until you can tap “More”. From here you can open Snapseed to edit the image, given Snapseed is already installed on your phone.
In the video called Blurring Out Details by Snapseed, you can learn how to do it. The video is inserted below.
Anonymizing faces and license plates do take quite a bit of time. So I always try to wait for people and cars to pass or move before taking the photo. But this is not always possible.
CU next week where the topic will be Backlight Blunders.
Cheers
Morten
