Supporting blind photography

Abstract

Blind people want to take photographs for the same reasons as others-to record important events, to share experiences, and as an outlet for artistic expression. Furthermore, both automatic computer vision technology and human-powered services can be used to give blind people feedback on their environment, but to work their best these systems need highquality photos as input. In this paper, we present the results of a large survey that shows how blind people are currently using cameras. Next, we introduce EasySnap, an applica tion that provides audio feedback to help blind people take pictures of objects and people and show that blind photog raphers take better photographs with this feedback. We then discuss how we iterated on the portrait functionality to create a new application called PortraitFramer designed specifically for this function. Finally, we present the results of an in-depth study with 15 blind and low-vision partici pants, showing that they could pick up how to successfully use the application very quickly.

"I can do everything but see!" -- How People with Vision Impairments Negotiate their Abilities in Social Contexts

“…in the capture of good quality photos to make photography more appealing [56]; and to help them preserve memories, express creativity, and socialize [28]. Recent research by Wu et al [61] further shows how a system that automatically integrates accessible alt-text information with Facebook photos allowed blind participants to feel more included and engaged with conversation around photos; and thereby supported their ability to interact with their social network more fully.…”

“…For example, computer vision can support the recognition of signs, objects, peoples' faces, or the layout of a space [14,28,46]. Yet, the challenge remains how to identify from all potentially available information about an environment those that is relevant to the person's in-situ ability negotiations; and present it without interrupting the skills of a particular person with VI [cf.…”

Real time object scanning using a mobile phone and cloud-based visual search engine

“…For example, Apple's iPhone (available on 3GS and later models) now has VoiceOver 1 , Android-powered (starting from 4.0) smartphones now support "Eye-Free" 2 multi-touch interactions, and Nokia has also released a free screen reader in their online application store since October, 2011 3 . Touchscreen devices like iPhone were once thought to be inaccessible to blind users, but well-designed, multi-touch interfaces leverage the spatial layout of the screen and can even be preferred by blind people [8].…”

“…A number of published articles [1, 3,20,21,24] have shown that blind people take photos for multiple reasons, including sending to remote sighted people for feedback and for general object recognition [3]. Despite this, most current camera interfaces are only marginally accessible, which leads to poor-quality photos that are blurry, tilted or improperly framed.…”

“…There have been many efforts [3,14,15,19,22,25] to assist blind people better using the inaccessible cameras and also some technology [9,28] potentially can be used to facilitate this task. For instance, the system developed by M. Vázquez, et al [15] to help visually impaired users aim a camera can effectively assist blind users to frame a better photo by applying optical region of interest algorithm to suggest better framing for blind users.…”