CodedColor PhotoStudio Manual - digital photo software, picture viewer, image editor, page layouter and flash / pdf album exporter (similar ACDSee, IrfanView)

Search Similar Images

The search for similar images is one of the most difficult tasks in digital photography. CodedColor combines a number of different algorithms, in order to detect similar images. However, the word "similar" needs to be defined. It's a wide misunderstanding, that the search for a "cow on a pasture" should only find images with "cows on pastures". In fingerprint recognition this is possible, but not in photos containing a number of overlapped objects from different views, in multiple lighting conditions, and with different sizes and colors. There is basically no way to reliably distinguish a cow from a horse, a pasture from a golf course or a golf cart from a baby carriage. So in our cow example, you may also find images of a "cactus patch in the desert" and a "sailboat on a lake".

CodedColor relies on a number of mathematical comparisons (histogram, color average) and pattern recognitions (grayscale analysis, texture & color map) to find images with similar color compositions, lighting conditions and textures. CodedColor is not capable of object recognition, so try to interpret your results more in the sense of "similar moods". The example below is taken from a folder of vacation photos with different locations and lighting situations. As you can see, candidates 1 & 2 are pretty good matches, whereas candidate 3 can be considered a failure, and it is not clear at first why candidate 4 has a much lower score.

Search subject	1. Score 89.77%	2. Score 88.11%
	Grayscale: 88.99% Histogram: 94.14% Dimensions: 100.00% Texture Map: 81.85% Color Map: 90.34% Color Average: 93.62%	Grayscale: 81.01% Histogram: 93.57% Dimensions: 99.00% Texture Map: 76.77% Color Map: 90.71% Color Average: 88.80%

3. Score 87.06%

4. Score 84.14%

Grayscale: 83.14%
Histogram: 93.33%
Dimensions: 99.37%
Texture Map: 78.90%
Color Map: 89.06%
Color Average: 76.69%

Grayscale: 79.70%
Histogram: 93.52%
Dimensions: 99.32%
Texture Map: 66.49%
Color Map: 86.93%
Color Average: 87.89%

Examining the scores, the result becomes a little more obvious: candidate 3 scored better than candidate 4, because candidate 4 has most of it's dark areas where the seach subject has light areas, and vice versa. The two images are thus pooly matched in their pixel regions, but coincide well in their color average, which - however - has a much lower priority. CodedColor weighs the algorithms quite differently, resulting from elaborate tests on many different images. Here is the optimal distribution we decided on:

Grayscale difference	0.10%
Histogram difference	0.05%
Dimension & aspect ratio	0.05%
Grayscale texture mapping	0.15%
Pixel color region mapping	0.60%
Dominant & average color	0.05%

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CodedColor PhotoStudio by 1STEIN is a Windows photo viewer and editor to organize, edit, resize, reformat, correct, compare, sort, watermark, annotate and print digital images, and to edit EXIF and IPTC data in digital photos. You can rename multiple images, remove scratches, create panorama pictures (stitch), convert RAW photos (from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc. cameras), send images via Skype, send photo SMS, burn digital watermarks, correct colors, run a screenshow, convert and correct JPEG images in a batch process, rename fields, open pictures and image folders from the Explorer, generate a webalbum in HTML and compress JPG images. The CodedColor full version is not free, but during registration you can choose the Freeware edition, in which some functions are deactivated. After the download you can try the PhotoStudio shareware for 30 days without any restrictions. The CodedColor software interface looks very similar to ACDSee, is easier to use than Photoshop and more versatile than Picasa and Irfanview, but still contains editing and correction features as effective as Paintshop. Have a look at our Before / After tutorials, in order to get an idea of the powerful editor capabilities. The software comes with a detailed handbook and a fast database to store EXIF / IPTC data and color informationen. CodedColor PhotoStudio is a powerful and versatile photo organizer and image editing software for digital camera users. The user friendly interface includes features like photo editing & printing, web & flash album galleries, slide shows, photo management & cataloging, custom sorting, IPTC & EXIF editor and display, GPS tagging, perspective correction, barrel distortion, effects, thumbnail generation, resize & resample images, jp2000, batch conversion, database keyword searching, red eye removal, color / sharpness / brightness & contrast correction, artefacts removal, clone brush, scanner & TWAIN import, screen capture, lossless JPEG rotation, transparency (alpha channel), gamma correction, print ordering and screenshows with many transition effects, watermark text, image annotations, panorama stitch & animation, video capture, PDF album export, photo layouts, collages, frames, shadows, histograms, automatic white balance, skype photo sharing, etc. Opens and converts all common image formats: BMP, WMF, GIF, JPEG, JPEG2000, TIFF, PCX, PNG, PSP, PSD, PCD, and all current RAW formats. Visit the CodedColor FotoStudio homepage to learn more and download a free copy! Includes BYNGO MMS messenger and CodedColor Publisher, a versatile photo layout and DTP tool, from which you can order individual photobooks through KODAK.