Detect faces

Face Detection detects multiple faces within an image along with the associated key facial attributes such as emotional state or wearing headwear.

Specific individual Facial Recognition is not supported.

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Face detection requests

Set up your Google Cloud project and authentication

Detect Faces in a local image

You can use the Vision API to perform feature detection on a local image file.

For REST requests, send the contents of the image file as a base64 encoded string in the body of your request.

For gcloud and client library requests, specify the path to a local image in your request.

REST

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • BASE64_ENCODED_IMAGE: The base64 representation (ASCII string) of your binary image data. This string should look similar to the following string:
    • /9j/4QAYRXhpZgAA...9tAVx/zDQDlGxn//2Q==
    Visit the base64 encode topic for more information.
  • RESULTS_INT: (Optional) An integer value of results to return. If you omit the "maxResults" field and its value, the API returns the default value of 10 results. This field does not apply to the following feature types: TEXT_DETECTION, DOCUMENT_TEXT_DETECTION, or CROP_HINTS.
  • PROJECT_ID: Your Google Cloud project ID.

HTTP method and URL: 

POST https://vision.googleapis.com/v1/images:annotate

Request JSON body: 

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "image": {
        "content": "BASE64_ENCODED_IMAGE"
      },
      "features": [
        {
          "maxResults": RESULTS_INT,
          "type": "FACE_DETECTION"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

To send your request, choose one of these options:

curl

Save the request body in a file named request.json, and execute the following command: 

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     -H "x-goog-user-project: PROJECT_ID" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
     -d @request.json \
     "https://vision.googleapis.com/v1/images:annotate"

PowerShell

Save the request body in a file named request.json, and execute the following command: 

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred"; "x-goog-user-project" = "PROJECT_ID" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Method POST `
    -Headers $headers `
    -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
    -InFile request.json `
    -Uri "https://vision.googleapis.com/v1/images:annotate" | Select-Object -Expand Content

If the request is successful, the server returns a 200 OK HTTP status code and the response in JSON format.

A FACE_DETECTION response includes bounding boxes for all faces detected, landmarks detected on the faces (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.), and confidence ratings for face and image properties (joy, sorrow, anger, surprise, etc.).

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Vision quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vision Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vision, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


// detectFaces gets faces from the Vision API for an image at the given file path.
func detectFaces(w io.Writer, file string) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	client, err := vision.NewImageAnnotatorClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer client.Close()

	f, err := os.Open(file)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer f.Close()

	image, err := vision.NewImageFromReader(f)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	annotations, err := client.DetectFaces(ctx, image, nil, 10)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if len(annotations) == 0 {
		fmt.Fprintln(w, "No faces found.")
	} else {
		fmt.Fprintln(w, "Faces:")
		for i, annotation := range annotations {
			fmt.Fprintln(w, "  Face", i)
			fmt.Fprintln(w, "    Anger:", annotation.AngerLikelihood)
			fmt.Fprintln(w, "    Joy:", annotation.JoyLikelihood)
			fmt.Fprintln(w, "    Surprise:", annotation.SurpriseLikelihood)
		}
	}
	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Vision API Quickstart Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Vision API Java reference documentation.


import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.AnnotateImageRequest;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.AnnotateImageResponse;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.BatchAnnotateImagesResponse;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.FaceAnnotation;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.Feature;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.Image;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.ImageAnnotatorClient;
import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class DetectFaces {

  public static void detectFaces() throws IOException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String filePath = "path/to/your/image/file.jpg";
    detectFaces(filePath);
  }

  // Detects faces in the specified local image.
  public static void detectFaces(String filePath) throws IOException {
    List<AnnotateImageRequest> requests = new ArrayList<>();

    ByteString imgBytes = ByteString.readFrom(new FileInputStream(filePath));

    Image img = Image.newBuilder().setContent(imgBytes).build();
    Feature feat = Feature.newBuilder().setType(Feature.Type.FACE_DETECTION).build();
    AnnotateImageRequest request =
        AnnotateImageRequest.newBuilder().addFeatures(feat).setImage(img).build();
    requests.add(request);

    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
    // the "close" method on the client to safely clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (ImageAnnotatorClient client = ImageAnnotatorClient.create()) {
      BatchAnnotateImagesResponse response = client.batchAnnotateImages(requests);
      List<AnnotateImageResponse> responses = response.getResponsesList();

      for (AnnotateImageResponse res : responses) {
        if (res.hasError()) {
          System.out.format("Error: %s%n", res.getError().getMessage());
          return;
        }

        // For full list of available annotations, see http://g.co/cloud/vision/docs
        for (FaceAnnotation annotation : res.getFaceAnnotationsList()) {
          System.out.format(
              "anger: %s%njoy: %s%nsurprise: %s%nposition: %s",
              annotation.getAngerLikelihood(),
              annotation.getJoyLikelihood(),
              annotation.getSurpriseLikelihood(),
              annotation.getBoundingPoly());
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the Vision quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vision Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vision, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const vision = require('@google-cloud/vision');

// Creates a client
const client = new vision.ImageAnnotatorClient();

async function detectFaces() {
  /**
   * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following line before running the sample.
   */
  // const fileName = 'Local image file, e.g. /path/to/image.png';

  const [result] = await client.faceDetection(fileName);
  const faces = result.faceAnnotations;
  console.log('Faces:');
  faces.forEach((face, i) => {
    console.log(`  Face #${i + 1}:`);
    console.log(`    Joy: ${face.joyLikelihood}`);
    console.log(`    Anger: ${face.angerLikelihood}`);
    console.log(`    Sorrow: ${face.sorrowLikelihood}`);
    console.log(`    Surprise: ${face.surpriseLikelihood}`);
  });
}
detectFaces();

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Vision quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vision Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vision, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

def detect_faces(path):
    """Detects faces in an image."""
    from google.cloud import vision

    client = vision.ImageAnnotatorClient()

    with open(path, "rb") as image_file:
        content = image_file.read()

    image = vision.Image(content=content)

    response = client.face_detection(image=image)
    faces = response.face_annotations

    # Names of likelihood from google.cloud.vision.enums
    likelihood_name = (
        "UNKNOWN",
        "VERY_UNLIKELY",
        "UNLIKELY",
        "POSSIBLE",
        "LIKELY",
        "VERY_LIKELY",
    )
    print("Faces:")

    for face in faces:
        print(f"anger: {likelihood_name[face.anger_likelihood]}")
        print(f"joy: {likelihood_name[face.joy_likelihood]}")
        print(f"surprise: {likelihood_name[face.surprise_likelihood]}")

        vertices = [
            f"({vertex.x},{vertex.y})" for vertex in face.bounding_poly.vertices
        ]

        print("face bounds: {}".format(",".join(vertices)))

    if response.error.message:
        raise Exception(
            "{}\nFor more info on error messages, check: "
            "https://cloud.google.com/apis/design/errors".format(response.error.message)
        )

Additional languages

C#: Please follow the C# setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Vision reference documentation for .NET.

PHP: Please follow the PHP setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Vision reference documentation for PHP.

Ruby: Please follow the Ruby setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Vision reference documentation for Ruby.

Detect Faces in a remote image

You can use the Vision API to perform feature detection on a remote image file that is located in Cloud Storage or on the Web. To send a remote file request, specify the file's Web URL or Cloud Storage URI in the request body.

REST

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • CLOUD_STORAGE_IMAGE_URI: the path to a valid image file in a Cloud Storage bucket. You must at least have read privileges to the file. Example: 
    • gs://cloud-samples-data/vision/face/faces.jpeg
  • RESULTS_INT: (Optional) An integer value of results to return. If you omit the "maxResults" field and its value, the API returns the default value of 10 results. This field does not apply to the following feature types: TEXT_DETECTION, DOCUMENT_TEXT_DETECTION, or CROP_HINTS.
  • PROJECT_ID: Your Google Cloud project ID.

HTTP method and URL: 

POST https://vision.googleapis.com/v1/images:annotate

Request JSON body: 

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "image": {
        "source": {
          "imageUri": "CLOUD_STORAGE_IMAGE_URI"
        }
       },
       "features": [
         {
           "maxResults": RESULTS_INT,
           "type": "FACE_DETECTION"
         }
       ]
    }
  ]
}

To send your request, choose one of these options:

curl

Save the request body in a file named request.json, and execute the following command: 

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     -H "x-goog-user-project: PROJECT_ID" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
     -d @request.json \
     "https://vision.googleapis.com/v1/images:annotate"

PowerShell

Save the request body in a file named request.json, and execute the following command: 

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred"; "x-goog-user-project" = "PROJECT_ID" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Method POST `
    -Headers $headers `
    -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
    -InFile request.json `
    -Uri "https://vision.googleapis.com/v1/images:annotate" | Select-Object -Expand Content

If the request is successful, the server returns a 200 OK HTTP status code and the response in JSON format.

A FACE_DETECTION response includes bounding boxes for all faces detected, landmarks detected on the faces (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.), and confidence ratings for face and image properties (joy, sorrow, anger, surprise, etc.).

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Vision quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vision Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vision, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


// detectFaces gets faces from the Vision API for an image at the given file path.
func detectFacesURI(w io.Writer, file string) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	client, err := vision.NewImageAnnotatorClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	image := vision.NewImageFromURI(file)
	annotations, err := client.DetectFaces(ctx, image, nil, 10)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if len(annotations) == 0 {
		fmt.Fprintln(w, "No faces found.")
	} else {
		fmt.Fprintln(w, "Faces:")
		for i, annotation := range annotations {
			fmt.Fprintln(w, "  Face", i)
			fmt.Fprintln(w, "    Anger:", annotation.AngerLikelihood)
			fmt.Fprintln(w, "    Joy:", annotation.JoyLikelihood)
			fmt.Fprintln(w, "    Surprise:", annotation.SurpriseLikelihood)
		}
	}
	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Vision API Quickstart Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Vision API Java reference documentation.


import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.AnnotateImageRequest;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.AnnotateImageResponse;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.BatchAnnotateImagesResponse;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.FaceAnnotation;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.Feature;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.Image;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.ImageAnnotatorClient;
import com.google.cloud.vision.v1.ImageSource;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class DetectFacesGcs {

  public static void detectFacesGcs() throws IOException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String filePath = "gs://your-gcs-bucket/path/to/image/file.jpg";
    detectFacesGcs(filePath);
  }

  // Detects faces in the specified remote image on Google Cloud Storage.
  public static void detectFacesGcs(String gcsPath) throws IOException {
    List<AnnotateImageRequest> requests = new ArrayList<>();

    ImageSource imgSource = ImageSource.newBuilder().setGcsImageUri(gcsPath).build();
    Image img = Image.newBuilder().setSource(imgSource).build();
    Feature feat = Feature.newBuilder().setType(Feature.Type.FACE_DETECTION).build();

    AnnotateImageRequest request =
        AnnotateImageRequest.newBuilder().addFeatures(feat).setImage(img).build();
    requests.add(request);

    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
    // the "close" method on the client to safely clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (ImageAnnotatorClient client = ImageAnnotatorClient.create()) {
      BatchAnnotateImagesResponse response = client.batchAnnotateImages(requests);
      List<AnnotateImageResponse> responses = response.getResponsesList();

      for (AnnotateImageResponse res : responses) {
        if (res.hasError()) {
          System.out.format("Error: %s%n", res.getError().getMessage());
          return;
        }

        // For full list of available annotations, see http://g.co/cloud/vision/docs
        for (FaceAnnotation annotation : res.getFaceAnnotationsList()) {
          System.out.format(
              "anger: %s%njoy: %s%nsurprise: %s%nposition: %s",
              annotation.getAngerLikelihood(),
              annotation.getJoyLikelihood(),
              annotation.getSurpriseLikelihood(),
              annotation.getBoundingPoly());
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the Vision quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vision Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vision, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

// Imports the Google Cloud client libraries
const vision = require('@google-cloud/vision');

// Creates a client
const client = new vision.ImageAnnotatorClient();

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// const bucketName = 'Bucket where the file resides, e.g. my-bucket';
// const fileName = 'Path to file within bucket, e.g. path/to/image.png';

// Performs face detection on the gcs file
const [result] = await client.faceDetection(`gs://${bucketName}/${fileName}`);
const faces = result.faceAnnotations;
console.log('Faces:');
faces.forEach((face, i) => {
  console.log(`  Face #${i + 1}:`);
  console.log(`    Joy: ${face.joyLikelihood}`);
  console.log(`    Anger: ${face.angerLikelihood}`);
  console.log(`    Sorrow: ${face.sorrowLikelihood}`);
  console.log(`    Surprise: ${face.surpriseLikelihood}`);
});

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Vision quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vision Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vision, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

def detect_faces_uri(uri):
    """Detects faces in the file located in Google Cloud Storage or the web."""
    from google.cloud import vision

    client = vision.ImageAnnotatorClient()
    image = vision.Image()
    image.source.image_uri = uri

    response = client.face_detection(image=image)
    faces = response.face_annotations

    # Names of likelihood from google.cloud.vision.enums
    likelihood_name = (
        "UNKNOWN",
        "VERY_UNLIKELY",
        "UNLIKELY",
        "POSSIBLE",
        "LIKELY",
        "VERY_LIKELY",
    )
    print("Faces:")

    for face in faces:
        print(f"anger: {likelihood_name[face.anger_likelihood]}")
        print(f"joy: {likelihood_name[face.joy_likelihood]}")
        print(f"surprise: {likelihood_name[face.surprise_likelihood]}")

        vertices = [
            f"({vertex.x},{vertex.y})" for vertex in face.bounding_poly.vertices
        ]

        print("face bounds: {}".format(",".join(vertices)))

    if response.error.message:
        raise Exception(
            "{}\nFor more info on error messages, check: "
            "https://cloud.google.com/apis/design/errors".format(response.error.message)
        )

gcloud

To perform face detection, use the gcloud ml vision detect-faces command as shown in the following example:

gcloud ml vision detect-faces gs://cloud-samples-data/vision/face/faces.jpeg

Additional languages

C#: Please follow the C# setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Vision reference documentation for .NET.

PHP: Please follow the PHP setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Vision reference documentation for PHP.

Ruby: Please follow the Ruby setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Vision reference documentation for Ruby.

Try it

Try face detection below. You can use the image specified already (gs://cloud-samples-data/vision/face/faces.jpeg) or specify your own image in its place. Send the request by selecting Execute.

Request body:

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "features": [
        {
          "maxResults": 10,
          "type": "FACE_DETECTION"
        }
      ],
      "image": {
        "source": {
          "imageUri": "gs://cloud-samples-data/vision/face/faces.jpeg"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}