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.

image with 2 faces with and without annotations
Image credit: Himanshu Singh Gurjar on Unsplash (annotations added).

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Face detection requests

Set up your GCP project and authentication

Detect Faces in a local image

The Vision API can perform feature detection on a local image file by sending the contents of the image file as a base64 encoded string in the body of your request.

REST & CMD LINE

Before using any of the request data below, 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.

HTTP method and URL: 

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

Request JSON body: 

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "image": {
        "content": "base64-encoded-image"
      },
      "features": [
        {
          "maxResults": 10,
          "type": "FACE_DETECTION"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

To send your request, choose one of these options:

curl

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

curl -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer "$(gcloud auth application-default print-access-token) \
-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 called request.json, and execute the following command: 

$cred = gcloud auth application-default print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

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.).

C#

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

// Load an image from a local file.
var image = Image.FromFile(filePath);
var client = ImageAnnotatorClient.Create();
var response = client.DetectFaces(image);
int count = 1;
foreach (var faceAnnotation in response)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Face {0}:", count++);
    Console.WriteLine("  Joy: {0}", faceAnnotation.JoyLikelihood);
    Console.WriteLine("  Anger: {0}", faceAnnotation.AngerLikelihood);
    Console.WriteLine("  Sorrow: {0}", faceAnnotation.SorrowLikelihood);
    Console.WriteLine("  Surprise: {0}", faceAnnotation.SurpriseLikelihood);
}

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. 


// 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 API 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. 

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

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

/**
 * 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}`);
});

PHP

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

namespace Google\Cloud\Samples\Vision;

use Google\Cloud\Vision\V1\ImageAnnotatorClient;


function detect_face($path, $outFile = null)
{
    $imageAnnotator = new ImageAnnotatorClient();

    # annotate the image
    // $path = 'path/to/your/image.jpg'
    $image = file_get_contents($path);
    $response = $imageAnnotator->faceDetection($image);
    $faces = $response->getFaceAnnotations();

    # names of likelihood from google.cloud.vision.enums
    $likelihoodName = ['UNKNOWN', 'VERY_UNLIKELY', 'UNLIKELY',
    'POSSIBLE', 'LIKELY', 'VERY_LIKELY'];

    printf("%d faces found:" . PHP_EOL, count($faces));
    foreach ($faces as $face) {
        $anger = $face->getAngerLikelihood();
        printf("Anger: %s" . PHP_EOL, $likelihoodName[$anger]);

        $joy = $face->getJoyLikelihood();
        printf("Joy: %s" . PHP_EOL, $likelihoodName[$joy]);

        $surprise = $face->getSurpriseLikelihood();
        printf("Surprise: %s" . PHP_EOL, $likelihoodName[$surprise]);

        # get bounds
        $vertices = $face->getBoundingPoly()->getVertices();
        $bounds = [];
        foreach ($vertices as $vertex) {
            $bounds[] = sprintf('(%d,%d)', $vertex->getX(), $vertex->getY());
        }
        print('Bounds: ' . join(', ', $bounds) . PHP_EOL);
        print(PHP_EOL);
    }
}

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. 

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

    with io.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('anger: {}'.format(likelihood_name[face.anger_likelihood]))
        print('joy: {}'.format(likelihood_name[face.joy_likelihood]))
        print('surprise: {}'.format(likelihood_name[face.surprise_likelihood]))

        vertices = (['({},{})'.format(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))

Ruby

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

# image_path = "Path to local image file, eg. './image.png'"

require "google/cloud/vision"

image_annotator = Google::Cloud::Vision.image_annotator

response = image_annotator.face_detection image: image_path

response.responses.each do |res|
  res.face_annotations.each do |face|
    puts "Joy:      #{face.joy_likelihood}"
    puts "Anger:    #{face.anger_likelihood}"
    puts "Sorrow:   #{face.sorrow_likelihood}"
    puts "Surprise: #{face.surprise_likelihood}"
  end
end

Detect Faces in a remote image

For your convenience, the Vision API can perform feature detection directly on an image file located in Google Cloud Storage or on the Web without the need to send the contents of the image file in the body of your request.

REST & CMD LINE

Before using any of the request data below, 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

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": 10,
           "type": "FACE_DETECTION"
         }
       ]
    }
  ]
}

To send your request, choose one of these options:

curl

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

curl -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer "$(gcloud auth application-default print-access-token) \
-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 called request.json, and execute the following command: 

$cred = gcloud auth application-default print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

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.).

C#

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

// Specify a Google Cloud Storage uri for the image
// or a publicly accessible HTTP or HTTPS uri.
var image = Image.FromUri(uri);
var client = ImageAnnotatorClient.Create();
var response = client.DetectFaces(image);
int count = 1;
foreach (var faceAnnotation in response)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Face {0}:", count++);
    Console.WriteLine("  Joy: {0}", faceAnnotation.JoyLikelihood);
    Console.WriteLine("  Anger: {0}", faceAnnotation.AngerLikelihood);
    Console.WriteLine("  Sorrow: {0}", faceAnnotation.SorrowLikelihood);
    Console.WriteLine("  Surprise: {0}", faceAnnotation.SurpriseLikelihood);
}

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. 


// 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 API 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. 

// 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}`);
});

PHP

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

namespace Google\Cloud\Samples\Vision;

use Google\Cloud\Vision\V1\ImageAnnotatorClient;

// $path = 'gs://path/to/your/image.jpg'

function detect_face_gcs($path)
{
    $imageAnnotator = new ImageAnnotatorClient();

    # annotate the image
    $response = $imageAnnotator->faceDetection($path);
    $faces = $response->getFaceAnnotations();

    # names of likelihood from google.cloud.vision.enums
    $likelihoodName = ['UNKNOWN', 'VERY_UNLIKELY', 'UNLIKELY',
    'POSSIBLE', 'LIKELY', 'VERY_LIKELY'];

    printf("%d faces found:" . PHP_EOL, count($faces));
    foreach ($faces as $face) {
        $anger = $face->getAngerLikelihood();
        printf("Anger: %s" . PHP_EOL, $likelihoodName[$anger]);

        $joy = $face->getJoyLikelihood();
        printf("Joy: %s" . PHP_EOL, $likelihoodName[$joy]);

        $surprise = $face->getSurpriseLikelihood();
        printf("Surprise: %s" . PHP_EOL, $likelihoodName[$surprise]);

        # get bounds
        $vertices = $face->getBoundingPoly()->getVertices();
        $bounds = [];
        foreach ($vertices as $vertex) {
            $bounds[] = sprintf('(%d,%d)', $vertex->getX(), $vertex->getY());
        }
        print('Bounds: ' . join(', ', $bounds) . PHP_EOL);
        print(PHP_EOL);
    }

    $imageAnnotator->close();
}

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. 

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('anger: {}'.format(likelihood_name[face.anger_likelihood]))
        print('joy: {}'.format(likelihood_name[face.joy_likelihood]))
        print('surprise: {}'.format(likelihood_name[face.surprise_likelihood]))

        vertices = (['({},{})'.format(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))

Ruby

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

# image_path = "Google Cloud Storage URI, eg. 'gs://my-bucket/image.png'"

require "google/cloud/vision"

image_annotator = Google::Cloud::Vision.image_annotator

response = image_annotator.face_detection image: image_path

response.responses.each do |res|
  res.face_annotations.each do |face|
    puts "Joy:      #{face.joy_likelihood}"
    puts "Anger:    #{face.anger_likelihood}"
    puts "Sorrow:   #{face.sorrow_likelihood}"
    puts "Surprise: #{face.surprise_likelihood}"
  end
end

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

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.

image with 2 faces with and without annotations
Image credit: Himanshu Singh Gurjar on Unsplash (annotations added).

Request body:

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