A beginner’s guide for identifying unknown performers eligible for StashDB.
Facial Recognition Step-by-Step Guide
Learn how to use free-tier premium facial recognition tools with Yandex Visual Search to identify unknown adult performers.
Currently, FaceCheck and PimEyes offer the most reliable results for freemium users seeking to identify adult performers. However, due to freemium limitations, an additional step with Yandex is necessary to trace the source of matches.
- Gather image(s) of the unknown performer. Both sites will let you search a maximum of three images per subject at a time. Use your allotted maximum to provide clear angles or different looks of the unknown performer’s face.
- Visit the website. Go to either FaceCheck or PimEyes in your browser.
- Paste or upload the image. Use the search form to paste or directly upload images you gathered in step 1.
- Review the results. The sites will provide visually similar matches. As a general rule the confidence rates of matches should be at least above 75-80% for reliable matches.
- Use Yandex Visual Search to investigate the primary source of results. Unfortunately results for freemium users will not show the direct primary source of the URL. However, Yandex can be leveraged to reverse-image search your results. This can be done by copying-and-pasting image results directly into Yandex Visual Search, or by using a reverse image search browser extension to expedite the process.
Understanding Facial Similarity
Doppleganger Effect
Matches provided by facial recognition tools can sometimes be unrelated look-alikes rather than the subject you’re identifying. Exercise caution, especially when the results come from non-adult sources
Use Facial Similarity Tools
In cases of uncertainty using a facial similarity tool can help to provide an analysis of two faces.
Unfortunately, the facial similarity tool FaceShape is no longer available. However, PimEyes and FaceCheck can help determine whether two faces belong to the same subject. Both sites allow for multiple images in one search, but all images submitted must be of the same individual. If the tools detect possible mismatches between faces, they will notify you that all uploaded images must be of the same person. This can serve as a basic method to assess facial dissimilarity.
Tips
For hard-to-find unknown performers, when facial recognition tools fail, try these methods to identify an unknown performer:
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Follow the trail on Yandex Visual Search. Submit your source image or an uncropped screenshot of the video frame containing the unknown performer. Follow relevant matches to galleries, forum posts, or tube site uploads that may contain more details about the source content.
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Triangulate with scene partner or studio name. If the scene partner of the subject is known, reference the scene partner’s IAFD page and Check Scene Pairings section. You will need to visually scan the section for the unknown subject’s face. If the scene partner is also unknown, use facial recognition tools to identify them.
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Use third-party retailer sites. Third-party retailer sites, such as Adult DVD Empire, can be used to filter performers (scene partners) or studios by Clips, providing a thumbnail view of their scenes which can be manually reviewed to match your own subject’s content.
Resources & Tools
FaceCheck
Premium facial recognition reverse image search. Provides reliable results often sourcing adult database sites. Freemium results do not disclose the complete primary source link, only the domain favicon.
PimEyes
Premium facial recognition reverse image search. Provides reliable and a much broader array of results but will not explicitly place adult database results first. Freemium results do not disclose the complete primary source link, only the first several characters of the URL truncated.
StashFace
Community-driven project trained on StashDB metadata for facial recognition reverse image search. Not as reliable as FaceCheck and PimEyes, but useful if the performer does happen to already exist on StashDB, otherwise likely to return false positives. Confidence rate of matches can be misleading.
CamGirlFinder
Facial recognition reverse image search specializing in “cam girls”.