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 high-quality 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 application that provides audio feedback to help blind people take pictures of objects and people and show that blind photographers 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 participants, showing that they could pick up how to successfully use the application very quickly.