Snapchat Filter Selfies, Photobombed By Ghosts ?

You might have realized the different videos and photos are currently popping up all over the internet involving Snapchat filters seeming to pick up on on unseen ghostly faces. But what is this? A simple software malfunction or are the intricate Snapchat algorithms actually able to pick up on the faces of ghost’s. 

The Snapchat filters are able to transmogrify your face into a hamster, harry potter character or even, if you so wish it, a piece of toast!

But this gimmicky feature created by Snapchat there has an insane amount of technology behind it.

For this to function the device has to be able to recognize distinct features of a  face, not mistaking it for everyday objects, like a piece of furniture. The program has to model the structure of your face in 3d space, taking into account the rotation and occlusion of the overlaid prop effects. Woah. 

If you don’t understand what I just said then watch the video below.

So to find the face in the given space, Snapchat uses the Viola-Jones Algorithm. This works by scanning the image data repeatedly, calculating the different shades of grey ( grey-scale pixel value ).

By doing this the app picks up on the light hitting the fact, even when the light can’t be seen by the human eye. So normally the light would hit the bridge of your nose and your forehead first.

But does that mean it can mistake a lumpy bit of sofa for a human face?

See how he tells it where to go and the faces manifest …….

It is possible, it all depends on how the light is hitting the object. Like you see guys doing a Face swap with a plug socket etc.

But we do see this same technology put to use in some of the more expensive ghost hunting equipment. The SLS Camera ( The Structured Light 3d Scanner ).

One of the designers state ” The Machines software can make mistakes, however when functioning in the dark. So without light tampering and when a figure appears then it should stay there even when the camera is moving.”

See how he also is able to request the spirit to do certain things, making the chances of this happening accidental minute.

The only way to prove this is catching spirits is to give a command, tell it to appear again and facing pointing the camera in a different part of the room. Then you know that is a floating pooch face appears again then the chances of it being another glitch are a million to one. 

For us, these snap chat filters are picking up ghost’s and as technology advances in such crazy ways every day, we are guaranteed to find some accidental extra functions of devices or software. Let’s just hope there are more like this that can allow us to see more ghosties. 

What do you guys think? Comment Below

Links