GroupShot: Swap Your Face To Get The Perfect Picture

If there are ten family members posing for a photo, what is the likelihood of one really great photo where everyone is at their best – not closing their eyes, looking away, frowning, revealing too much skin? Unless you’re willing to stand there for an hour, chances of a perfect shot are slim.

That’s precisely why new Israeli startup called Macadamia apps has created an app that will ensure everyone can look their best in the family shot. The iPhone app,  called GroupShot, is an easy editing tool which enables you to combine different photos, by selecting the best parts from each picture and integrating them into one.

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GroupShot’s founders, Gil Megidish and Yair Bar-On, are both experienced developers. The two met a few years ago and earlier this year founded Macadamia apps.

Bar-On came up with the idea when he realized how hard it was to capture the perfect moment with his kids. “I’m a father who loves taking pictures. I discovered how hard it is to take a good picture with everyone standing still,” Bar-On tells NoCamels. “When I was looking for a solution, I found out that there was no app available that can do so.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPnd2Z2kGw8[/youtube]

The App store is brimming with photo editing apps. Each one promises to enhance, modify and alter images in different and innovative ways. The harsh competition and variety of options make this market hard to penetrate.

But, says Bar-On, while in standard photo editing apps you can play with contrasts, add different filters or toy with advanced editing techniques, “GroupShot uses cutting-edge technology that offers something beyond just appearance.”

The final image after correction

After downloading the app for $0.99, users are requested to select a minimum of two photos from their iPhone’s photo library or from their iCloud’s Photo Stream. Next, users can open the photo they wish to modify, touch the part they want to swap and – “voila!” – a group shot combining the best parts of each photo is created.  

In order to make this happen, the two had to overcome one main problem: no matter how hard you try, you will not manage to take two identical pictures using your iPhone. Each time a photo is being taken without a tripod, the alignment is different and the light and angles will not match in order to integrate them into a seamless singular picture. The company managed to overcome this problem using an advanced algorithm which advises you which picture is best out of the ones you’ve picked.

Not afraid of competition

According to Bar-On, the company is currently working on a version for android and will release a version of the app in Japanese.

Macadamia apps recently presented Groupshot at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and is presenting at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.

Bar-On tells NoCamels that the intense competition in Israel, known as the biggest hi-tech hub, is nothing but fertilizing. The ability to learn from your rivals and share information is unique, he says. “The networking opportunities to meet people and learn from them are unbelievingly overwhelming. When we wanted to create the initial buzz we didn’t have to look far, resulting with a promotion video that was made by an Israeli company called Clutch,” he adds.

According to Bar-On, since Macadamia apps is a private company, its financial information is undisclosed.