Face and focus assessments are the small indicators Narrative shows below your subjects' faces once your photos are imported. One indicator covers the eyes and expression, and the other covers focus. They measure different things, so a face can be in focus while its eyes are closed.
What do the face and focus indicators mean?
Narrative shows two face and focus indicators below each assessed face:
The ellipse is the eye and expression assessment.
The curved line underneath is the focus assessment.
Hover over an indicator to see a short explanation of the assessment. Hovering over the focus indicator also shows the focus score out of 10. The explanation tells you more than the color alone, so it's worth checking when you're unsure.
By default, the indicators use these colors:
Green: no issue found.
Yellow: something worth checking.
Orange or red: a possible issue to look at more closely.
Think of them like warning lights on a car's dashboard. They point out possible issues, but they don't make the call for you.
These are some of the face assessments Narrative makes, not the full list. If the assessment says the eyes are looking to the side or the expression is soft, take a closer look rather than rejecting the photo straight away.
How do I change how face and focus assessments are shown?
You can change how Narrative shows face and focus assessments in Preferences → Assessments:
For the main photo, choose Eye and Focus.
For the Close-ups panel, choose Eye and Focus (Detailed) to see more detail.
Change the indicator colors to suit how you review.
Your changes apply straight away.
For more on Close-ups, see Zoom and Close-ups in Narrative.
Why doesn't a face have an indicator?
A face has no indicator when Narrative treats it as a background face. Narrative sorts every face it finds into main, secondary and background faces, and it skips assessments for background faces on purpose. This keeps scanning fast and stops people in the background from affecting your results.
Narrative still detects background faces. When you hover over a background face in the main photo, a black frame appears around it to show the face was found. There's no setting to turn on assessments for background faces.
Face detection can also miss a subject now and then. If a main subject has no indicator, see Missing faces or face assessments in Narrative.
Note: A face without an indicator hasn't been checked, so it isn't necessarily sharp or eyes-open. Check it yourself if it matters to the shot.
Do face and focus assessments reject photos?
Face and focus assessments in Narrative never reject or delete your photos. Like Image Focus Scores and AI First Pass, they're a guide to help you review faster, and you make the final call.
Always check the whole photo as well as the face. Closed eyes, motion blur or a shallow depth of field might be exactly what you were going for.
What should I do if a face or focus assessment looks wrong?
If a face or focus assessment looks wrong, contact Support through the chat bubble or at [email protected]. Send an example photo and tell us what you expected to see. We use this feedback to keep improving Narrative's assessments.
If a focus score doesn't seem to match the photo, see Why does an out-of-focus image have a high focus assessment score?