Dustin Adams, a PhD student at the University of California, has recently created an app that lets blind/visually impaired photographers take pictures with their phones. Tackling common questions like “I don’t know if I am focussed correctly“, “I am unable to distinguish buttons on my camera unless I pull out my magnifier“, and several lighting questions among various other things, the app makes taking pictures a breeze. A photo can be taken by a simple upward swipe on the phone screen. It detects all the faces in the frame and speaks the number out to the photographer so they know if all the subjects are in the photo. There are audio cues that help the photographer keep the main shot in the frame and focus. 

The app also records a 30 second audio to help the photographer remember who is in the shot as well as GPS data that tracks which city/neighborhood the picture was taken in. From the screenshots available in the research paper, it looks like this app is being made for iOS.

Do read the very interesting paper that Dustin Adams published to find out survey results and all the effort and direction that was put in this app to make it a success.