Sketching to Find Images

This has been around a while but I'm just now finding it. Retrievr is (was? doesn't appear updated) a experiment in image retrieval. Using a simple, somewhat crude drawing app you make a little rough sketch that echoes the shape and colors you want in a photo and it searches a subset of Flickr photos for matches. Considering how imprecise the drawing tools are it really does a nice job of coming up with somewhat related photos. Draw a simple yellow flower, and you get a lot of yellow flowers, feathers, and similar images. Fun to play with and it's another way to dig up that elusive perfect image for a project.

Very simple sketches with few colors seem to work best but feel free to try some more complex drawings and see what happens. I can see it as being useful if you're searching for, say, a black & white photo with a splash of red or perhaps an image that contains strong curved lines. Give it a try.