Face embedding and comparison in Computer Vision - Model Metrics & Evaluation

Metrics & Evaluation - Face embedding and comparison

Which metric matters for Face Embedding and Comparison and WHY

Face embedding models turn faces into numbers. To check if two faces match, we compare these numbers using distance metrics like Euclidean or cosine distance. The smaller the distance, the more similar the faces.

For evaluation, True Positive Rate (Recall) and False Positive Rate matter most. Recall shows how many real matches the model finds. False positives show how often different people are wrongly matched.

We also use ROC curves and AUC (Area Under Curve) to see how well the model balances finding matches and avoiding mistakes across different thresholds.

Confusion Matrix for Face Matching

      | Predicted Match    | Predicted No Match |
      |--------------------|--------------------|
      | True Positive (TP)  | False Negative (FN) |
      | False Positive (FP) | True Negative (TN)  |

      Example:
      Suppose 100 pairs tested:
      TP = 80 (correctly matched same faces)
      FN = 10 (missed matches)
      FP = 5  (wrongly matched different faces)
      TN = 5  (correctly identified different faces)

      Total = TP + FN + FP + TN = 100
    

Precision vs Recall Tradeoff in Face Comparison

Recall means finding most of the real matches. High recall means fewer missed matches.

Precision means when the model says two faces match, it is usually right.

For example, in security, missing a match (low recall) can be bad. So recall is more important.

In photo apps, wrongly matching different people (low precision) can annoy users, so precision matters.

Adjusting the distance threshold changes this tradeoff: lower threshold increases precision but lowers recall, and vice versa.

Good vs Bad Metric Values for Face Embedding

• Good: Recall > 90%, Precision > 90%, AUC close to 1.0 means the model finds most matches and rarely mistakes different faces.
• Bad: Recall < 50% means many matches missed. Precision < 50% means many wrong matches. AUC near 0.5 means model guesses randomly.

Common Pitfalls in Face Embedding Metrics

• Accuracy paradox: If most pairs are different people, high accuracy can hide poor matching ability.
• Data leakage: Using same faces in training and testing inflates metrics falsely.
• Overfitting: Model works well on training faces but poorly on new faces.
• Threshold choice: Picking a bad distance threshold can skew precision and recall.

Self Check

Your face matching model has 98% accuracy but only 12% recall on matching faces. Is it good for production?

Answer: No. The model misses 88% of real matches (low recall). High accuracy is misleading because most pairs are different people. For face matching, recall is critical to find real matches. This model needs improvement.

Key Result

Recall and precision are key to evaluate face embedding comparison; high recall ensures real matches are found, high precision avoids wrong matches.

Practice

1. What is the main purpose of face embedding in face recognition systems?

easy

A. To detect faces in an image

B. To change the face image colors

C. To crop the face from the image

D. To convert a face image into a unique list of numbers

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand face embedding

   Face embedding transforms a face image into a unique numeric vector representing its features.

2. Step 2: Identify the purpose

   This numeric vector helps compare faces by their features, not by raw pixels.

3. Final Answer:

   To convert a face image into a unique list of numbers -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Face embedding = unique number list [OK]

Hint: Face embedding means turning face into numbers [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing embedding with face detection
• Thinking embedding changes image colors
• Assuming embedding crops the face

2. Which Python code snippet correctly computes the Euclidean distance between two face embeddings emb1 and emb2 stored as lists?

easy

A. distance = sum((a - b)**2 for a, b in zip(emb1, emb2)) ** 0.5

B. distance = abs(emb1 - emb2)

C. distance = emb1 + emb2

D. distance = max(emb1, emb2)

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall Euclidean distance formula

   Euclidean distance is the square root of sum of squared differences between corresponding elements.

2. Step 2: Match code to formula

   distance = sum((a - b)**2 for a, b in zip(emb1, emb2)) ** 0.5 uses a generator to compute squared differences, sums them, then takes square root, matching the formula.

3. Final Answer:

   distance = sum((a - b)**2 for a, b in zip(emb1, emb2)) ** 0.5 -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Euclidean distance = sqrt(sum of squared differences) [OK]

Hint: Euclidean distance = sqrt of sum of squared differences [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using abs() on lists causes error
• Adding lists concatenates, not distance
• Using max() does not measure distance

3. Given the following code, what is the printed output?

import numpy as np
emb1 = np.array([0.1, 0.2, 0.3])
emb2 = np.array([0.1, 0.25, 0.35])
distance = np.linalg.norm(emb1 - emb2)
print(round(distance, 3))

medium

A. 0.050

B. 0.100

C. 0.071

D. 0.150

Solution

1. Step 1: Calculate difference vector

   emb1 - emb2 = [0.1-0.1, 0.2-0.25, 0.3-0.35] = [0, -0.05, -0.05]

2. Step 2: Compute Euclidean norm

   Distance = sqrt(0^2 + (-0.05)^2 + (-0.05)^2) = sqrt(0 + 0.0025 + 0.0025) = sqrt(0.005) ≈ 0.0707

3. Final Answer:

   0.071 -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Distance ≈ 0.071 [OK]

Hint: Subtract vectors, then sqrt of sum squares for distance [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Forgetting to square differences
• Rounding incorrectly
• Mixing up emb1 and emb2 order

4. The following code tries to compare two face embeddings but raises an error. What is the error and how to fix it?

emb1 = [0.1, 0.2, 0.3]
emb2 = [0.1, 0.25, 0.35]
distance = (emb1 - emb2).norm()
print(distance)

medium

A. Lists do not support subtraction; convert to numpy arrays first

B. norm() is not a valid method; use length() instead

C. emb1 and emb2 must be strings, not lists

D. Missing import statement for math module

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify the error cause

   Subtracting two Python lists causes a TypeError because lists do not support '-' operator.

2. Step 2: Fix by converting lists to numpy arrays

   Convert emb1 and emb2 to numpy arrays to enable element-wise subtraction and use numpy.linalg.norm() for distance.

3. Final Answer:

   Lists do not support subtraction; convert to numpy arrays first -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   List subtraction error fixed by numpy arrays [OK]

Hint: Use numpy arrays for math on lists [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Trying to use norm() on lists
• Ignoring TypeError from list subtraction
• Assuming norm() is built-in for lists

5. You have two face embeddings: embA = [0.3, 0.4, 0.5] and embB = [0.31, 0.39, 0.52]. You want to decide if they belong to the same person using a threshold of 0.05 on Euclidean distance. Which code correctly implements this decision?

hard

A. distance = max(abs(a - b) for a, b in zip(embA, embB))
if distance > 0.05:
print('Same person')
else:
print('Different person')

B. distance = sum((a - b)**2 for a, b in zip(embA, embB)) ** 0.5
if distance < 0.05:
print('Same person')
else:
print('Different person')

C. distance = sum(abs(a - b) for a, b in zip(embA, embB))
if distance < 0.05:
print('Different person')
else:
print('Same person')

D. distance = sum((a + b)**2 for a, b in zip(embA, embB)) ** 0.5
if distance < 0.05:
print('Same person')
else:
print('Different person')

Solution

1. Step 1: Calculate Euclidean distance correctly

   distance = sum((a - b)**2 for a, b in zip(embA, embB)) ** 0.5 if distance < 0.05: print('Same person') else: print('Different person') computes Euclidean distance as sqrt of sum of squared differences, which is the right metric.

2. Step 2: Apply threshold logic

   If distance is less than 0.05, print 'Same person'; else 'Different person'. This matches the problem statement.

3. Final Answer:

   distance = sum((a - b)**2 for a, b in zip(embA, embB)) ** 0.5 if distance < 0.05: print('Same person') else: print('Different person') -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Euclidean distance < threshold means same person [OK]

Hint: Use Euclidean distance and compare with threshold [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using max difference instead of Euclidean distance
• Reversing the if condition logic
• Adding embeddings instead of subtracting