Families & Archivists
Date, describe, and catalog your photo archives.
Decades of undated, unlabeled photos sitting in shoeboxes and hard drives. Phototology identifies 23 categories of date anchors, writes structured intelligence into the file as metadata, and turns a pile of images into a searchable archive.
Date your photos1,000 free credits/month. No credit card.
Every family has photos that no one can date. The people who could tell you are gone, and the photos sit in boxes with no context. Professional archivists face the same problem at institutional scale: thousands of images with no metadata, no dates, no descriptions. Manual cataloging takes 3 to 5 minutes per photo. A 500-photo collection is a 25-hour project.
Phototology analyzes each photo for visual date anchors: vehicle models, fashion silhouettes, hairstyles, signage, architecture, appliances, film stock characteristics, and 17 other categories. Multiple anchors cross-reference to produce a date range with confidence scoring. The dating module does not guess. It shows its work.
Beyond dating, the API describes scenes, identifies people and objects, assesses atmosphere, and evaluates photo condition. Every finding is embedded directly into the image file as EXIF, IPTC, and XMP metadata. The photos carry their intelligence with them. Open them in any application, and the context is there.
Example Output
1960s family photo analysis
Evidence Anchors
- MGB Roadster with wire wheels (produced from 1962)
- Bouffant hairstyle (peak 1960-1964)
- Double-breasted skirt suit (early 1960s silhouette)
- White structured handbag (early 60s accessory)
- Kodachrome color saturation and grain signature
Cost Comparison
Professional archivists charge $1-$3 per photo to catalog
Professional Archivist
$1-$3
Per photo. 3-5 minutes each. 500-photo collection = $500-$1,500 and 25+ hours.
Phototology
$0.06
Per photo (6 modules). 200-photo archive for ~$12. Dates, descriptions, and metadata embedded in minutes.
FAQ
Photo dating and archiving questions
How does Phototology estimate when a photo was taken?
The dating module analyzes 23 categories of visual evidence: vehicle models, fashion silhouettes, hairstyles, appliance designs, signage typography, film stock characteristics, and more. Each anchor is cross-referenced against historical databases to produce a date range with confidence scoring. Multiple anchors narrow the range.
How accurate are the date estimates?
Accuracy depends on the number and quality of visible date anchors. A photo with a specific car model, period clothing, and identifiable film stock can be dated to a 2-3 year window with high confidence. A photo with fewer anchors produces a wider range. Every estimate includes the evidence chain so you can evaluate the reasoning yourself.
What metadata does Phototology write into the photo file?
Phototology embeds analysis results as EXIF, IPTC, and XMP metadata directly into the image file. Date estimates, descriptions, entity identifications, and atmosphere assessments become part of the file itself. Photos carry their intelligence with them, regardless of which application opens them.
Can I process an entire shoebox of scanned photos at once?
Yes. The API accepts batch uploads. A 200-photo family archive at 5-6 modules per photo costs roughly $12 and completes in minutes. Each photo gets dated, described, and cataloged with structured metadata. The Registry ensures re-scans of the same photos are never charged twice.
What is the evidence chain and why does it matter?
Every finding includes the specific visual indicators that produced it. For a date estimate, you see "MGB Roadster with wire wheels (produced from 1962)" and "Bouffant hairstyle (peak 1960-1964)" as anchors. This transparency lets you verify the reasoning, catch errors, and learn what Phototology noticed that you might have missed.
Give your photos back their history
1,000 free credits/month. Six cents per photo for full analysis. Every finding embedded as metadata.
Date your photos