For the last 10 years, Flashframe has been doing what it set out to do: help participants find their photos quickly, and help photographers actually sell them without turning race weekend into a second full-time job. Bib tagging has always been a huge part of that success. It’s proven, it’s familiar, and when the bib is visible it’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to connect a person to their photos at scale. You can see the platform at https://www.flashframe.io/ .
That said, anyone who has photographed (or raced) enough events knows there are edge cases where the bib just isn’t readable even though the photo is great. Arm swing covers the torso, a hydration vest or jacket blocks the bib, the angle is off by a few degrees, or the crowd compresses at the finish line. In triathlon and cycling, there are also plenty of moments where identifiers are inconsistent across swim/bike/run or where the bib simply isn’t positioned in a way that’s camera-friendly. None of that is a knock on bib tagging—it’s just the reality of fast-moving sports and real-world conditions.
Face Search (as a complement to bib tagging)
Flashframe now offers facial recognition search as an additional path to discovery when bibs aren’t visible in a subset of images. This isn’t “bib tagging wasn’t good enough.” Bib tagging is still the backbone of endurance photo discovery, and it works extremely well in the vast majority of cases. Face search is there for the “great photo, hard-to-read bib” moments—often the exact frames people care about most, like dynamic mid-stride shots, candid moments late in the race, or finish-chute photos where the bib is angled away from the camera. The official details and policy language for face search live here: https://www.flashframe.io/terms/ .
Why this matters for endurance events
Most athletes already know the flow: search your bib, find your set, pick your favorites. When bib search works (which is most of the time), it’s still the fastest path from gallery to checkout. Face search helps fill in the gaps when you’re missing a chunk of images because the bib simply wasn’t visible in motion. Instead of guessing based on jersey color or scrolling endlessly through thousands of photos hoping to spot the right stride, face search gives athletes another reliable way to locate themselves and complete their gallery.
Now Flashframe supports bib-less events too
The bigger unlock is what this enables beyond endurance sports. Once you have a reliable way for people to find themselves without relying on a bib number, Flashframe isn’t limited to marathons and triathlons. Bib-less events become viable, because discovery no longer depends on a visible number. We just photographed a pickleball tournament, and it’s a great example of the kind of event that benefits from the Flashframe workflow: lots of action, lots of participants, and a strong “I want that shot of me” impulse—but no bibs, no chip times, and no obvious identifier to search with. Face search makes those kinds of events a practical fit, because participants still have a simple way to find themselves and purchase photos.
What photographers and event operators get
Face search is less about changing how you shoot and more about improving discovery and conversion. When more participants successfully find themselves, more people end up favoriting, adding to cart, and buying. It also reduces the support burden, because a larger share of “I can’t find my photos” situations turn into self-serve success stories. In practice, it’s the same Flashframe goal as always: keep the workflow lightweight for photographers, and keep the buying experience fast and intuitive for participants.
Privacy
Facial recognition needs to be implemented responsibly, and Flashframe’s terms describe face search as opt-in and explain how biometric data is used, stored, and how deletion requests work. If you want the exact language, you can find it here: https://www.flashframe.io/terms/ .
The goal is still the same
Flashframe is still about making sports photography feel full-service again. Bib tagging remains the foundation, and face search strengthens it by covering the cases where bibs aren’t visible while also opening up entirely new categories of events—like pickleball—where bibs aren’t used at all. If you’re an event organizer, timer, or photographer and want to talk through photographing an endurance event or something completely different, reach out to Ken Winokur at ken[at]flashframe.io.