Bystander faces in a scene photo: check likeness before image_url

If you use a photo as the scene for an avatar video, check every face in it before you send the URL: crop or retake the photo if a bystander appears. The Sume docs describe scene: { "type": "photo", "image_url": "..." } as an input and say nothing about screening people in it, so the check is your job.

Where a stranger's face can get in

The avatar API takes a photo as a scene reference, and it can take product images and per-scene backgrounds. A photo of a store, an office, a trade-show booth, or a street often has people in the back. A render builds a video around that image, so a bystander may appear in the final frames. That is a likeness problem even if they are small in the shot.

Use the preview

Sume's preview route produces a first-frame still before the full render, and the docs say it refreshes the stills and can include the scene image URLs. A reviewer can look at the still for faces before you pay for a render. That is a better check than a quick look at the source photo, because it shows the composed frame.

import json

body = {
    "avatar_handle": "store_host",
    "aspect_ratio": "9:16",
    "quality": "standard",
    "scene": {"type": "photo", "image_url": "https://example.com/store-front-clean.jpg"},
    "script": "Welcome to our new location. Come see what is on the shelves this week.",
}
print(json.dumps(body, indent=2))

A short review routine

Make the check a step in your workflow, not a habit. One person drops the photo into a shared folder, a second person looks at it at full size, and only then does the URL go into a request. Zoom to 200 percent and scan the edges, windows, and reflective surfaces, because that is where small faces hide. After the preview still arrives, look again, since the composed frame can crop or scale the scene differently from the source file.

If you cannot verify who is in a photo, do not use it. A fresh photo of an empty space costs a few minutes, and a complaint from someone who finds their face in your video costs much more.

Process notes

• Keep a folder of approved scene photos with a note that no bystanders appear.
• Do not use a photo from a public feed or a customer's post without their permission.
• If an image has a bystander, retake it at a quiet hour; blur is a last resort because it looks odd.
• A product image is not a person, but a hand or a face holding it is.

Limits

The docs do not describe a face-screening step, so do not assume one exists. Likeness rules vary by country and by use, and people can object to being in advertising even when the photo was taken in public. When in doubt, retake the photo.