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github-actions[bot] edited this page Aug 16, 2026 · 2 revisions

Help: Find Similar Images

The Find Similar Images workflow lets you select one photo and find other visually or perceptually similar photos across your indexed catalog. Results are placed into a new Lightroom collection for easy review.

How to use it

Library → Plug-in Extras → Find Similar Images...

  1. Select a single photo in the Library grid.
  2. Open Find Similar Images from the menu.
  3. Choose your search options in the dialog.
  4. The plugin queries the backend and creates a new Lightroom collection with the results, sorted by similarity.

Search options

Find by

Mode What it finds
Near duplicates (visual match) Visually nearly identical images — same scene, slightly different crop or retouch. Useful for finding exact or near-exact duplicates. Uses a perceptual hash.
Similar content (AI) Semantically similar images — same subject, style, or scene even if taken at a different time or place. Useful for finding shots "like this one". Uses the SigLIP embedding.

A perceptual hash compares how the picture looks, so it does not survive a large exposure change: the same frame at +2 EV reads as a different image. Use Similar content (AI) to find other frames of the same scene across a bracket.

Search in

  • All indexed photos — searches the entire backend database.
  • Current view — restricts the search to the currently open folder or collection.

Max results

How many similar photos to return. Default: 100.

Similarity (near-duplicate mode only)

Controls how closely two images must match to be included:

  • Strict (near duplicates) — only very close matches.
  • Normal — balanced default.
  • Loose (more variety) — broader matches, useful for finding related variations.

Tips

  • Use Near duplicates to find forgotten duplicates before deleting or archiving a shoot.
  • Use Similar content (AI) to build collections of photos sharing a visual theme — useful for portfolio editing or creating consistent series.
  • Photos must be indexed with Enable smart photo search for the AI mode to work. Near-duplicate mode needs indexing too, but compares perceptual hashes rather than embeddings.
  • Set the Lightroom collection sort order to Custom Order after the results collection is created to see the best matches at the top.

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