The images search on www.live.com recently released a new feature that makes it easier to search for specific kinds of images. You can now search for portraits, faces and black and white images by adding some simple filters to queries.

For example if I wanted to search for specific kinds of images of my friend Alan I would use the following queries:

• Alan Dix filter:portraits
• Alan Dix filter:face
• Alan Dix filter:bw

The search also incorporates the new Related People feature which is also quite interesting … for example try this image search:

• Tim Berners Lee filter:portrait

 I’m not sure what heuristic it uses to relate people together but I find it quite an interesting discovery tool. Try it out for yourselves.