Count logs in a photo: free timber counter

What the log counter counts

It counts round log ends: a pile at the roadside or a landing, a stack in a log yard, a load on a truck or trailer. To count logs in a photo, take one shot of the pile face and check the few it flags. It was trained on log ends in piles and on trucks, from single logs up to dense loads.

It counts pieces. It does not measure volume, diameter, species or grade. Log-scaling apps and tools such as Timbeter measure volume; if you need cubic metres or board feet, you need one of those. If you need to know how many logs are on the load, this is quicker.

It is not made for:

• Logs seen from the side, or the bark face of a pile. It needs the cut ends facing the camera.
• Standing trees or photos taken from a drone.
• Split firewood. It is made for round log ends. Split pieces are a different shape, so if you try it, check the count closely.

How to photograph a log pile

1. Stand square to the pile. Face the log ends, not the pile from one side. From an angle, big logs in front hide smaller ones behind.
2. Get every log end in the frame. Step back until no log is cut off by the edge of the photo.
3. Hold steady. Small logs between big ones are the easiest to lose, and a shaky photo loses them first.
4. Even light. Low sun across a pile throws deep shadows from the big logs onto the small ones. Keep the sun behind you.

For a long roadside pile, photograph it in sections. Pick a log you can see in both photos, or set a stake against the pile, as the dividing line, so no log is counted twice. On a truck, photograph each stack from the back. If the load has several stacks between stakes, count each one and add them.

Logs cut off by the photo edge

On test photos, most logs the counter missed were slivers at the edge of the photo, plus the odd small log wedged between big ones. So the counter treats the edge with a simple rule:

• A log at the edge with at least half of its end showing is counted.
• A log with less than half showing is not counted on its own. It gets an orange ring, and you decide: tap Check to step through them, then count or dismiss each one.

The best fix is the photo itself: step back until the whole pile face fits with some margin, and there is nothing at the edge to decide.

How accurate is it on logs?

The logs model scores 94% count accuracy before you check anything. Count accuracy is 100% minus the average counting error, measured in the browser on held-out photos with 10 or more objects that the models never trained on, before any checking.

It rarely rings something that is not a log. Big logs are not the problem; even photos of a few dozen large logs lose only the slivers at the photo edge. The Check step takes you to exactly those spots.

Who uses a timber counting app

• Log truck drivers checking the piece count on a load before they leave the landing.
• Sawmill log yards counting loads as they arrive.
• Forestry contractors counting roadside piles for a tally.
• Pulpwood and firewood buyers checking a pile of round logs before they pay for it.

No log counter app to install: this one runs in any current browser, on Android and iPhone alike, with no account.

Other counters

Sawn boards and planks have their own model: the lumber counter. Pipe bundles go to the pipe counter and bar bundles to the rebar counter. For split firewood or bundled poles, try counting by example with Anything. Weighing this against CountLogs or CountThings? See how the free counter compares.

Out in the forest? The log counter app works with no signal

The web page needs a connection to load. The Counting Master app for iPhone does not:

• Count from the camera at the landing, with no signal. It shows when the phone is level and square to the pile, and warns about blur and dark light before you count.
• Teach it your own items. Count something the logs model was not made for, like split firewood or bundled poles, by tapping one example, and save it as an item. After 20 checked counts, your iPhone trains a counter for that item, and it counts by itself from then on.
• Keep a history of every load you counted, on the phone.

iPhone, iOS 17 or later. The first three counts are free. Get Counting Master for iPhone