How to count pipes in a photo (and rebar)

The short version

1. Stand square to the ends of the bundle.
2. Fit the whole bundle in the frame, with a margin all round.
3. Get close enough that every end is a clear ring, not a speck. If you can't do both, count the bundle in two parts.
4. Shoot in even light, with the phone held steady.
5. Open the pipe counter (or the rebar counter for solid bars), add the photo, and check the orange rings.

The rest of this guide explains why each step matters, so you can tell what went wrong when a count comes out short.

Why photo counts miss pipes

A counting model finds pipe ends by their shape: a round rim, usually with a dark centre. It almost never invents a pipe that is not there. When a photo count comes out short, it is because some ends were hard to see. In practice that comes down to four causes:

• Ends cut off by the photo edge. A sliver of rim at the border could be a pipe or nothing.
• Ends too small to make out. In a dense bundle shot from far away, each end is only a few pixels across, and blur merges them.
• Ends hidden behind others. From an angle, front pipes cover part of the rows behind.
• Ends in deep shadow. A rim in shadow has no edge to find.

Every step below removes one of these.

Step 1: Stand square to the ends

Face the bundle head-on, with the phone upright at the height of the bundle's middle. If you stand off to one side, or shoot up at a bundle on a truck bed, the front rows hide part of the rows behind them, and the rims turn into ovals that overlap.

On a truck, stand at the back and hold the phone at the height of the load, not from the ground looking up. In a rack, shoot straight into the bay.

Step 2: Fit the whole bundle, with a margin

Leave space between the bundle and the edges of the photo. The counter counts a pipe at the edge only when at least half of its end shows. Anything less gets an orange ring for you to decide, because a sliver of rim could be a pipe or a shadow.

A margin means nothing at the edge to decide. It is the cheapest way to a better count.

Step 3: Get close enough that each end is clear

Steps 2 and 3 pull against each other. A big bundle of small pipe fits in the frame only from a distance, and from a distance the ends are specks. Look at the photo before you count: zoom in on the far corner. If you can't make out each rim by eye, the counter will struggle too.

Move closer rather than zooming in. Digital zoom only crops the photo; it adds no detail.

When the bundle is too big for one photo

Count it in parts:

1. Pick a split down the middle of the bundle. With chalk or paint, mark the end of every pipe in the column just left of the split.
2. Photograph the left half, with the marked column inside the frame and a margin beyond it. Count it.
3. Photograph the right half. Some marked ends may show at its left edge: they were counted already, so tap their rings to remove them.
4. Add the two counts.

For a rack with several bays, count each bay as its own photo and add them up.

Step 4: Even light, held steady

Low sun across a bundle throws shadows from each pipe onto the next. Keep the sun behind you, or come back when it is overcast. Indoors, a pipe store's overhead lights are usually fine; the deep corners of a rack are not.

At dusk, the flash lights the front ends brightly and leaves the back ones dark. A work light from beside the camera is more even. Hold the phone still while it focuses. A sharp photo of small ends counts better than a blurry one of big ends.

Step 5: Count, then check

Open the free pipe counter, add the photo, and wait for the rings. Teal rings are counted. Orange rings are spots it was unsure about: ends cut by the edge, and faint ends it nearly counted. Tap Check to step through them one at a time and count or dismiss each. If it missed an end, tap it to add one; if it ringed something wrong, tap the ring to remove it.

When the count is right, tap Count is right and save the image with every ring drawn on. That image is your record: if a delivery is short, it shows exactly which pipes were there.

How to count rebar in a photo

Rebar and steel bar bundles count with the same round-ends model, on the rebar counter. The steps above all apply, with three differences:

• Bar ends are smaller. A solid bar has no dark centre, and thin bar in a big bundle makes very small ends. Get closer than you would for pipe, and split big bundles sooner.
• Bars are rarely flush. Cut lengths vary, so some ends sit back from the face of the bundle. Photograph the end where the bars are most even.
• Tags and tie wire often cover a few ends. Move them aside before the photo.

Square tube and boxed sections are not round. Count those on the lumber counter, which is made for flat-sided ends.

By hand, by weight or by photo

A photo count is fastest on the bundles that are slowest by hand: big ones, with hundreds of ends.

Count pipes every day? Use the iPhone camera

The web counter is free and works on any phone. The Counting Master app for iPhone builds these steps into the camera: it shows when the phone is level and square to the ends, warns about blur, glare and a smudged lens, and flags a tilted shot before you count. It works with no signal.

It also learns your own items. Count something the round-ends model does not know by tapping one example, save it, and after 20 checked counts your iPhone trains a counter for that item, so it counts by itself. Every count stays in your history on the phone.

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