Methods are described for efficient and substantially instant recognition and translation of text in photographs. A user is able to select an area of interest for subsequent processing. Optical character recognition (OCR) may be performed on the wider area than that selected for determining the subject domain of the text. Translation to one or more target languages is performed. Manual corrections may be made at various stages of processing. Variations of translation are presented and made available for substitution of a word or expression in the target language. Translated text is made available for further uses or for immediate access.