MacRumors has a forum that began back in 2007 entitled "Name this font." Since then, people have weighed in with experience and links to resources that help users solve some perplexing cases -- font suitcases that is. One particularly useful site for sleuths is WhatTheFont.com. But did you know there's a version for the iPhone?
In response to a posting, the reversed out morticed sample text was saved to the Desktop. In Photoshop, the text was inverted for a white background and the canvas enlarged. WhatTheFont for iPhone displays two buttons upon startup: "Take a new photo" and "Use a saved photo" are the labels. With the iPhone camera, the text displayed on the computer screen was photographed. Using a finger on the iPhone screen, the desired font area was selected for cropping. Upload the image. After confirming OCR display of each character, available font matches were listed. An Internet connection is required. When at a desktop computer, a picture of sample text can be uploaded through a Web browser (without using the iPhone).
Help & Tips points out that "WhatTheFont works best with just a few, large letters. Keep the text to fewer than 20 characters." Also, "avoid connected letters (e.g. cursive handwriting)" or ligatures. Results can be quite impressive from a good sample. If you're in search of a font on the go, don't wait for an answer on a forum. Ask WhatTheFont.