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With automatic suggestions, better manual control and Portrait Light

Google is currently rolling out some significant changes for its Google Photos app on Android. The Google Photos update was announced in an official blog post and reveals two new AI-powered photo editing tools and a redesigned, user-friendly interface for manual editing controls.

New “Suggestions” tab

The biggest change is a new Suggestions tab located in the photo editing menu. “We’ve added a new tab right in the editor that uses machine learning to give you suggestions that are tailored to the specific photo you’re editing.“ At the moment this includes three options: Enhance, B&W Portrait and Color Pop. The new feature automatically adjusts details like brightness, contrast and portrait effects with just one tab and is an extension of the previous suggestions feature that is already integrated for two years. According to Google, many suggestions will show the specific edits that changed the photo and give users the possibility to tweak them further. And this is just the beginning “… in the coming months, we’ll add more suggestions to Pixel devices to help your portraits, landscapes, sunsets and more really stand out.”

©2018 Google LLC, used with permission. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google LLC.

Easy to use granular manual controls

Google Photos is also rolling out a new interface for the regular editing tools. “In addition to one-tap suggestions, the new editor makes it easy to find and apply granular edits, like brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth and more.” The editing tools are now arranged as a scrollable bar across the bottom of the editor and thus offer more intermediate levels than before. This kind of layout is already known from Instagram or Apple’s built-in photo editor. “With the editor’s new layout, you can quickly scroll through all your options to find the tool you need or discover new ones.” Users just need to tab on the effect they want and use the slider to adjust the changes.

©2018 Google LLC, used with permission. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google LLC.

Portrait Light improves lighting on people’s face

Another highlight, but unfortunately only for Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5: Portrait Light. The new editing feature “… uses machine learning to improve the lighting on faces in portraits. To give you even more control over how your portraits look, you’ll be able to adjust the light position and brightness post-capture through the Google Photos app.” Users simply need to move the position of the virtual light source to the desired location and the effect is applied to the face of the person. Portrait Light works on new and existing photos, whether or not they were shot in portrait mode. The feature clearly takes portrait mode lighting as we already have seen it on other devices to a whole new level. According to Google, the feature will be available “… on more Pixel devices soon.” Whether and when a rollout for other smartphones can be expected has not been revealed.

©2018 Google LLC, used with permission. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google LLC.

Currently, the new Google Photos editor is only available for Android. A release date for iOS was not announced.

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