Google's new Android Photos app can use AI to enhance your photos

A new ‘Suggestions’ tab will recommend how Google thinks you should edit your photo

Adam Smith
Thursday 01 October 2020 14:55 BST
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(Google)

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Google has announced an update to its Photos application that will use machine learning to make more specific suggestions about how to enhance users’ photos.

In a blog post about the update, Google said that a new “Suggestions” tab, which will appear at the bottom of the screen underneath familiar editing settings such as “Enhance” and “Colour Pop”.

This new feature will make recommendations for the photo the user is looking at, including cropping it, adjusting brightness, contrast, warmth, and adding portrait effects.

As well as those existing features, more quick adjustments to “help your portraits, landscapes, sunsets and more really stand out” will be rolled out in the coming months.

These changes are only supposed to be a starting point, Google said.

“If you want to see what changes were applied, many suggestions will show the specific edits that changed your photo, allowing you to customize further," the blog post stated.

On Pixel devices, such as the recently announced Pixel 4a and Pixel 5, the company will also be bringing out “Portrait Light”, a new feature that lets users adjust the position of light and brightness after a photo has been taken.

This allows users to change if the light is coming from the top right of the photo, for example, and move it to the bottom left, using the company’s algorithmic skills to change shadows and brightness.

The new editor will be coming to Google Photos on Android devices now, although the company has not said whether it will make the leap from its own operating system to Apple’s iOS.

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