Without the need to use Google+ as a social network, you can use its wonderful automatic photo composition features, what in the English version is called " Auto-awesome ", on the new Google Photos app for Android, iPhone and via the web . The automatic composition of Google Photos is a series of effects that are applied to certain particular photos completely automatically, from Google+, on the photos uploaded to the social network.
The same effects can also be used to create personalized videos and photo sequences with background music.
I have already written two articles on the subject:
A guide to managing photos with Google+ and how Google Photos is the best photo site to use .
To be very concise, the strong point of Google Photos is the fact of being able to upload an unlimited number of photos and videos on its cloud space, without worrying about the available space, as long as you accept a resizing.
Moreover, the upload of photos to Google Photos can become automatic both on PC and smartphone, through the related applications for iOS and Android.
On this page the links to download the automatic photo backup program from PC to Google Photos for Windows and Mac.
To use the Auto Compose feature in Google Photos, you don't have to do anything, just enable automatic backup of photos from your phone or computer, take photos and wait.
You never know when this auto-composition is put to work by Google Photos and it's often a surprise.
For example, if you upload a photograph with snow, Google could create a version of the photo where you see snow falling.
For other photos, the automatic correction could be activated and a more balanced version with better contrast could be created.
The most frequent effects are those that provide for multiple consecutive shots of the same subject.
In the Google Photos settings you can choose how often you want Google Photos to create edited versions of the photos and videos.
Obviously the original version of the photos is preserved and the photos created by Google Photos can be deleted.
The automatic composition effects in Google Photos are as follows:
1) Snow : Adds the falling snow to a Christmas or snow photo.
2) Eraser : removes moving objects in the background from 4 or more successive shots (useful, for example, for removing objects or people against the background of a photo).
3) Animations : If you take at least 4 photos of a scene, you will see only one photo moving.
4) HDR : combines the best of 3 + photo lighting from the same scene where nothing moves (e.g. landscape photo)
5) Smile : combine 2 or more photos of a group of people so that each person is portrayed at his best, smiling.
6) Panorama : creates a paniramic image from 3 or more overlapping photos of a panorama.
7) Collage : create a grid of 3 or more photos with the same background, as in a passport photo machine.
8) Stories : an automatic movie with the best photos of a trip or vacation.
In order for these video stories to be created, it is necessary not only to activate auto-backup in the apps for Android and iPhone, but also that location history is active and that home and work addresses are indicated in Google Maps.
With the Google Photos app for Android you can also use the automatic composition in manual mode, with the photos of your choice.
To do this, just open the Google Photos app, select two or more photos and tap the + button to choose one of the options: movie, animation, collage and history.
From any computer or smartphone you can also edit individual photos with the Google Photo photo editing tools, which can be activated by pressing the pencil button that appears in each photo opened in large size.
In addition to basic photo editing tools such as cropping and adjusting brightness and saturation, you can easily apply filters or modify areas of a photo with powerful tools such as HDR and tilt-shift.
Desktop editing tools offer more options than smartphone apps.
The changes are reflected in the photos of Google Photos regardless of whether you work on your PC or mobile phone.
READ ALSO: Create photo stories and music videos on Android and iPhone .
