Google wants you to spend more time with Google Plus, and to get you to do so, it is going to put your photos in a better light, literally.
In the long list of improvements rolled out during Google’s developer conference last week were many improvements to its photo editing and sharing tools.
Most notable is Auto Enhance, which lets an algorithm evaluate your photos and touch them up automatically, improving color, contrast and lighting. But there are also a lot of tools that have been there all along â€" somewhat concealed â€" that let you do useful, basic editing.
To get the most out of your photos on Google Plus, here is what you need to know.
Auto Enhance, which is new, is not the same as Auto Fix, which had long been a part of Google Plus. They seem similar because both are one-button touch-up programs. But Auto Enhance is much more sophisticated than the older Auto Fix.
I tried running a photo that was in pretty good shape through Auto Enhance. It made subtle changes, like slightly increasing the vignetting, adding a little bit of contrast, saturating the colors a little more, and slightly smoothing the skin of the subject: small changes that added up to a noticeable improvement. The effect is more dramatic with poorly lit phone photos.
Auto Enhance should automatically correct all of the photos you upload - if you have it set to do so. To make sure you have, you need to check your settings. In Google Plus, click on the home icon in the upper left, then go to the bottom of the menu where you will see “settings.†Click on settings.
In settings scroll down until you get to photos. The last two items are check boxes for Auto Enhance and Auto Awesome.
You may not always like what the algorithm does to your photos. There are a couple of ways to stop it without turning off completely. Go back to the Google Plus starting page, click on “Home†and scroll down to “Photos.†You can click on photos to edit individually. Above the photo click on the word “edit.†Now go to “undo†in the upper right, to remove Auto Enhance from the photo.
There are also a number of tools on the left-hand side that can crop your photo, rotate it, adjust highlights, shadows, contrast and exposure. There is a white balance tool that lets you remove a color cast from your photos, and you can sharpen or resize your shots.
A version of this article appeared in print on 05/30/2013, on page B11 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Sprucing Up Photos Automatically, With Google Plus.