Google Photos just got even better with new auto white balance feature

By Christian de Looper Published March 3, 2017

Google Photos is only getting better. The much-loved service has been updated regularly since its release a few years ago, but the latest update may be one of the most helpful yet. That’s because Google Photos just got auto white balance adjustment, which is now added to the growing list of the settings that are tweaked in Photos’ Auto mode.

The new feature, which is arguably a long overdue update, will make its way to the Android version of Photos first, after which it will most likely make its way to iOS. It’s also now rolling out to the Google Photos web apps.

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So what does auto white balance do? The white balance tool on a camera is used to render colors correctly. If you take a photo of something being lit by an orange light, then the photo can turn out to look a little orange. When the white balance is corrected, it can help the photos look much more natural.

google photos auto white balance before — 1. Before Balance
2. After Balance

google photos auto white balance after — 1. Before Balance
2. After Balance

Other features that were recently added include the integration of a feature called “smart albums” and PhotoScan, which can be used to automatically create albums. Google Photos, however, is perhaps best known for using artificial intelligence to augment its search feature. Using search in Google Photos, you can look for photos based on things like date and time, but you can also search for specific objects.

Photos itself fast became one of Google’s most popular products. The service actually originated in Google+, and was one of the more liked features of the failed social media network — to the extent that Google eventually decided to spin it out as its own service. Now, the Google Photos app is a staple on many Android phones, and is highly downloaded on iOS, too.

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Christian de Looper

Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…

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