Wednesday, June 1, 2016

An introduction to Google Photos (Alas, no more Picasa!)

Most of my photo collections are stored on Google's Picasa. Now I hear that in March 2015 Picasa will be no more!!! Help! So today I am researching Google Photos. 

Google is retiring Picasa
The Google Picasa blog says: We’ve decided to retire Picasa over the coming months in order to focus entirely on a single photo service in Google Photos. We believe we can create a much better experience by focusing on one service that provides more functionality and works across mobile and desktop, rather than divide our efforts across two different products..."The date is March 15th.

When did Google Photos start?
The official Google blog says in a post entitled, 11 things to know about Google Photos "Google Photos was created in May 2015...we wanted to make all these experiences even better—with unlimited high quality storage so you never need to worry about where to store your snapshots, automatic organization and great search so you can quickly find the photo you’re looking for, and easy sharing so you can send any photo to anyone with just a link." This sounds amazing! By October 2015 100 million people were using Google photos!

The GIF that keeps on GIFing
As I read through the post on the official Google blog itt makes an interesting read. It mentions what it has noticed about photos so far with the 100 million+ people's uploaded photos. I want to try this one! "Haven’t made a GIF yet? Start by selecting photos, tapping the + button, then select “Animation.”

Are videos included?
Google says, "With Google Photos, you can now backup and store unlimited, high-quality photos and videos, for free. We maintain the original resolution up to 16MP for photos, and 1080p high-definition for videos, and store compressed versions of the photos and videos in beautiful, print-quality resolution. For all the storage details, visit our help center" (it is worth clicking on this Help centre link).

How do I find Google photos?
Google describes Google Photos as "a new, standalone product that gives you a home for all your photos and videos, helps you organize and bring your moments to life, and lets you share and save what matters." You won't find it in your Google+ account, I noticed, but you will find it connected to your Google Account. So log in to your Google account and then type in:  
https://photos.google.com/ and there you have it! 

How do I automatically back up photos from my mobile phone?
I discovered that it is best to download the Google Photos App. from the Google Play stores (for Amdroid) or iTunes  (for iOS). You can then set your phone to automatically upload photos that you take whenever you are using WIFI.



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