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9 Best Tips to Edit Photos in Google Photos

by Mehvish

Google Photos is an incredible tool that can be used as a gallery app besides a cloud storage service to store pictures. Just like most other gallery apps, Google Photos lets you edit photos as well. While it doesn’t offer high-end editing features like layering, masking, etc., it will work perfectly as an image editing app for regular photos. Let’s check various tips and tricks to edit photos in Google Photos. We will start with editing photos on Android first followed by iPhone and iPad.

Photo Editing Tips for Google Photos on Android

You will find all the Google Photos editing tools under the Edit option. Open any photo in the Google Photos and tap on the Edit icon at the bottom. Then use the following tips to edit your photos.

1. Use Suggested Edits

If you are lazy at editing photos, do not worry. Google Photos takes care of it by offering automatic editing suggestions for each photo. All you need to do is tap on the suggested edits and you will see a remarkable difference in your picture without touching other settings.

1. Open the photo that you want to edit in Google Photos.

2. Tap on the Edit icon. You will see the Suggestions tab with various suggested effects above it. Tap on them one by one to preview them. You can only use one suggested effect at a time.

edit suggestions in Google Photos

3. In case you don’t want to use any suggested edit, tap on the selected effect (the blue one) to turn it off. Once you are happy with the final result, tap on Save copy to create a copy of your photo.

2. Crop and Rotate Photo

It would be disgraceful if Google Photos image editor didn’t offer crop and rotate tools. Fortunately, both tools are available and can be used as shown below.

1. To crop a photo, open the required photo in the editing mode of Google Photos by tapping on the Edit icon.

2. Then hit the Crop option. Here you will find various cropping tools. By default, the free crop tool is activated. Drag the photo from any of the edges using the circular icons to freely crop your photo according to your requirement.

You can also use the slider at the bottom, crop using pre-defined size (such as 16:9, 4:3, etc.) by tapping on the size icon, or use the Transformation tool (on the right side).

Crop Photo Google Photos

3. To rotate the picture as per your need, tap on the Rotate icon repeatedly present inside the Crop option.

Rotate Photo Google Photos

3. Add Lighting and Color Effects

Right next to the Crop tool, you have the Adjust option. Here you will find several lighting and color tools such as brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth, tint, denoise, and much more. Tap on any tool to activate it. Then use the slider to adjust the effect. Alternatively, tap on the Effect tool to add it automatically. Once you add an effect, the selected effect icon will turn blue. Tap on the Done button to apply the effect.

Add Color Effects Google Photos

4. Remove Lighting and Color Effects

When you add any effect such as brightness, warmth, etc., to your photo, you don’t need to start from scratch to remove the effect. Go to the Adjust tab and tap on the added effect (blue-highlighted icon). Tap again on the same icon to remove it. You will notice that the icon regains its original black color. Hit the Done button to save the changes.

Remove Color Effects Google Photos

5. Add Multiple Effects and Filters

Once you have added one lighting or color effect to your photo, you can easily add more by tapping on any other lighting effect.

However, when it comes to filters, you can only add one filter at a time. If you want to add multiple filters to the same photo, just save the photo once with one filter, then add another filter by going to the editing mode.

6. Adjust Intensity of Filters

Google Photos offers several filters for your photos. Tap on any filter to add it to your image. What’s interesting is that you can adjust the intensity of the filters. Once a filter is activated (shows checkmark icon), tap on it again. A slider will show up. Use it to adjust the power of the filter. Tap on Done to save.

Adjust Intensity of Filter Effect Google Photos

7. Remove Filter

To remove the added filter from your photo, tap on the first option i.e., None. present under the Filters tab.

Remove Filter Google Photos

8. Draw and Add Text on Photos

Yes, you read that right. Google Photos lets you add text and doodle to your pictures.

1. Just tap on the More tab present at the extreme right side of the available options. Then tap on Markup.

Draw on Picture Google Photos

2. Tap on the pen or highlighter icon to draw on the photo. Select a color from the available options. Tap on the text tool to add text.

Add Text to Picture Google Photos

9. Compare to Original Photos

When you are editing a photo in Google Photos, you can compare it to the original photo at any time. Just tap and hold the image to view the original photo.

How to Edit Photos in Google Photos on iPhone and iPad

Google Photos offers comparatively fewer editing tools on iPhone and iPad. You can add filters, adjust light and color, and crop photos.

Open the required photo in the Google Photos app. Tap on the Edit icon to enter the editing mode. The first tab house various filters. Tap on any filter to add it to your picture. Tap on the filter again to adjust its intensity using the available slider. Hit the Done button. To remove the added filter, tap on the Original filter.

Add Effect iPhone Google Photos

Under the light and color effects, tap on the small down arrow next to the sliders to view more options. Use the last tab (Crop) to rotate and crop photos. While editing, touch and hold the edited photo to compare it to the original photo.

Adjust Color iPhone Google Photos

On iPhone, you get two options to save the photo – Save and Save copy. The first one overwrites the original copy (which can be extracted later) while the latter creates a new copy of the edited picture. Tap on the Save option at the top to use the first one. To create a copy, tap on the three-dot icon and select Save copy.  

Save as Copy iPhone Google Photos

To undo changes to an edited photo that you saved using the Save option, open it in the editing mode. Then tap on the three-dot icon and choose Undo edits to retrieve the original image.

Wrap Up: Editing Images with Google Photos

That’s how you can edit photos in the Google Photos app on Android and iPhone. If back up and sync is turned on in Google Photos, your edited photos will automatically become available on your other devices. Isn’t that awesome? Want Google Photos to surprise you more? Check out 10 Google Photos tips and tricks.

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