Talking Tech: 5 cool photo tools on Google+

Talking Tech: 5 cool photo tools on Google+

VENICE BEACH, Calif. — More photos are shared every day on Facebook, the most-used social network, than anywhere else on the Web. So what do you do when you're the No. 2 social network trying to gain traction against Facebook? If you're Google+, you try to outdo Facebook on photos, offering more tools and enhancements to make images look larger and prettier. Most important, G+ lets you download your photos in top resolution, which Facebook won't do.

While Facebook has more than 1.1 billion members, Google+ is one-fifth the size, with 190 million members. Facebook says more than 300 million photos are uploaded daily. Google won't reveal photo stats for its social network.

But the Internet giant has added several new features to G+ this year, says Kate Cushing, a product manager for Google. In case you missed them, here are five cool photo tools and features on Google+.

• Auto backup. With the G+ app for Android or Apple devices, you can automatically back up your camera phone photos. Just download the app, click on the "auto backup" tab in the settings, and every photo you take with the mobile device will be instantly uploaded to Google+. The photos are uploaded privately. Log into your G+ account and you can then create galleries, add tags and descriptions, and share them both on the social network and via e-mail. "If you lose your phone, you won't lose your pictures," says Cushing. "You can always get them back, because they're in the cloud." (Apple has a similar feature, iCloud, but it only works with Apple devices.)

(Reader alert: Google offers 15 gigabytes of free storage, which can quickly fill up if you take tons of photos — especially if you add in pictures from your high-resolution digital SLRs and point-and-shoots. Camera phone photos are offered at unlimited storage, but only in "tablet resolution." In other words, Google resizes your camera photos to smaller resolution unless you specify otherwise.)

• Auto enhance. In 2012, Google bought beloved Photoshop plug-in maker Nik Software, a favorite among professional photographers for its tools to pretty-up images. Nik's tools have been built into G+ to auto-enhance with improved color saturation and clarity. "We look for shots where maybe the lighting wasn't right, maybe a vignette would make it look nice," says Cushing. You have the option of undoing the auto tools and showcasing the picture without the enhancements.

• GIFs and panoramas. You've seen those animated photos online known as GIFs? G+ turns your series of pictures (such as multiple photos of two kids dancing) into GIFs that can be posted on the network. It also automatically creates panoramas of scenic shots. (This is an auto-only feature. You can't do it manually in G+.)

• Highlights. You go on a trip, shoot 1,000 photos, and Google creates a highlight showcase. "We look for photos where people are smiling, where everybody is included, and we put them up top, so you don't have to scroll through and sift through them."

• Search. Google is known for search, and it's bringing those tools to Google+ for going through your complete online photo library. Beyond typical actions such as searching for photos of your family (Mom, Jimmy, etc.) or vacations (New Zealand, San Francisco), Google throws in advanced queries for subjects you wouldn't expect to be searchable, such as "red" (photos that include red sunsets, red tablecloths and the like), "wine" (pictures with wine bottles) and "skies."

"It's a fast way to find photos you've taken," she says.