Select a Google Plus Photo
In Google+, it's exceptionally easy to import photos. If you've got the mobile app installed and allow it, your phone or tablet will upload every single photo you take on your device into a private folder. This tutorial shows you how to take those photos and edit them from your laptop or desktop computer.
To get started, click on the photos button on the top of your Google+ screen, and then click on Photos from your phone.
You could use photos from other sources, of course, but being able to edit photos from your phone before you make them public is one of the most useful features of Google+. In my case, my son loves to take pictures of himself on my tablet, so I'll start with one of his self portraits.
When you hover over a photo, you should see a little magnifying glass. Click on one of the magnifying glasses to zoom in. That will take us to the next step.
Exploring Photo Details on Google+
Now that you've clicked on a photo, you'll zoom in to see a larger view of it. Along the bottom, you'll see the photos taken before and after it in the set. You can select a new photo from there, in case it turns out this one was blurry or wasn't the one you intended to view.
Along the right, you'll see comments, if any. In this case, the photo is private, so there never were any comments. You can change the caption on the photo, chance the visibility to others, or vie the photo's meta data.
The meta data contains things like the size of the photo and camera used to take it.
In this case, we're going to hit the Edit button and then Creative Kit. I'll zoom in to show that in better detail in the next step
Select Creative Kit
This slide gives you a better view of what happens when you zoom into a photo and click on the Edit button. There are a couple of quick fixes you can make right away, but the real magic happens when you select Creative Kit. Google purchased an online photo editor called Picnik, and they've used quite a bit of their technology to power the editing abilities in Google+
I'll select Edit and then Creative Kit, and then move on to the next step.
This time there's Halloween flair.
Apply Effects and Edit Your Photos
If you're a Picnik user, this will all look very familiar. To start, you can pick from Basic Edits, like cropping, exposure, and sharpening filters.
On the top of the screen, you'll also see a selection for Effects. This is where you can apply filters, such as a filter to simulate a Polaroid frame or the ability to add a "sunless tan" to photos or remove blemishes.
Some effects simply apply a filter to a photo, and others require you to brush over the area where you want to apply the effect.
Once you select a different effect or move onto another area, you'll be prompted to either save or discard the changes you've made. Unlike Photoshop, Google+ does not edit photos in layers. Once you make a change, it's changed working forward.
However, for the purposes of this tutorial, we're going to use the selection next to Effects. This is a season specific selection, which in this case is Halloween.
When you pick a seasonal kit, you'll see fun filters and options specific to that season. Click on an item on the left and then apply it to your photo. Choose whether to apply or discard each edit when you select another item.
Like Effects, some of these may be filters that apply to the whole photo, and some may require that you drag your cursor over an area to apply the kit to a specific portion of the photo.
In this case, we're looking at Halloween effects, so you can drag your cursor to paint on ghoulish eyes or beards.
A third type of effect is called a sticker. It is as the name implies, a sticker that floats above your image. When you drag a sticker onto your image, you'll see handle bars that you can use to re-size and tilt the sticker in order to place it perfectly on the screen. In this case, my son's open mouth is the perfect spot to place some vampire fang stickers, so I drag them into place and re-size them to fit his mouth.
I add some vampire glowing eyes and a few blood spatter stickers for the background, and my picture is complete. The final step is saving and sharing this picture with the world.
Once you've made all the photo edits you'd like, you can save and share your photo. Click on the Save button on the upper right corner of the screen. You'll be asked to save or discard changes, as usual, but you'll also be asked if you'd like to replace your existing photo or save a new copy. If you replace your photo, it's going to overwrite the existing photo. In my case, that's just fine. The existing photo wasn't going to be used for anything, so I'm saving myself the trouble of having to delete it, anyway.
In other cases, you may also want to use the photo for other purposes.
You may see an image of turning gears as all of this processes. Google+ has very fast photo processing by Internet standards, but it's still sometimes pretty slow for someone used to editing on more powerful photo editors.
Once your changes are applied, you'll see the same photo details view as you did in step two. To share
In Google+, it's exceptionally easy to import photos. If you've got the mobile app installed and allow it, your phone or tablet will upload every single photo you take on your device into a private folder. This tutorial shows you how to take those photos and edit them from your laptop or desktop computer.
To get started, click on the photos button on the top of your Google+ screen, and then click on Photos from your phone.
You could use photos from other sources, of course, but being able to edit photos from your phone before you make them public is one of the most useful features of Google+. In my case, my son loves to take pictures of himself on my tablet, so I'll start with one of his self portraits.
When you hover over a photo, you should see a little magnifying glass. Click on one of the magnifying glasses to zoom in. That will take us to the next step.
Exploring Photo Details on Google+
Now that you've clicked on a photo, you'll zoom in to see a larger view of it. Along the bottom, you'll see the photos taken before and after it in the set. You can select a new photo from there, in case it turns out this one was blurry or wasn't the one you intended to view.
Along the right, you'll see comments, if any. In this case, the photo is private, so there never were any comments. You can change the caption on the photo, chance the visibility to others, or vie the photo's meta data.
The meta data contains things like the size of the photo and camera used to take it.
In this case, we're going to hit the Edit button and then Creative Kit. I'll zoom in to show that in better detail in the next step
Select Creative Kit
This slide gives you a better view of what happens when you zoom into a photo and click on the Edit button. There are a couple of quick fixes you can make right away, but the real magic happens when you select Creative Kit. Google purchased an online photo editor called Picnik, and they've used quite a bit of their technology to power the editing abilities in Google+
I'll select Edit and then Creative Kit, and then move on to the next step.
This time there's Halloween flair.
Apply Effects and Edit Your Photos
If you're a Picnik user, this will all look very familiar. To start, you can pick from Basic Edits, like cropping, exposure, and sharpening filters.
On the top of the screen, you'll also see a selection for Effects. This is where you can apply filters, such as a filter to simulate a Polaroid frame or the ability to add a "sunless tan" to photos or remove blemishes.
Some effects simply apply a filter to a photo, and others require you to brush over the area where you want to apply the effect.
Once you select a different effect or move onto another area, you'll be prompted to either save or discard the changes you've made. Unlike Photoshop, Google+ does not edit photos in layers. Once you make a change, it's changed working forward.
However, for the purposes of this tutorial, we're going to use the selection next to Effects. This is a season specific selection, which in this case is Halloween.
When you pick a seasonal kit, you'll see fun filters and options specific to that season. Click on an item on the left and then apply it to your photo. Choose whether to apply or discard each edit when you select another item.
Like Effects, some of these may be filters that apply to the whole photo, and some may require that you drag your cursor over an area to apply the kit to a specific portion of the photo.
In this case, we're looking at Halloween effects, so you can drag your cursor to paint on ghoulish eyes or beards.
A third type of effect is called a sticker. It is as the name implies, a sticker that floats above your image. When you drag a sticker onto your image, you'll see handle bars that you can use to re-size and tilt the sticker in order to place it perfectly on the screen. In this case, my son's open mouth is the perfect spot to place some vampire fang stickers, so I drag them into place and re-size them to fit his mouth.
I add some vampire glowing eyes and a few blood spatter stickers for the background, and my picture is complete. The final step is saving and sharing this picture with the world.
Once you've made all the photo edits you'd like, you can save and share your photo. Click on the Save button on the upper right corner of the screen. You'll be asked to save or discard changes, as usual, but you'll also be asked if you'd like to replace your existing photo or save a new copy. If you replace your photo, it's going to overwrite the existing photo. In my case, that's just fine. The existing photo wasn't going to be used for anything, so I'm saving myself the trouble of having to delete it, anyway.
In other cases, you may also want to use the photo for other purposes.
You may see an image of turning gears as all of this processes. Google+ has very fast photo processing by Internet standards, but it's still sometimes pretty slow for someone used to editing on more powerful photo editors.
Once your changes are applied, you'll see the same photo details view as you did in step two. To share
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