Google+ Auto Enhance

I've been leaving Google+'s "Auto Enhance" feature turned on since they implemented it at Google I/O...I have a mixed bag of feelings about it.

Generally, Google+ doesn't auto-enhance photos I upload via the official blogger's app (iOS / Android) or via Blogger's main blog entry page, so whenever I upload my photography photos, they don't get meddled with, that's great, cause I like them as-is, I did recently found out via Colin's blog that if you do it the email method, Blogger seems to auto enhance your photos anyway.

Whenever I blog and load pictures that are auto-uploaded to my Google+ account from my phone, those images on the other hand are auto enhanced, every single one of them.

I think the efforts to "help" the end user is a mixed bag, there are some cool features, like the auto-gif if you took a succession of images with your phone like I did (Link). Generally I think in terms of enhancing phone photos, it does a good job, with photography shots, I'd stick to uploading them via blog entries so they don't get re-edited again.

Here's some samples of Originals and Enhanced images.

Original

Enhanced

Original

Enhanced

Original

Enhanced

Original

Enhanced

Original

Enhanced

Original

Enhanced

Original

Enhanced

Original

Enhanced

Generally, I would say I am satisfied with the images, some of the changes are subtle, just minor enhancements, some times they are really good changes like the storage box shot, some times there are freak cases, like the van shot which I think was over exposed.

Some of the images do look a little HDR-ish, which can be a bit put off.

I guess since these are mainly just my phone photos, I'm fine with it la. As mentioned above, with my photography shots, I'll still prefer to leave them the way I intended to edit them.

Turning it Off

So you may want to turn it off, what do you do?

Simply go to your Google+ settings page for the account your blog is under, find "Auto Enhance" and uncheck "Automatically enhance new photos". This should remove auto enhance altogether.

To do so, you may head to your account via this link: Google+ Settings