Google has announced on their website, just in time for the holidays, new additions to their Memories app. The new additions include features that allow for the creation of cinematically enhanced photos, automated collages and collections of favorite people and places.
The cinematic photo feature is a form of panning or changing the depth of a photo giving it a sort of 3-D effect. The idea is to put the focus on a person’s face in a given photo, by enlarging it (as an animation) while the background remains fixed. Google calls the results cinematic photos and suggest the effect is like that seen in a lot of Hollywood movies. The idea is to give the viewer a feeling of being taken back to the moment that was captured in the photograph—to enhance emotions. The pictures can be made to show up automatically if desired. Also, the cinematic photos can be shared with others who have the Memories app.
Google has also increased collage design in a way that allows for more logical connections between events. Collages of events or of certain subjects can now be made automatically. The app will go find all of your camping photos, (or all those of you and your wife together) for example and show them together in an eye-pleasing way. It can do the same with all your birthdays, or holiday photos, or whatever you choose. Google has also added new kinds of layouts with more kinds of styles to make the collages look more cohesive.
Related to the collage changes, the developers have also made it easier to highlight and view some of the most important times you have shared with the most important people in your life. Google’s AI system can figure out who they are by noting who you take pictures of the most often. The app then presents them to you in a personalized way to make them more emotional. The new feature also lets users do the same for important places.
Google has also made it possible to exclude people, places or things from the photos that appear in the Memories app, to prevent unpleasant memories from spoiling the fun.