Google Photos search

I created a Google Photos account as a backup to my Flickr account, but I am discovering that Photos has some unique capabilities. I realized that it classified your photo library in various ways, but I did not know you could search for words describing specific images as if you were searching for words.

I  was attending a FETC session and the search capability was demonstrated. The presenter searched for pizza. I tried the same thing.

I have been working with tech since the mid 80s and I still am amazed.

Backup, synch, or both

A high proportion of posts to Google+ I encounter seem related to issues with Google Photos. I have not invested a great deal of time in figuring out Photos beyond uploading several thousand picks. I do think the Google documentation needs to be improved.

Aside from concerns related to partial uploads, it seems to me many of the questions could be described as uncertainty regarding whether Google is providing customers a backup or synch service. Customers are concerned that they want a backup and are worried Google may be providing synch. In other words, customers are concerned that if they delete photos on the local device, the photos will then be deleted in their Google account leaving them with no copy anywhere.

Google provides a help comment on synch vs. backup, but this distinction appears to only apply with mobile devices. I would guess most folks with really large photo collections are trying to figure out what applies to their desktop machines.

So Google, if you encounter this post, you might cut down on the frustration and confusion if you would clarify the differences between your mobile and desktop services.

Earth Day

I always try to post on Earth Day to recognize environmental issues and an appreciation for the natural world.

I had hoped to capture an image and use that image as part of this post. I have the opportunity spend as much time as I want in the north woods of Wisconsin and this is a very beautiful area. I had an opportunity to photograph a large, female bald eagle, but I could not get close enough to capture a good image without my telephoto.

What I decided to do was to bring in my trail cam and see what I could find from the past couple of days. My trail cam represents one of my "tech in the wild" hobbies. We own a little over 4 acres of land and share this area with interesting wildlife. A trail cam is a motion activated camera that you position to capture images of wildlife. Hunters use these cameras for scouting. I use them just to see what I can find.

 Here is the best "capture" from this week:

 

Photos - First Look

With the most recent iOS and OS updates, Apple has replaced iPhoto with Photos. Here are some initial impressions after a short period of experimentation. The Photos editing tools are impressive and a drastic improvement over iPhoto.  I have one complaint in this area. Perhaps the things I do most with photos is to crop and then adjust image size for use outside of the Apple environment. I cannot figure out to adjust size beyond one kludgy 3 size option adjustment I could make when emailing an image. I keep thinking I must be missing something, but I don't think so.

   

Apple assumes we want to access our images across devices and store these images in the cloud. We tend to use multiple devices and in at least some cases even with cross-device access we would prefer not to save the image on the device. This makes some sense. However, Apple is not keeping up in the storage wars. Apple offers 5 GB free with Photos, but the first price point beyond 5 GB would be approximately $12 per year for 20 GB. Flickr offers a terabyte at no cost and my $25 per year pro account gives me unlimited storage. I suppose $12 a year would satisfy the needs of most individuals and you could then take advantage of the convenient access from any Apple device feature.