How I use Google Photos to make my photos stand out without going overboard

My main reason for pay for a Google One plan It’s Google Photos, and no, I’m not talking about the extra storage space you get for media. Sure, having ample storage is a big plus, but I really like the cool AI-enabled smart tools that Google One unlocks in Photos. Its easy-to-use interface and accessibility are the reasons why it has become my default photo management tool on both Android and iPhone.

Every time I have to retouch an image before posting it to Instagram, I instinctively turn on Google Photos and get to work with its wealth of manual editing and AI tools. Over the years, I’ve found a workflow that helps me prepare my photos for Instagram without that over-processed look. And here I am to tell you all my secrets.

My first tip is obvious: use Google Photos’ artificial intelligence tools. I’m not talking about the newest features of Ask Photos which allows you to literally ask the app to edit images on your behalf. Instead, I’m talking about the old enhancement and dynamics tools that are right there on the first screen after you tap the Edit button. They’ve been around for as long as I can remember, and the duo offers a great starting point if you don’t know exactly what you want the final image to look like.

I use Dynamic, especially on photos that come out a little dark. It increases the overall brightness quite a bit, so it’s not always suitable for images that are already bright enough. Enhance falls somewhere in between. It doesn’t forcefully illuminate shadows or darker areas, helping to keep the image looking natural.

There are many days when I don’t find either tool particularly useful, but either way, I usually move on to manual editing immediately afterwards, though not before playing around with Google Photos’ actual generative AI capabilities.

Photo editing starts even before you click the photo. You try to get the exposure right, frame your subject correctly, find good lighting, set up the scene, and then just as you press the shutter button, someone photographs your otherwise perfect photo.

Before, it bothered me and I tried to recreate the moment without discomfort. But Google Photos has helped me relax a bit in these situations. In the back of my mind I know that I can cleanly remove (mostly) any little things I don’t want in the frame.

I am far from being a proponent of using AI to make substantial changes to an image that no longer resembles reality. However, just as Photoshop helped people clean up minor blemishes or unwanted objects in the past, Magic Eraser does the same for me with much less effort. Thanks to AI, the tool has become much better at handling surrounding details, including reflections and shadows.

Once I’m done cleaning up the image, I move on to my favorite part of the process: manual retouching.

I like my photos to stand out, enough to stop people from scrolling on Instagram, but without looking artificial. I’m very picky about what options I touch and how far I push the sliders, because even a difference of a few points can make the photo look otherworldly.

I often start by increasing the brightness because it acts as the basis for the final image result. Even going up a couple of levels can make a big difference. Unfortunately, increasing the overall brightness also makes some areas too bright, and that’s where the White Point comes into play. Helps recover details from those brighter areas of the photo.

I also like my photos a little contrasty. It helps reduce any washed out appearance and makes the colors pop enough to make the image really pop; I just make sure not to overdo it. If necessary, I’ll balance the added contrast by lifting the shadows slightly, which almost always works.

Instead of cold, boring photos, I prefer images that capture and radiate the warmth that the subject had when it was captured, whether it be my favorite person or my favorite dish. A little warmth makes a photo seem more human and relatable, no matter where you share it.

Finally, there’s a hidden gem inside Google Photos: skin tone. I think this is the one you should use when you want the photo to stand out. Even when there is no person in the frame, I often increase the skin tone slightly; I always limit it to 15 points. Somehow, it adds just the right amount of vibrancy to the image every time; I don’t know how. Use it once and you will immediately understand the feeling I am talking about.

By now it should be an established fact that portrait shots on Pixel phones often add a blur effect that looks, well, fake. Google apparently uses the same approach when applying portrait blur to photos later in the post.

It’s one of those characteristics that I’ve inherently learned to ignore. It’s not even in my muscle memory anymore because the results have disappointed me too many times. The blur Google Photos adds often feels like a solid slab of blur stuck behind your subject, and can make otherwise good photos look like low-quality imitations.

No extra points for guessing what my other least favorite editing tool within Google Photos is: Move. The AI-powered tool allows you to reposition elements within a photo, but that’s where I personally draw the line. Removing a small unwanted object is one thing, but moving things around or adding items that weren’t originally there is starting to look like fakery to me. I don’t use it and wouldn’t recommend it either.

In fact, Google Photos encourages you to take edited photos in Snapseed from the More section to make additional edits, and I do this quite often. If you don’t know, Snapseed is also owned by Google and It recently received a major visual update. that made the app much more enjoyable to use. I usually start in Google Photos, make basic corrections, and then bring the photo to Snapseed for more creative editing.

I have several presets saved in there to get consistent looks in photos. For example, I have a vintage-style preset that I use for photos of me and my partner that I then convert into Polaroid-style images.

While Google Photos helps me enhance photos and keep them as natural as possible, Snapseed feels more like a playground where I can experiment with different moods, overlays, frames, and styles depending on how I want the photo to look.

What is your favorite Google Photos editing tool? Are you also against the excessive use of AI in photo editing or don’t you mind making substantial changes to your images with AI? Let us know in the comments below.