Take Videos and Google Photos can make Movies

Do you ever use your smartphone to take videos?  ... on purpose? :-)

You should! These smartphone cameras are excellent video cameras. Just take 20 seconds of video occasionally and you’ll be glad you did. Then you can put together cool little movies with just a couple clicks using Google Photos. Your screen will look different during the movie making process in Android vs. iOS, but the steps below are the same:

1. Select the photos and video clips you want included in your movie (up to 50)
2. Click the + in the upper right and choose Movie
3. Google Photos will automatically add music 
4. That's it! If you see a Save button, tap that.

Here's one I just made of our travels from the west coast of California to Tennessee.

If you are a Geeks on Tour member, we have tutorial videos on this.

• 567.GP-Vacation Movie with Google Photos

Movie Maker is not available on the Web version, just on mobile devices. See the list of supported devices here.

If you have Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos, you will see movies covered in Chapter 10: Creations

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Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She has been in computer training and support since 1983. She is now a Top Contributor for the Google Photos Forum, owner of the LearnGooglePhotos.com blog, and author of Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos. 
She loves to teach! If you want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.

Cool! One click on your Google Photo Takes you to Google Maps and Reviews

This is where we had dinner last night. Why? Because our motorhome broke down while traveling I-40 thru Arizona and we had to be towed to the nearest repair facility. We had very little choice in places to eat, and we thought this looked interesting!

I shared this picture with a friend and he said, "Oh, I have to see where that is and what the reviews are!" So, he started to Google for Roadkill Cafe. Or maybe he opened Google Maps and searched for it, I'm not sure.

Google Photos Info Panel includes a Map - a Google Map

I told him that he could go directly to the map location on Google Maps by clicking the little i on the picture itself (or tap it on a mobile device.) That opens an information panel, including a map.

Just click the marker on the map 

If you click the marker on the map, you will be taken to Google Maps for that location and you can find out anything you want to know about the Roadkill Cafe and OK Saloon! My friend, Martin Brossman, is a Google Local Guide himself and he was astonished to find that the Roadkill Cafe had 177 reviews! You can even use the map to navigate to the location if you're using a smartphone.

Are Your Photos GeoTagged?

If you try this on one of your own photos and you don't get a map in the info panel, that means either:

1. You took the photo with a regular camera with no GPS capability
2. You took the photo with a smartphone but you had the geotagging capability turned off

Geeks on Tour Member Benefit

If you are a Geeks on Tour member, check out our eBook on smartphone photography. Instructions for turning on the geotagging feature is on page 17.

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Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She has been in computer training and support since 1983. She is now a Top Contributor for the Google Photos Forum, owner of the LearnGooglePhotos.com blog, and author of Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos. 
She loves to teach! If you want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.

How Many Photos are in your Google Photos Account?

Have you ever wondered what the count is of all your photos in your Google Photos account? I have a ton of photos going back to my first digital photos in 1999 - and even earlier by scanning old photos. Nearly every photo from my life is accessible thru Google Photos. I say that I have 60,000 photos. How do I know that?

Google Account Dashboard 

I just typed in Google.com/dashboard into a chrome browser. It resolves to https://myaccount.google.com/dashboard, and I had to re-enter my account password before it would show me details.

There is LOTS of information here about your Google account. In fact, you have to scroll down quite a ways before you see the photo information, but it is there.

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Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She has been in computer training and support since 1983. She is now a Top Contributor for the Google Photos Forum, owner of the LearnGooglePhotos.com blog, and author of Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos. 
She loves to teach! If you want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.

It’s So Easy to Send Photos Using Google Photos

We’ve been parked in the Arizona desert for several days. I prefer the humidity and ocean views of my home state of Florida … BUT, the sunsets here are spectacular. The Arizona desert with it’s saguaro cactus, wide open vistas, and abrupt mountains are a photographer’s delight. I’ve snapped several hundred photos in just a few days.

 

 

Do you see that last photo? I remember thinking, "If I owned that camper, I would love to have this photo of it as a silhouette in the desert sunset!" Just then, the people in the trailer started out to take their dogs for a walk. Cool! I'll just walk over there and get their email.

 

Distances in the desert are deceiving! I had to walk for a while, changing my direction to head towards where they were going rather than where they were. If they noticed me, they might be a little freaked out that they were being stalked! But, eventually our paths intersected, and I assured them I was harmless.

 

I showed them the photo on my iPhone and they said yes, they'd like to have that. All I needed was their email and it was done. Here's how:

1. Open the photo using Google Photos
2. Tap the Share button
   
   Android iPhone
3. tap Next - on iPhone only. This gives you the chance to select more photos before sending
4. Type in their email address in the space provided, then tap Add Recipient (optional: you can add other people from your contact list)
5. Optional: there is a field at the bottom of the screen where you can type a message
6. Tap Send in the upper right.

That's it! The hardest part was the walk. Once I got there, I showed them the picture, tapped the share button, entered their email address and tapped send.

 

What They Receive

When they open their email, they will see something like this:

 

If all they wanted was to see the picture, they're done. If they want the picture for their own, they need to click on the button to "View Photo." This takes them to a Google Photos interface.

• If they have a Google Photos account, it's one click on the "Save to Library" buttonand the picture (or pictures if I had shared more) is now in their Google Photos library.  
• If they don't have a Google Photos account, they need to click on the photo to make it full screen, then tap the 3-dot menu and Download. 

 

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Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She has been in computer training and support since 1983. She is now a Top Contributor for the Google Photos Forum, owner of the LearnGooglePhotos.com blog, and author of Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos.
She loves to teach! If you want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.