Make your shots look brighter and better

[MortenCopenhagen]

This is part 3 of 19 in the Storefront Photography Series. Click/tap here to see the Series Index.

This week and the following weeks I will try to inspire you to always edit and improve your photos before uploading them to Google Maps.

The aim is to make the places look more realistic and as attractive as possible without overdoing the corrections.

If you only want to do one thing to get more views this is what I recommend.

I have chosen 2 of my storefront photos to illustrate how you can improve the light and make them stand out compared to most other photos. The first example shown above is a photo of a small flower shop with a dark green awning.

The photo flickers between the initial darker version as captured by my phone and the improved brighter and prettier version of the same photo.

If you don’t see the flickering, you can find the images in high resolution in this album on Google photos.

Which version do you think is more likely to attract the attention of Maps users looking for a flower shop on Google Maps? And which version do you think the AI will pick as the cover photo?

I find the dark version a bit boring with faded and dark colors. And it fails to communicate much about the inside of the shop. Here is how improve the photo:

1. Back up the photo to Google Photos from your phone.
2. Open the photo in Google Photos and tap Edit
3. Tap Dynamic under Suggestions *)
4. Add a bit of extra Brightness under Adjust
5. If needed, add a bit of extra Contrast under Adjust
6. If needed, add a bit of extra Warmth under Adjust.
7. Save the photo
8. Share it to Google Maps from inside Google Photos.
9. Select the correct business if not pre-suggested.

This is quite a bit of work, but I think the result and the extra views we get are worth the effort. The brighter image is a lot more helpful to Maps users and to the business owner.

The second example is my photo of a [Coffee bar](http://ROAST%20Coffee https://maps.app.goo.gl/v9UF6bPsTeHoh6798) in front of an old s-train station in Copenhagen.

To make this image more attractive and the colors more poppy I did the following in Google Photos:

Applied the Dynamic filter, added a bit of extra brightness, contrast, and warmth as explained above.

Notice how the name board gets a lot more contrast and gets a lot more readable.

I also blurred the faces of the two women on the right. Did you notice? Blurring will be explained in post 6.

And, you may have noticed how I stretched the photo to make the vertical lines more parallel to the side of the frame. If you want to learn more about this, please make sure to read and like post 4 on fixing perspective errors to be published next Saturday.

Final thought:

Did you notice my reflection on the glass door? I’m not very proud of that. And I was too lazy to go back and take another shot ;-). Post 9 will be about avoiding such distractions.

Till next week
Morten

PS: The fantastic filter called “Dynamic” mentioned in step 3 above is only available to paying Google One customers. If you don’t have this filter you can use “Enhance” with comparable results.

[MortenCopenhagen]

Even though this is a lot of work, this is what I do to all my photos before uploading them to Google Maps.

Cheers

Morten

[AdrianLunsong]

@MortenCopenhagen Nice post! I also edit all my photos before I upload to Maps. It is very time consuming but I feel better for having done so plus I find it easier that my Snapseed folder has all the photos that I will upload to Maps as oppose to having a ton more photos in the main Photos album that I have scroll through a lot to find the right photo to upload! Thanks for sharing your excellent tips and workflow!

[JuanAudelo2025]

Good day! It’s a good tip to make photos more attractive with Google Photos. In my case I have used the “Enhance” function with satisfactory results. Hopefully in the future I can use the “Dynamic” filter of Google One.

[MortenCopenhagen]

@AdrianLunsong

Thanks for your comments.

You are right, it gets pretty tiring to scroll down a ton to reach down the right photo in Google Photos.

On mobil I just stay in Google Photos and let the order of Photos dictate my upload order. That saves a ton of scrolling

Alternatively, I use my desktop to upload the images to Google Maps. If you hold down the pagedown key in Google Photos for a “long click” it will jump down a few pages. I use those to scroll down more quickly.

But things get unbearably slow with more than 200 images waiting to get uploaded. So I simply don’t take new Maps photos until the que is cleared.

This is nerdy stuff.

Are you able to share images from Snapseed directly to Google Maps?

Cheers

Morten

[tony_b]

@AdrianLunsong and @MortenCopenhagen It is really awesome what you guys do with editing. This will be a new thing for me. I don’t actually use Google Photos. I just work directly from the Samsung Gallery on my phone, but I suppose the editing capabilities are comparable. Then all my photos are backed up to Dropbox and One Drive, and those are what I’d use to re-access the photos if I wish to edit them on the computer instead.

Sometimes I’ve just uploaded photos as I took them at the location. I sure have a lot to learn as this series rolls out.

[MortenCopenhagen]

I’m editing a bunch of photos today. Here is another example illustrating how much of an improvement you can get. The brighter image is just so much more popping and calling for the viewers attention. Do you agree?

Which version do you think the business owner would like to see represent their shop?

The image is from a shopping center in Skopje. The sunlight is reaching only the lowest part of the storefront.

Cheers

Morten

[Ewaade_3A]

Editing the Photo depends on how much I love the Photo and how much time I have.

The latter takes precedence over the former.

Editing the photo also depends on how many POIs are present in the Photo and some other factors.

Here are examples of some of my edits.

Thanks for sharing @MortenCopenhagen

I was about saying; I know a certain someone who would do this (edit all of their photos before uploading), but the certain someone has already commented.

So, according to what you; Morten said, this someone has one of the highest Photo views, I saw on Adam’s leaderboards.

Hi @AdrianLunsong ‍ ‍

[TusharSuradkar]

Thanks for another bunch of tips @MortenCopenhagen

Greatly appreciated

I almost always correct my photos for brightness before posting out here on LG Connect and also on Google Maps.

The only issue that I notice about the animated image that you have shared is that the building in the background suddenly appears ‘unrealistic’ after adjusting the brightness. I am going to check this with my photos now.

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @TusharSuradkar

Thanks for your input. I agree that in particular a whitish sky can easily be blown out. By this I mean that the sky will show without any clouds - just completely white.

To avoid this we would need to apply a lot more steps. In my mind it would be too much work considering that the purpose of a Google Maps photo is to show the places and not a perfect sky. This might be the biggest difference between what a professional photographer would do and what photographers dedicated to make a lot of helpful photos for Google Maps will do.

Most importantly the Photo selection AI does not seem to mind about a blown out sky. But I will for sure keep an extra eye on this to check if photos not showing up could be due to this.

I keep this Google photos album of photos that are rejected/hidden immediately. As you can see most of them do not have a blown out sky.

Again, the places are the important thing in Google Maps photos - not the sky.

Looking forward to reading your conclusions on this. I mean if you really want it is possible to protect the clouds, but it takes time.

If you want we can discuss how to do this. I’m afraid we need Snapseed or another more advanced photo app than Google Photos for this.

Cheers

Morten

[AZ_2021]

Love it @MortenCopenhagen

Yes, too funny for the reflection on the glass. I try to make sure my reflection is not on the glass, but sometimes it can be hard to catch.

Love your photo series.

I agree too with the point you made that brighter shots are better.

[PaulPavlinovich]

@TusharSuradkar @MortenCopenhagen when lightening, bring up the shadows rather than lighten the whole image, that way you will not blow out the skies. Most mobile photo editors support this including Google Photos, Snapseed, etc. The other way to do it is change the default exposure setting, expose for the thing you are capturing and leave the rest. The might blow out skies or bright lights so use it carefully. I normally use spot exposure (tap your finger on the thing you most want in focus and with proper exposure) and an overall modifier of -0.5 stops. This usually makes the main subject bright enough and avoids blowing out the sky.

Paul

[TusharSuradkar]

Perfect explanation @MortenCopenhagen The background and the sky are not crucial at all in the photo of a business.

As a workaround, I’d prefer to include less portion of the background, as much as possible, of the environment, and instead focus on having the photo filled with the shop alone. The issue I stated is more prominent only when a significant portion of the photo has a background in it.

[AdrianLunsong]

@Ewaade_3A

@MortenCopenhagen I like your idea of keeping a folder of photos that are rejected by Google. A bit of extra work to monitor which photos are rejected but still something useful perhaps in the long run.

[Chelsey_99]

Truly, we learn everyday!!!

That blurring of faces . I sure won’t upload people’s faces anymore thanks to @MortenCopenhagen photography series.

I’m so much enjoying my first hours at Local guides connect.

So much insights and knowledge to learn to better help my community

[MortenCopenhagen]

@Chelsey_99

Thanks a bunch for your kind feedback. Much appreciated.

Cheers

Morten

[MortenCopenhagen]

I tried to spark a further discussion on what is too much editing for Google Maps photos.

Please see

https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Discussion/Make-your-photos-pop-Let-s-discuss/td-p/3592758

Cheers

Morten;