Magic Editor has caught the attention of everyone taking photos on their phone. First announced at Google I/O 2023, the feature was officially launched on the Pixel 8 andPixel 8 Prowhen they debuted in October 2023. The results from the AI-powered editing softwarespeak for themselves.
One of the best things aboutMagic Editoris that it doesn’t just apply to the photos you take on your Pixel 8; you’re able to use it on photos that you’ve taken with older devices. Essentially, anything that is in your Google Photos catalogue can be edited using the software feature.
In that lies the secret, which means that you can manipulate any photo you’ve ever taken with Magic Editor, and it’s really easy to do.
Magic Editor and Google Photos
The secret to this hack lies in the fact thatGoogle Photosis the image resource for Magic Editor. In fact, Magic Editor doesn’t run on a phone; the AI happens in the cloud because you get a notification telling you that an image needs to be backed up before you can use it, and you need a connection to make it all happen.
So the secret here is that anything - and we mean anything - that you’re able to get into Google Photos can be edited. It doesn’t matter whether you took that phone on an iPhone, a DSLR or even if you scanned an old film negative; if you have that digital image in Google Photos, you can use Magic Editor to manipulate it.
How to get images into Google Photos
Google Photos doesn’t just reside on phones; you can also access it in a browser. This is really useful because you can easily upload images from a Mac or PC into Google Photos using a browser. Here’s how:
It really couldn’t be any simpler to add images to Google Photos; you literally just drag and drop. That means you may find any image you have and get it into Google Photos. I’ve taken pictures with my DSLR and dragged them from theSD cardinto Google Photos.
Use your Pixel 8 to open up Magic Editor
This is where you can put Magic Editor to work. If you’ve added an image to Google Photos, it syncs across your devices so that the picture you uploaded on your desktop will appear on your phone. Once it’s on your phone, you can use Magic Editor in the normal way.
Of course, you’ll have to have aPixel 8or Pixel 8 Pro to make this happen, and that’s the downside to this technique: while you’re able to edit any digital photo you can lay your hands on, you do still need to have a phone with access to Magic Editor.
Fortunately, there’s aBlack Friday dealon the Pixel 8 Pro, so now is a really good time to buy one if you’ve been considering it.
Google Pixel 8 Pro
Google’s 2023 flagship phone offers plenty of photographic skills besides Magic Editor - and currently benefits from a Black Friday discount.
What is Magic Editor?
Magic Editor uses AI to identify elements in the image and provide a range of one-tap editing options. The most powerful element of Magic Editor is the ability to use generative in-fill, so when you remove, resize or relocate something, you may barely tell that there’s been a change to the image. It offers tools on a phone that you’d previously have to turn to Photoshop for.
What phones is Magic Editor available on?
Currently, Magic Editor is only available on the Google Pixel 8 and the Pixel 8 Pro. Those are Google’s latest phones. There has been no word of the software coming to other devices, but as we know it’s a cloud-based technology, there’s nothing to stop Google from rolling out this editing charm to older devices - or even the web.
If it does come to Google Photos online at some point in the future, then you won’t have to worry about making those edits on the phone; it would essentially become an online AI editing tool.
What sort of changes can Magic Editor make?
Magic Editor will scan your images to identify what the photo shows and provide a number of suggestions.
If there’s a clear face, it will suggest a portrait. If there’s sky or water, it will suggest edits to those elements, for example, adding waves, changing the colour of water or putting in a rich sunset.
I can’t stop playing with Google’s Magic Editor: Here are some examples of what it can do
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Magic Editor will also let you tap on elements within a photo and select them, allowing you to move that object or even change the size. Then there’s the option to stylise a photo, completely changing what it looks like. Finally, you can run all these edits on the same image, layering them up to create a totally different image from the original.
What can’t you change in Magic Editor?
Magic Editor will not allow manipulation of faces and people. You can change the size but can’t run changes that make people look different. You also can’t change things like documents and receipts.
