Viewing your photos and videos

The Photos app organizes your photos and videos in several ways. The Photos screen, shown in Figure 12-1, lists photos by date. You can choose more specific views by choosing other items from the navigation drawer, also shown in the figure.

Tap an image to view it full-screen, as shown on the right in Figure 12-1. You can then swipe the screen left or right to peruse other images.

Videos stored in an album appear with the Play icon. Tap that icon to play the video. As the video is playing, tap the screen again to view onscreen controls.

• While viewing an image or a video full-screen, the navigation icons may disappear. Tap the screen to view them.

• Tap the Back navigation icon to return to an album after viewing an image or a video.

Starting a slideshow

The Photos app can display a slideshow of your images, but without the darkened room and sheet hanging over the mantle. To view a slideshow, follow these steps:

1. View an image full-screen.
2. Tap the Action Overflow icon.

3. Choose Slideshow.

   Images from that particular album or date appear one after the other on the screen.

Tap the Back navigation icon to exit the slideshow.

Slideshows don’t have to remain in your tablet. If a nearby HDMI TV or monitor features a Chromecast dongle, tap the Chromecast icon on the Slideshow screen, as shown in the margin. Choose a specific Chromecast from the list to view the slideshow on another device.

To end a Chromecast slideshow, tap the Chromecast icon again and tap the Disconnect button.

Finding a picture’s location

Your Android tablet can save location information when it takes a picture. The feature is called a location tag in the Google Camera app. To use that information in the Photos app, heed these steps:

1. View the image.
2. Tap the Action Overflow icon.

3. Choose Details, which might be titled More Info.

   You see a card displaying image details, similar to what’s shown in Figure 12-2. That map information, if available, appears at the top of the card.

See Chapter 11 for more information on the location tag feature, which might also be called a geotag or GPS-tag.

Editing an image

The Photos app features a special image-editing mode. It offers basic features, such as Crop and Rotate, but also tone manipulation, framing, and other special effects. These powerful editing features are probably why the Google Camera app is so sparse: True image manipulation should be done after the fact.

To edit an image, follow these steps in the Photos app:

1. Summon the image you want to edit or otherwise manipulate.

   Display the image full screen.

2. Tap the Edit icon.

   The edit icon is shown in the margin. If you don’t see it, tap the screen and it shows up.

The Editing screen is shown in Figure 12-3. A scrolling list of tools appears at the bottom of the screen. Swipe the list left or right to view the lot.

To apply a tool, choose it from the scrolling list. After you select a tool, manipulate the image by using the touchscreen. Some specific examples are found in the next several sections.

For the effects tools, swipe the screen up or down to choose a mode, and then swipe left or right to adjust that mode’s intensity. For example, in Figure 12-4, you see the options for Vintage mode.

Tap the Review icon (refer to Figure 12-4) to compare the original and modified images. When you long-press the icon, the original image is shown.

To set your changes, tap the Done icon.

To cancel, tap the Cancel icon.

Choosing Done or Cancel doesn’t end Editing mode. To complete the edits and save the image, tap the Done icon on the main editing screen (refer to Figure 12-3).

• To view the original version of an image, view that image in the Photos app and tap the Original/Edited icon, shown in the margin. Tapping the icon doesn’t restore the image, but it does temporarily show you the original.
• To restore an image, removing all edits, edit the image and tap the Action Overflow. Choose Revert. Tap the Revert button to confirm. Tap the Done button to leave Image Editing mode. All edits are removed.

• Be careful with those edits! The Photos app attempts to synchronize photos between all your Android devices as well as your Picasa Web image library on the Internet. See the later section “Synchronizing and backing up.”

Cropping

An old photography term carried over into the digital world is crop. It means “to snip away unwanted portions of an image,” like using a pair of scissors on a photo to slice out an old boyfriend (the cheating scum).

To crop an image in the Photos app, follow these steps:

1. Summon the image for editing.

   Refer to the preceding section for step-by-step directions.

2. Choose the Crop tool.

3. Adjust the rectangle on the screen to select which portion of the image to keep.

   Drag the rectangle around. Drag its edges or sides to resize the rectangle.

4. Save the cropped image.
5. Tap the Done icon to exit Editing mode.

The cropped image is saved in the Photos app.

You can undo the crop by tapping the Restore icon when viewing the image in the Photos app. Refer to the preceding section.

Rotating pictures

When that image isn’t really topside up, you can rotate it within the Photos app. Obey these steps:

1. Summon the cockeyed image for editing.

   Refer to the earlier section “Editing an image” for specific directions.

2. Choose the Rotate tool.

3. Tap the Rotate Left or Rotate Right button to reorient the image in 90-degree increments.

   These buttons are found in the lower right corner of the editing screen.

4. Tap the Done icon to save the rotated image.
5. Tap the Done icon to exit image editing mode.

It’s possible to rotate the image to almost any angle. In Step 3, drag your finger around the touchscreen. The image is automatically resized and cropped to maintain its aspect ratio, but this trick reorients an image up to 45 degrees in any direction.

Deleting images and videos

It’s entirely possible, and often desirable, to remove unwanted, embarrassing, or questionably legal images and videos from the Photos app.

So how do you know what you can delete? Simple: If you see the Delete (Trash) icon on the screen when viewing an image, you can delete that item. Tap the Delete icon. Tap the Delete Everywhere button to confirm. The item is gone.

If you don’t see the Trash icon, the item cannot be deleted. It’s most likely a copy pulled in from a web photo-sharing service or a social networking site.

• To undelete an image, tap the Side Menu icon to display the navigation drawer. Choose Trash. Long-press the item to select it, and then tap the Restore icon, shown in the margin.
• To delete images from Picasa, visit Picasa Web on the Internet at picasaweb.google.com.
• You can delete a whole swath of images by selecting them as a group. See the next section.

Selecting multiple pictures and videos

Three commands can be applied to groups of images and videos in the Photos app: Share, Copy to Album, and Delete. To select a group, follow these steps:

1. Long-press an image or a video to select it.

   Instantly, image-selection mode is activated. The thumbnail you long-pressed grows a check mark.

2. Continue tapping images and videos to select them.
3. Perform an action on the group of images or videos.

The actions you can perform in Step 3 are

Share: Choose an app to use for sharing the images, such as Gmail to send the lot as an email attachment.

Copy to Album: Select an album to copy the images to, or create a new album. This item is available only when images are selected, not movies or animated GIFs.

Delete: The items are removed. Tap the Delete Everywhere button to confirm.

To deselect items, tap them again. To deselect everything, tap the Back icon.

Synchronizing and backing up

The Photos app desires to coordinate your pictures and videos with other Android devices, as well as the Internet. That coordination takes place only when you’ve activated the Auto Backup feature.

To confirm that Auto Backup is on, look at the Photos screen in the Photos app: Tap the Side Menu icon and choose Photos from the navigation drawer. If the text Auto Backup Up To Date appears near the top of the screen, you’re good. Images are backed up.

To enable this feature if it’s off, look for the text Turn On, found on the right side of the Photos screen, near the top. Tap the Turn On button to activate Automatic Backup. Any images not yet backed up are copied to the Internet.

To disable the feature, tap the Action Overflow and choose Settings. Tap Auto Backup, and then slide the master control to the Off position.

• I strongly recommend disabling this feature if you use your tablet to take images or record video that you don’t want anyone to see. Then again, perhaps you should question why you’re undertaking such activities in the first place.
• When Auto Backup is enabled, images on your tablet are copied to your Picasa Web online photo archive. They’re stored in the Auto Backup album, which is private by default.

Visiting your Picasa Web account

Part of your Google account includes access to the online photo sharing website Picasa Web. If you haven’t yet been to the Picasa Web site on the Internet, use a computer to visit it: picasaweb.google.com.

If prompted, log in to your Google account on that website.

Your Picasa account is automatically synchronized with your Android tablet. Any pictures you put on Picasa are echoed to your tablet, accessed through the Photos app. If not, follow these steps to ensure that Picasa is being property synced:

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Choose Accounts.

   On Samsung tablets, tap the General tab to locate the Accounts item.

3. Choose Google to access your Google account.
4. Tap your Gmail address under the Accounts heading.

5. Ensure that a check mark is found by the item Google+ Photos.

   The item might also be titled Sync Google+ Photos.

If you prefer not to have Picasa synchronize your images, repeat these steps but remove the check mark in Step 5.

To view Picasa Web albums, choose the Albums item from the navigation drawer in the Photos app.

Posting a video to YouTube

The best way to share a video is to upload it to YouTube. As a Google account holder, you also have a YouTube account. Why not populate that account with your latest, bestest videos? Who knows what may go viral next!

To upload a video you’ve recorded, follow these steps:

1. Ensure that the Wi-Fi connection is activated.

   The best way to upload a video is to turn on the Wi-Fi connection, which (unlike the mobile cellular network) doesn’t incur data surcharges. In fact, if you opt to use the 4G LTE network for uploading a YouTube video, you see a suitable reminder about the data surcharges.

2. Open the Photos app.

3. View the video you want to upload.

   You do not need to play the video. Just have it on the screen.

4. Tap the Share icon.

   If you don’t see the Share icon, tap the screen.

5. Choose YouTube.

   The Upload Video screen appears. You may first see a tutorial on trimming the video, which is the next step.

6. Trim the video, resetting the starting and ending points.

   This video editing step is optional. If you opt to trim, adjust the starting and ending points for the video by dragging them left or right. As you drag, the video is scrubbed, allowing you to preview the start and end points.

7. Type the video’s title.

8. Set other options.

   Type a description, set the privacy level, add descriptive tags, and so on.

9. Tap the Upload button.

   You return to the Photos app, and the video is uploaded. It continues to upload even if the tablet locks.

The Uploading notification appears while the video is being sent to YouTube. Feel free to do other things with your tablet while the video uploads. When the upload has completed, the notification stops animating and becomes the Uploads Finished icon.

To view your video, open the YouTube app. See Chapter 14 for details on using the YouTube app.

• YouTube often takes a while to process a video after it’s uploaded. Allow a few minutes to pass (longer for larger videos) before the video becomes available for viewing.

• Upload is the official term to describe sending a file from your Android tablet to the Internet.

Sharing images with other apps

Just about every app wants to get in on the sharing bit, especially when it comes to pictures and videos. The key is to view an item in the Photos app and then tap the Share icon, as shown in the margin. Choose an app to share the image or video, and that item is instantly sent to that app.

What happens next?

That depends on the app. For Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking apps, the item is attached to a new post. For Gmail, the item becomes an attachment. Other apps treat images and videos in a similar manner, somehow incorporating the item(s) into whatever wonderful thing that app does. The key is to look for that Share icon.