TECH SPECIAL.................... Smart way to store photos

Smart way to store photos





You click. Fine.You edit.
Fine.You share. Fine.You store. Phone `hangs'. So, how do you manage an overloaded gallery?

With photos going digital and smartphones gradually becoming our preferred device of choice, we're clicking more pictures every single day. While modern smartphones can make anyone a pro, thanks to the myriad number of apps and software tools available, a major challenge for us is to store and manage these photographs. Smart devices and computers have limited local storage and external storage devices are susceptible to physical damage. Accessibility is also a major concern.

With improvements in internet connectivity and multiple devices being online, it now makes sense to store pictures online. Moreover, on line photo services offer features like automatic backup, with advanced organisation tools making the process a walk in the park. We take a look at two leading cloud-based photo services:

GOOGLE PHOTOS

Google recently overhauled its photo storage and management service letting users store an unlimited number of photos provided they are under 16-megapixels resolution. Else, Google will compress your pictures (unless you want to use the limited Google Drive storage option which is 15GB for most users). You can also store videos up to 1080p resolution. The service also supports RAW format if you like using additional software applications for processing. You can upload pictures from your desktop and through iOS and Android mobile apps. It supports auto-upload and offers features like grouping pictures by facial recognition. The service organises photos by people, places and things, making them easily searchable, and groups them as albums on the basis of location and dates of the pictures. Google Photos also offers editing tools to enhance your photos and the ability to create interesting slideshows and collages. Price: Free with 16-megapixel limit; Paid Google storage plan 1TB $9.99month (` 635 (approx.)

FLICKR

Yahoo's Flickr is one of the earliest free photo sharing and storage services. You get 1TB of storage without any resolution limits though a single image size should not exceed 200MB (the limit is 1GB or 3 minutes for videos). The service has a web-based interface in addition to iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps for browsing and uploading pictures.

Flickr offers an automatic grouping feature for photos based in the subject. It also offers advanced controls on privacy settings and lets you arrange photos on the basis of the date and privacy settings, and add tags. It's not as smart as Google's new service when it comes to search but lets you filter photos based on different attributes, including orientation, size and date captured. Flickr also comes with advanced picture editing tools thanks to the Aviary tool. You can fix brightness and contrast, fix red eye and adjust focus, among other options. You can even select a number of photos and edit them in batches. It also offers advanced sharing across all popular social networks, lets you track image views and has better community sharing features. However, some parts of the interface look a little dated and may confuse new users.Price: Free (ad-supported); Ad-free for $5.99month (` 380 approx.)

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