googleplusphotos

Google’s acquisition of Nik Software some time ago caused quite a stir in the photography community. Creators of a number of plugins, filters and the editing app Snapseed, Nik Software had a lot to offer Google in the world of photography.

And little by little, as Google has continued to improve its photo platform and services, more and more influence and integration from the acquisition is making its way to the end user. Case in point is Google+ Photos' latest update, which features a number of Snapseed-esque editing tools.

Today, Google has announced a new set of features for its Google+ Photos for Android app. Two of the features included in the update are the ability to create animated GIFs from a collection of photos, as well as the ability to create a custom collage.

It's hardly news that Google+ is doing its damnedest to secure itself as the social network of choice for the photographic community. And the network's ability to handle full-size RAW uploads, in addition to the easy-to-manage system and powerful new in-browser editing tools, in many ways already makes it a shoo-in for that title.

But get ready, because Google isn't done yet. Another update has been pushed Google+'s way, and this time it concerns your RAW photos. Or, more specifically, how good they look when they're automatically converted to JPEGs for viewing.

Right after Google I/O wrapped up in May, we shared the news that Google's personal image search had just gotten a whole lot better. The tech giant claimed that you could now search through yours and your friends photos based on visual content, even if the photos themselves weren't labeled or tagged.

At the time, all we knew was that the system used "computer vision and machine learning" to detect subjects like "flowers," "food" or "car" and generate searchable tag data that makes your photos easier to find. Now, thanks to Google's Research blog, we're getting a bit more detail on the tech under the hood.