Google introduces three photography apps as part of new series ‘appsperiments’

THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHY APPLICATIONS ARE STORYBOARD, SELFISSIMO! AND SCRUBBIES.

Google has introduced three photography apps which are part of a new series that it has dubbed as photography "appsperiments".

"We're launching the first installment of a series of photography appsperiments: Usable and useful mobile photography experiences built on experimental technology. Our 'appsperimental' approach was inspired in part by 'Motion Stills'," the company wrote in a research blog late on Monday.

These apps use several technologies, which are now in development at Google, including those focused on object recognition, person segmentation, stylization algorithms, efficient image encoding and decoding technologies.

"'Motion Stills' is an app developed by researchers that converts short videos into cinemagraphs and time lapses using experimental stabilisation and rendering technologies," Google added.

The new photography applications are "Storyboard" (available on Android only), "Selfissimo!" (available on iOS and Android) and "Scrubbies" (available on iOS only).

The "Storyboard" app takes video clips and automatically pulls out six frames that it lays out in a comic book-style template. To get new layouts and frames, a user has to refresh the app. Google claims that there are over 1.6 trillion combinations.

"Selfissimo!" is an automated selfie photographer that snaps a black and white photograph each time the user poses. Once a user taps the screen to start a shoot, Selfissimo! will snap a picture every time you pose. The idea is to move around into different poses, with the app taking a picture every time you stop moving.

"Scrubbies" lets the user easily manipulate the speed and direction of video playback to produce video loops that highlight actions, capture funny faces and replay moments. It lets you remix videos by quickly scrubbing back and forth through a clip to create video loops.
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The tech giant has also urged users to try out the new apps and provide feedback via the in-app feedback links. The three apps are currently available on iOS and Android.