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Portrait Light effects in Google Photos come to older Pixel phones

You don't need a Pixel 5 to tweak the light on people's faces.

Google

You don’t have to buy a Pixel 4a 5G or Pixel 5 to take advantage of Google’s latest portrait wizardry. Android Police has discovered that Google Photos’ new Portrait Light feature is rolling out to older Pixel phones dating as far back as the Pixel 2 family. If you have it, you’ll see a “portrait light” option in the Adjust section when you edit a photo of a human.

As before, the feature lets you alter the lighting direction and intensity in any photo where Google’s AI can clearly detect a person’s face, whether or not you took the photo using a phone’s portrait mode. If the shadows don’t seem natural enough, you can fix that even on a photo that’s years old.

The catch, as AP noted, is that you have no way to force Portrait Light if Google makes an error. You may be stuck with unflattering light for some shots. Nonetheless, this could be very helpful if you have a library of face shots just waiting for some touch-ups.