What Is A Photo?: How Google Is Tweaking Our Definition of a Photo

Photos have been practically the same since 1825, a snapshot of reality. The only real change was adding color. Then edits came along, but the moment stays the same, no matter what the coloring or brightness of the photo. But what about changing what the photo shows entirely?

Let’s get into it.

Google announced its new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones on Wednesday. Along with these phones, new camera software was introduced. First of all, is Magic Editor. This update came out last year, where you can erase something from the background of your image, which seems reasonable. This year, they added more into Magic Editor that lets you move people and objects around the image. This is close to the line between real and fake for me. Sure, you want your subject in the middle of the photo, makes sense. You want that beachball to be higher in the air. Is that really what happened? Not really, but it doesn’t matter that much. You want to make it look like you’re dunking when you weren’t close in reality (this is a real example they used in an ad). Now you’re just lying. That’s not what happened. Editing has been around for a while, but this feels new and, frankly, disconcerting. But in addition to Magic Editor, Google added a feature called Best Take. Now, imagine you are taking a photo with friends, and you take multiple to make sure you get it just right. But you like the lighting more in this one, so you switch the face of your friend from that one photo with the time he was smiling in the other photo. That is absurd. It’s revolutionary, certainly, but are all revolutions ones we want?