What kind of photos would you find if you browse the camera roll on your phone? I saw images of my friends, pets, strange receipts for work expenses and snapshots of coffee – hey, I’m a barista for 11 years! Not every photo is designed to compete with Ansel Adams’ masterpiece. (Although I’m sure if he has smartphoneHe also took pictures of his parking space to remember where he parked in the car.
If you want to take better photos with your phone, Google has added new tools to Pixel 10 Camera that can help improve skills. The camera coach is powered by Gemini AI and provides step-by-step instructions for different technologies: how to improve the frame, choose the right lens, and even hold the phone. Gemini doesn’t change any images, but just acts as a guide to get you done.
Great things you learned along the way. When it comes to ubiquitous AI, it’s great to see Google using Gemini as a teaching tool.
I haven’t seen features like a camera coach on other phones. To test if this is another AI header, or something I’ve used more than once, I took it to the streets of San Francisco. I brought a lot of great images that I would say is the Guardian.
When there is a man standing inside a bell, you don’t need much guidance to get a good photo. The camera coach helped me improve the frame to get real lenses.
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How to use a camera coach
Camera coaches work on these phones:
- Pixel 10
- Pixel 10 Pro
- Pixel 10 Pro XL
- Pixel 10 pro fold
In the camera application, structure the theme and then before clicking the shutter button, press Camera coach The button on the upper right (camera icon with plus sign). Next, a overlay pops up as you scan and analyze your scene. Gemini offers topic suggestions specific to your work. You choose one and then have a different direction in what to do. Finally, you want the whole step until you take a photo.
These are a series of screenshots I took that showcase the interface of the camera coach, the theme, and some of the steps I did.
I was in a coffee shop at the time and wanted to take a photo of the ice taking a small latte. After tapping the camera coach button, I received the “Find Some Options” message. Next, I can choose from several topics like “Iced Coffee Close” and “Coffee Drinks and Tables.” There is even one recover If I don’t like the selection, button. I’ve smiled Inspiredwhich offers artistic themes such as “wooden table texture paired with drinks” and “expansive views of the coffee shop interior”.
After selecting the wooden table and drink theme, I received a message that Gemini is “preparing how to do it.”
I try to follow each step. The first one asked me to switch to portrait mode. Blue oval around portrait The buttons show me where to click. When I finish, I press the arrow to see the next step. After a few steps, I was finally welcomed by the “photo” order. Once it’s done, I’ll pat it x Button off camera coach.
The interface after taking pictures is a bit confusing. The preview of the photo you just took is located at the top of the viewfinder. To exit the camera coach, there is an X, the thumbnail of the last photo you normally take. Since the process of using a camera coach is very slow, this is not about shooting fast moving topics like movement.
Besides that, it is very intuitive to use. I love how each step explains the “why” behind it. If it asks me to zoom in, it also explains how it makes my subject stand out more in the photo.
If you don’t like the theme suggested by Gemini, you can always refinish the viewfinder. Get Inspiend’s options offer more artistic methods, such as this nervous close-up image I took, the person wearing sunglasses, reflecting the sculpture in the camera.
I used the Get Inspiend option from Camera Coach and gradually guided how to get this very cool and dramatic close-up shot and reflected the sculptures nearby in the shot. I also have a very patient subject.
Camera coach results
I’m happy with most of the photos I took under the guidance of Camera Coach. Some methods are slightly different from what I usually take, while others are new perspectives to me. Gemini did a good job of recognizing the themes and scenes in my viewfinder. Although occasionally explaining something completely wrong, it is like saying a basket of ginger roots is a basket of peaches.
Sometimes the steps you want to take a photo seem contradictory. When I took a picture of a white building with palm trees, it wanted me to restructure the photo so that the parked car was not in the foreground. But the next step made me zoom in on more white buildings, which made the car shoot again. It feels like I’m trying to make lasagna and the direction I’m following is from two different recipes. Fortunately, this will only happen at some point.
This image is the result of the selection inspired. It made me zoom 40x on Mission High School Dome, and the Pixel 10 Pro’s Pro Res Zoom is enhanced.
The camera coach brought me close to the plants of this quintet and focused on one of the flowers (just to the right of the center).
In this photo, the camera coach brings me closer to my subject, uses portrait mode (which does a great job on curls), and forms some of the sculptures she stands in front of the camera.
This is one of my favorite camera coach captures. Following the instructions requires a lot of effort, which hopefully I cover a car on the right (you can still see the bumper enter the frame).
If at least there is no image of a bowl of fruit, is that art? The camera coach helped me find a huge angle that could eliminate many other distractions from the showcase case.
The camera coach cannot improve the subject. This cute old pickup in the shadows, and despite the best efforts of the feature to help me make up my picture, I couldn’t overcome the fact that the pickup was backlit.
The camera coach skillfully helped me hit “a third” in this image of the San Francisco skyline. The top of the building is crossing one-third of the top of the image and the palm trees crossing one-third of the bottom.
Here is another inspired image. I would love to take a step and turn it into a black and white photo.
Knowledge about camera coaches
After 10 days of using the Pixel 10 Pro, I learned that it has some strong preferences and dislikes.
Camera coach hates shadows
If you have strong shadows in your image, it is recommended that you redelete the photo to delete it. For those moments your own shadows might enter the frame on a sunny day, this is great, but sometimes it does feel attacking. For example, in the photo of the service truck below, the camera coach wants me to form my lens so as not to have a shadow of the truck. However, the only way to do this is by standing on the other side of the vehicle. No dice.
The camera coach doesn’t like the shadow of the truck in this photo. Now, I agree.
Camera coaches don’t like parked cars
I live in San Francisco and there are many cars on the street. Usually, I’m told to “demolish” cars in the frame. I get it, the camera coach wants you to block as much distraction as possible. And most of the time, I was able to move a few feet, re-angle the angle so that the car was out of the frame. But sometimes, there is not enough sidewalk space to enter the location and change the composition.
Camera coaches want to minimize interference in images, especially parked cars.
The camera coach is not happy
You should not use it to get photos of your kids or pets unless they sleep. It takes a few seconds for a camera coach, sometimes it takes longer to scan your work and provide advice. This part seems to be affected by how strong your internet connection is.
After selecting the desired style from the suggestion, it may take 5-10 seconds to complete the steps. Sometimes it takes me a minute to get a “photo” prompt. So when you want to shoot a dog with a dog hanging from a passing car’s window, the camera coach isn’t designed for those times.
But that jog can be great. It allowed me to pay attention to composition and really think about how I wanted to take pictures.
In many cases, a camera coach will not be useful. I had to record the cute dog with his paws hanging from the car window. If I use a camera coach, I miss the lens.
Camera coach cannot access all cameras or modes
It can be seen that the camera coach can be used on all the rear cameras, and even the Pro res Zoom on the Pixel 10 Pro/10 Pro XL. But this is not available with the selfie camera.
I like it suggests changing the mode, for example, it causes me to switch to portrait mode. But it can’t access all of this. When I took the San Francisco skyline, it guided me through the steps to take a panorama photo, but it didn’t allow me to use Panorama mode. What’s the difference? Before phones and software like Photoshop, Panorama was images with a wide field of view and aspect ratio. Panorama mode on pixels can create gorgeous panoramic images by “sewing” a series of images and mixing them together.
When the camera coach wanted me to take a panoramic photo, I naturally chose the mode, but couldn’t do it. My guess is that the two interactive interfaces don’t play well. I ignored the camera coach and grabbed the photo with my phone’s Panorama mode and was happy with the result.
I can’t take this photo with the camera coach. Also, I had to shrink the image a lot to embed it into this story.
The final thought of a Pixel 10 Camera Coach
Google has done an incredible job to make camera coaching an easy-to-use tool. The main audience is not a professional photographer or amateur, but people who love taking photos and want to learn more about the technology. I can see amateurs becoming photography enthusiasts after using camera coaches for a while.
As someone who got my first camera at 6 and worked as a professional photographer as an adult, I found the camera coach to remind the basics very well. This forced me to be more thoughtful and deliberate about the images I took.
I won’t be the next Ansel Adams to the camera coach, but it makes me appreciate his work and his technology to create beautiful images before the AI era – always using movies, large cameras, and plenty of lenses and tripods.
