Capturing group photographs where every subject is looking toward the camera, smiling, and keeping their eyes open simultaneously is notoriously difficult. In family gatherings, wedding parties, or group celebrations, someone inevitably blinks, looks away, or shifts posture right as the shutter actuates. Traditionally, photographers were forced to capture dozens of burst images and spend hours manually compositing individual faces in image editing software.
Google Photos features an advanced computational photography tool called Best Take. Powered by on-device machine learning models, Best Take identifies burst or series shots captured within seconds of each other, extracts optimal facial expressions for every individual from the series, and allows you to swap expressions seamlessly into a single composite photograph.
How Best Take Identifies and Evaluates Group Expressions
Best Take operates by inspecting photo sequences containing similar compositions:
- Temporal Clustering: Google Photos scans your library for photographs taken in rapid succession (typically within a few seconds of each other) featuring identical facial groupings.
- Facial Mesh Detection: The algorithm isolates individual faces across the burst series, aligning facial landmarks such as pupils, smiles, and jawlines.
- Expression Library: Best Take builds a carousel of alternative facial expressions captured for each specific person across the photo series.
- Perspective and Skin Tone Blending: When you select an alternative expression, Best Take matches ambient lighting, skin tones, head angles, and depth maps to ensure realistic results.
Using Best Take in Google Photos Step-by-Step
To composite expressions across a group photograph series:
- Open the Google Photos app on your device (available natively on Google Pixel 8 and newer devices, and accessible via Google Photos editing suites).
- Select a group photo that was captured as part of a series or burst.
- Tap the Edit button located in the bottom toolbar.
- Scroll through the editing tools and tap Tools, then select Best Take.
- Google Photos analyses the series and displays circular avatars representing each detected person beneath the image.
- Tap on the face of the individual whose expression you wish to modify.
- A row of alternative expressions extracted from the other photos in the sequence will appear.
- Tap through the candidates to preview how each expression aligns in real time.
- Repeat the process for any other individuals in the photograph until everyone displays their preferred look.
- Tap Done, then select Save copy to preserve the modified portrait while keeping your original unedited shots intact.