Sunday, February 14, 2016

Test Post:: Picasa vs Google Photos ::EDITED and Now Cautionary, Semi-Recant Of Original Post!

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Testing.  From the fireworks show at Lake Havasu last year.  Still pretty, eh?








Testing of Google photos, as they are taking Picasa away soon.  The photos produced in this post are using the same photos as I used a year ago. They do present a bit differently in posting and then in viewing size.  When I used Original size before to post, I now I have to use XLarge to post.  The size you will view is slightly different.  This makes no difference to you, my readers.  Last years post with some of these same photos, the photos appear just a bit larger last year. It is a minor detail and I am not sure any of you will notice, I do, because, it's my blog.  They pay me to note such things. OH, dear, no one pays me.  Sorry, slight error there.

I will play with the sizing issue in the next few months, to see if I can adjust it to where I am more pleased with the final product, my blog posts.

In the meantime, there is no reason, MAY BE REASON, to panic if you use Picasa online to store your photos. They are already at Google Photos, same photos, same albums, BUT NOT ALL??.  Just a bit different look and feel to the app.  I am not particularly fond of the new app/look.  But, it WORKS, and that is all I end up caring about. By the way, "Albums" from Picasa are now called "Collections" by Google Photos. SIGHHHH.

You do NOT need to move your photos to a new venue.  You do NOT want to move them to a new venue if you use the photos stored at Picasa on your blog if you use Blogger for your writing/blogging.  (And, if you don't know where your photos are automatically stored by Blogger, here is a hint, they were stored at Picasa and now will be stored at Google Photos.)  To move them will un-link all photos on your blog.  I have been blogging for almost 7 full years, I have hundreds of photos.  I see no reason to panic and start fixing and fussing and moving.  Frankly, my dears, I don't have the time or energy.  I have fresh blogs to write, hundreds more photos to share from our western travels. I am not into do-overs for no reason.

No panic.  Relax.  Go forth and blog, your photos are safe and sound.

Well, maybe!  As I further investigate, I am having issues finding photos on Google Photos from 2009. Those photos ARE on Picasa.  I was informed that it is even worse if you use Goggle Drive to access photos. Whewie, are they correct.

I am still NOT moving anything OUT of Picasa. But, now, I am concerned about the earlier years, such as 2009.

Stay tuned, this may turn into a rant instead of a supportive post.




P.S.  This is NOT the Picasa you download to your computer.  That has always been confusing, having a web version and a computer hard drive version.  I am only addressing the web storage version of Picasa in this post.


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19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Exactly what I was wondering last night. If the photos are moved to Google Photos wouldn't that un-link the images that people link to Blogger from Picasa? Apparently not but how is that magic trick accomplished?

By the way, I've had a look at Google Photos and either it's too simple for my mind or too complicated. Either way I'm lost. Good thing I won't be using it.

Carol said...

I have no idea how they did it.

I am currently experimenting. It seems the older photos from Picasa are not being found on Google Photos. I hope it is learners user errors. My first "album" in Picasa has nearly 1000 photos, and I am not finding them all. I may have to re-write this post.

Tony Proctor said...

As a Blogger myself, I was concerned about the resolution/size change as several of my images are technical diagrams, with writing that must be readable.

However, I don't seem to see my Blogger images as you, and others, have suggested. In Google Photos (photos.google.com) I see just two Collections, neither of which are related to my blog. In Google Drive (drive.google.com), there is an entry in the left panel called "Google Photos" that shows all my Blogger images (and nothing else) but arranged in chronological order; they are not grouped in a collection/album related to the blog name.

Anyone else see a similar setup?

Carol said...

I have not tried/looked at Google Drive Tony. I will be.

Again, I may back tread on this post, I am getting a niggling feeling that Google Photos are not ready for prime time??

I hope it is just something I am missing.

Carol said...

OK, first look at Google Drive, is a TOTAL FAIL.

Mel said...

I use Google Drive to back up my genealogy documents. I like it. The folders stay where I put them across devices. But there are space limitations which is why I chose Google Photos as a backup for photos (as they don't count against my account). The organization is awful if you use their auto backup service though.

Carol said...

I don't use Google Drive, except on a rare occassion. I think I need to clean old stuff out that I did not realize was there.

I am beginnning to wonder how they are dating our photos that are NOT in albums in Picasa.

Not ready for prime time??

Stay tuned - - -

Anonymous said...

The only photos I see on Google Drive under Google Photos are the ones I put in G+ posts. Not the ones put there automatically when I post about a post that pulls in an image.

Last week I nearly lost my mind trying to get Google Drive to upload genealogy folders to share with my Cuz.

First, I had to install the desktop software FIVE times before I got a screen to log in from.

Then Drive went crazy making duplicates. When I deleted those and then emptied the Trash it deleted files that were not in the Trash. Around and around and around. It wasn't long before I was questioning my sanity and whether I'd lost my touch for navigating software. It USED to be relatively easy.

Anyway, back to Google Photos. I just don't get it. The navigation is a nightmare but I suppose one might get used to it. I uploaded a TIFF as an experiment, got a link to it, and it downloaded as a JPG with the metadata stripped out. NO THANKS!

Now I'd better go see if it's doing the same thing to the files I put there for Cuz because they're chock-full of metadata.

Carol said...

Someone better get their act together?? I have little interest in Google Docs, I went back and looked and a few more photos actually showed up. But, not the HUNDREDS I have blogged. And, still cannot locate the earlier Picasa 2009 photos from the first year or so that I blogged. A few are there, most are not.

Unless something changes, and hopefully it will, my positive take on Google Photos from this morning, will tarnish. It has already begun. I am more than happy to give them a chance, and I believe I can make this work going forward. I will not redo a year or more of blog posts if the photos end up as black X marks.

I have rarely used Picasa for anything but blog photos, that will continue. I do NOT do cloud backups of much. I have several external hard drives for that purpose.

Anonymous said...

It could be that the Google servers are having a challenge moving everyone's photos from Picasa at once.

When I gave up trying to make sense of Google Drive it eventually worked things around; it just took time. Still, I've totally lost trust in it. I certainly don't keep any original files there.

The only reason I put files in the cloud at all is to share with my Cuz, cause there's no other way to do it for 32GB of files that are regularly being added to. A service called COPY that caused me no bother at all is closing and Google Drive was the only free one I could find that gave adequate space. The rest are in Dropbox.

Carol said...

Not so sure about the Google Photos, we were supposed to be using something akin to this for months, maybe a couple of years. I had to wrangle my way around the net to find the URL to get into Picasa, and that has been several years ago. I believe our photos have been in Google Photos for some time.

I searched the term "when did Google Photos begin" and on the first page of hits, I am back to September of 2013.

There should not be a rush on Google's part to get our photos there. From all I have read so far on this subject, our photos HAVE been there, some of us just were unaware of such.

Again if this is so, where are my blog photos from 2009??

Anonymous said...

I'm sure they're coming. Google couldn't possibly be so out of touch they would turn everyone's Blogger post images into "black X marks". (Ooops, forgot that part.) Can you imagine the uproar?

'They' have been saying for years now the day is coming when we won't care if all our software and files are in the cloud. OH YES I WILL!

Carol said...

Let's not take this conversation to "Cloud" storage. (wink, wink) I pretty much I hate that term. As always, the powers that be rarely take into consideration the rest of us, with limited band width and out of the ordinary life styles.

Anonymous said...

Sorry. I thought that was what you were talking about - your images in the cloud that have disappeared.

I don't keep my images in the cloud. At least not without desktop backup. They would have to take me kicking and screaming.

When I'm 90 I'm sure I'll be holding my ancient but most recent desktop computer together with duct tape. I will have gone back to paper and spent my retirement money on printer after printer, desperately trying to hang on.

Carol said...

The photos/images under discussion here are the photos that I have used in my Blog on Blogger since April of 2009. They are shown in Picasa photo albums and are NOT found in the Google Photos venue.

If I understand correctly, Picasa access will cease in about a month and the only way to access whatever I have stored in Picasa (no matter why or what for - - LOL) will be to access them via Google Photos.

All Picasa photos have been said to already be stored at Google Photos and I cannot find them all, most of 2009 is MIA.

I use almost no other cloud storage for anything. A few documents are in the old Hotmail. account. A few things on Dropbox, but, not for storage, just for transfer. A few things in Evernote. Not many. And, I am of the frame of mind to get that stuff out of there too.

Anonymous said...

I think I'm following you - your 2009 photos connected to your blog. Which should be in cloud storage at Google Photos but they're not.

Since the photos ARE still in Picasa, what I would do if I was you, and I'm not, is copy the photos out of Picasa and put them on my computer somewhere else.

Have you gone back to your 2009 blog posts to see if they're still connected? Maybe they're only connected through Picasa? So, save the images and do whatever you have to do to fix it later unless they show up in Google Photos which they're probably going to.

I can't believe that Google would mess this up. It's so HUGE they'd never live it down.

Carol said...

All blog posts are backed up, in word processor format and/or PDF format. Most, if not all, photos are formatted for the blog and saved in a specific folder on my hard drive and backed up.

There is something I am finding about Blogger albums. Those may or may not be the issue. The research continues.

Anonymous said...

Are you following the Picasa blog? http://googlephotos.blogspot.ca/

It might give some insight about what they're up to.

Carol said...

Mucked around many hours yesterday at several of the Google forums/blogs. Will revisit, thanks for the link.