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Google on Pixel phone stylizes some photos. Selection of photos to stylize is arbitrary (happens to some photos when you upload, no user selection to trigger) and what exactly happens in stylizing is not known (though some things like brightness, color and size reduction to probably save on space are obvious to see).

Is it possible for anyone else to detect that a photo has been stylized (of course, without comparing with original)? Maybe some artifact as a result of stylization? I suspect that the answer is no, but wanted to be sure (I can detect by the 3 stars icon in the photos app)

This is original photo

enter image description here

This is the stylized version

enter image description here

Note that both have been scaled down to png format to meet upload size restrictions.

Edit : Here are the originals. Google adds "EFFECTS" in the stylized photo name

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    \$\begingroup\$ Have a look at this answer if that is what you are asking about? That said, it looks like a terrible, undocumented and uncontrolled feature, thank you Google... \$\endgroup\$
    – MrUpsidown
    Nov 24, 2021 at 10:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ @AndrewT. to do HDR, you need several different exposures in the first place so I wouldn't call that HDR unless the original was indeed shot in HDR mode. To me, it looks more like a slight curves adjustment, pushed whites and contrast (maybe clarity) increase. Not easy to tell exactly what was applied given the size of the images (and the screen I am looking at right now). Looks like it introduced quite a lot of noise (this is particularily visible in the sky). Hard to tell without seeing the original unless you know very well what your camera should output. \$\endgroup\$
    – MrUpsidown
    Nov 24, 2021 at 10:20
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    \$\begingroup\$ It does look like it's been very aggressively smoothed even in the original. All the Stylize process seems to have done is to further overpush the vibrance/saturation & increase the contrast. There's no way to know where that was done. Here's a one button fix in Luminar showing a reasonably similar push [left orig, right tweaked] i.stack.imgur.com/GrK5j.jpg \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 24, 2021 at 10:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ Blue tint, in the sky, looks slightly different, more on the turquoise side. Bottom half of the picture seems to be more saturated, the white balance pushed on the yellow side, contrast was added too and the whites are pushed as well. It looks to me that the effects applied aren't uniform on the entire photo but I might be wrong. \$\endgroup\$
    – MrUpsidown
    Nov 24, 2021 at 11:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ That's honestly hard (impossible?) to confirm. Google algorithms... How does it work? I guess only Google devs could answer that question. I suppose an algorithm could be able to determine that the top half is the sky and to apply a certain effect to that part of the pic only, the bottom half is a bit too dark so another effect gets applied to that part, and so on. But that's only a supposition. \$\endgroup\$
    – MrUpsidown
    Nov 24, 2021 at 11:24

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One way to find all of the images that Google has stylised for you is to navigate to https://photos.google.com/search/_m10_Saved%20creations

It's at the bottom of Explore

enter image description here

You'll see 'Color pop', 'Pano', 'Stylised photo' when clicking through.

You can also use the search term "Stylised Photo" from the main search bar on photos.google.com, or this URL https://photos.google.com/search/Stylised%20photo

enter image description here

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    \$\begingroup\$ I wasn't aware of the link at the end of answer though and that's far more easier and may help others as well \$\endgroup\$
    – beeshyams
    Nov 24, 2021 at 16:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ The trouble with the initial premise upon which the question is based is that you're trying to identify where the edit has been done. This is impossible to discern [without Google's helpful overlays] because it could literally have been done anywhere. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 24, 2021 at 18:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Tetsujin I get it. You may like to expand it into an answer, since I did suspect that one can't identify and was looking for expert opinion. If you decide to answer please do elaborate on the changes observed based on originals. (since "where" edit has been done translates to "what" has been edited!) Thanks \$\endgroup\$
    – beeshyams
    Nov 25, 2021 at 1:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm sure really sure I can spin it up into an answer. Basically, all I can say is "you can't tell". Even knowing what was done gives you zero clue as to where it was done. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 25, 2021 at 16:16

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