If you have a ton of photos to share, then you might want to sign up for Google+ as soon as possible. They currently has more than 540 million active users, who upload roughly 1.5 billion photos every week. And those users are in for a real treat once Google activates its new features.

The new improvements have to do with all three of Hangout's services - location sharing, animated gifs, and SMS messaging which are now included in video calls. Additionally, video calls will automatically be displayed in full-screen HD with enhanced webcam auto-lighting and focus features designed to eliminate back-light silhouetting and noisy backgrounds.

Now here's where it gets interesting: Not only will these updates drastically improve Hangouts, they will also make taking, organizing, retouching, and storing these photos easier than ever. This has to do with the updated Photos service, which aims to drastically reduce the amount of time and energy users spend editing photos.

Advanced processes like stitching together a series of action shots, or removing any unwanted elements will all be automated. Users can just select a photo series and let the new 'Auto Awesome' feature take care of the rest. They also plan on making video editing automated by introducing the "Auto Awesome Movie" feature.

Organizing your photo collection will also be made simpler, thanks to computer vision algorithms that automatically pick out all the best shots. These algorithms allow you to easily search for specific elements within a photo even if it isn't tagged. They're also adding a thousand more search terms, and the function will be available within both your own library and those of people in your circles.

For seasoned photographers, Google's Snapseed service will include a number of new filters, including an intelligent HDR filter that utilizes pixel edge contrast algorithms to better enhance image. This is the first time this computationally intensive algorithm has been available on mobile devices. Google's NIK software suite will also offers a bevy of new filters.

Google+ says it has also improved its backup service to upload full resolution images by default, and the program will include background syncing capabilities as well following the next iOS update. Of course, the best way to really know if this is worth your while would probably be to try it out for yourself...

[Gizmodo]