But what if group pics didn’t rely on squeezing in people for a selfie, asking a passerby for help, or leaving out the designated photographer? Now there are better options – from ultrawide selfie cameras to AI that combines your best takes into one fantastic image. The latest innovation is called Add Me, and it’s a new group photo editing feature on Pixel 9 phones.

Want to chronicle your day at the beach or that magnificent hike through the mountains, without leaving anyone out of the picture? Forget about selfie sticks or needing a helpful stranger. Add Me can seamlessly merge two photos into one amazing image. It combines true-to-the-moment photography with the power of AI and augmented reality, so everyone who was there can be in your pictures.

Sebastian Rodriguez, a senior product marketing manager for Google Pixel Camera, is constantly experimenting with new technology and taking photos of everyone in his family – except himself. “Go through my house,” he says. “I barely show up in any of our family photos.”

A longtime photographer, Rodriguez loves Add Me because it lets him explore creative photography and actually be in his pictures. He loves the quality of the results, which he credits to Google’s powerful Tensor G4 chip and Pixel’s signature computational photography. He also loves how intuitive Add Me is, because it’s integrated into your camera on Pixel 9. 

To use Add Me, all you need to do is:

1. Take a group photo.

2. Switch places with someone else who was in the picture. 

3. Have the second photographer tell you where you should stand in the photo, based on the directions in the viewfinder.

4. Have the second photographer take another picture.

5. Use Add Me to seamlessly merge together the two pictures, using AI and augmented reality. 

“Think of Add Me like a camera coach that guides you as you frame your photo and get it aligned,” says Rodriguez. 

Cool, right? You can make sure everyone’s included in photos with Add Me, whether you’re at your family’s house for the holidays or on a remote camping trip.

It’s not just group photos that sparkle on Pixel 9 cameras. You can do a lot more thanks to the phone’s magical AI-powered photo editing features.

Want to take a picture of your kids on their first day of school, but worried they won’t sit still? Combine multiple photos into one great image with Best Take.²

Looking to have those pics shine on social media? They’ll stand out more with Magic Editor, a photo and video editing tool that automatically adjusts colour, lighting, and stabilisation.³

Even better: You can use both of these AI image editing tools with Add Me on Pixel 9 phones.