Google's heartwarming advert shows off how much more inclusive the Pixel 6 cameras are

Real Tone is meant to help you accurately photograph all skin tones

Inclusive technology is nothing short of critical today. How that technology is introduced plays an important part in its reception and the wider public acknowledgment of progress. Google's new advert relays the highly anticipated Real Tone camera capabilities of the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, which are supposed to accurately represent all skin tones equally.

The new Real Tone ad can be found on YouTube and has already started appearing in TV ad spots, including during Saturday Night Live. The advert distills the elation that the addition of a child brings to families while highlighting the pleasure of being able to accurately photograph the most important events in a kid's life with images that truly reflect the people in them.

Google’s Real Tone features look to address a historic imbalance of camera technologies, in their inability to accurately represent the most diverse set of skin tones possible. In a potentially pivotal move for mobile photography, the corrections present in the feature-set of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are designed to properly represent skin tones which are often over-brightened or unnaturally desaturated – issues predominantly affecting people of color.

To make these improvements possible, Google has increased the diversity of its datasets to better train camera models in capturing human images. At the Pixel 6 / Pixel 6 Pro launch event, the company detailed how this could help improve image processing: it translates to better face detection, more nuanced auto-white balance, better auto exposure, the reduction of stray light, and less blurry portraits.

With Google Photos also getting a Real Tone-enabled update to its Auto-enhance feature in the coming weeks (for Android and iOS), Google is taking significant steps towards a better representation of all humans in mobile photography. These improvements being undertaken by the company suggest that the new advert’s opening quote — by the writer and artist Akwaeke Emezi — is getting the attention it deserves from Pixel and Photos products: “Understand this if you understand nothing: it is a powerful thing to be seen.”

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