Depending on how you have configured your phone - and which smartphone you use - you may be using the instant uploads feature of Google+ that uploads photos that you take with your phone directly to the Instant Uploads section of the Google+ website. You can turn on or off Instant Uploads in the Google+ app settings on your phone.
The photos that you upload are only visible to you by default which Google makes very clear on the Photos page on the Google+ website. I see the photos as a backup copy which can be handy at times, especially if you are running out of space on your smartphone and need to delete some data on it.
Google+ up until now let you share photos that were uploaded this way, either directly or in form of albums that you are able to create on the site. What you could not do however was to download multiple photos at once that were uploaded with Instant Uploads. The only workaround for that was to sort pictures into albums to download the full album as a zip file to the local system. This worked but was not really the way to go if you just wanted to download two or three photos to your local system. While it is possible to select the photos one by one to download them, it was not the most practicable thing to do either.
Google today added a new feature to Google+ that enables you to select photos on the Instant Uploads page so that you can download them right away to your system.
Just click on the check marks to select the photos and you will notice that a new action bar p opping up at the top that you can select the download option from.
The feature can be pretty useful in several situations. If you are working on a third party PC for instance and want to download photos to it. While you can do the same if you have your smartphone and connection cable with you, it is often the case that you do not.
The second option is to copy photos for backup purposes to your local system. Again only useful if you do not transfer your phone's data regularly to your PC anyway. (via)
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Source Article from http://www.ghacks.net/2013/03/27/google-download-instant-upload-pictures/
Google+ apps has been updated on Android and iOS, adding new features.
http://mobilesyrup.com/2013/03/25/google-receives-big-update-on-ios-and-android-adds-new-stream-design/
Love this feature, makes it more convenient.