Great news, people who like to obsessively take pictures of their nails with a $600 phone and add filters to make them look like a picture taken in 1978! Instagram is unveiling more options to edit.
Just in time for me to finally figure out how Instagram works (DON'T ASK), the social media app is adding some cool new photo editing features. Via Recode:
The new version for the 200 million monthly active users of the Facebook-owned service will be available for both Apple iOS and Google Android, adding a number of tools that users pay for when using other photo apps.
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Among the new (and sometimes very nifty) features, according to Instagram, which seemed easy to grok in a demo Systrom gave me:
- Adjust: Crop and straighten your photo at the same time.
- Brightness: Makes your photo brighter or darker.
- Contrast: Makes the bright areas of your photo brighter, and the dark areas darker.
- Warmth: Shifts the colors of your photo toward either warmer orange tones or cooler blue tones.
- Saturation: Increases or decreases the color intensity of the image (e.g. red becomes redder).
- Highlights: Adjust the brightness focusing on the bright areas of the image.
- Shadows: Adjust the brightness focusing on the dark areas of the image.
- Vignette: Darkens the edges of the photo to direct the attention away from the edges and toward the center of the photo.
- Sharpen: Adds a subtle crispness to your photo and makes photo clearer.
- Filter Strength: Tap on a filter to adjust the filter strength. (Border is now within Filter Strength; tap on a filter to add a border).
- Each editing tool comes with a slider that allows you to adjust how much to apply each effect.
- Tap on your photo preview to compare your photo's before and after effects.
Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom said while he doesn't want to make it more complicate to use, the goal is to take the app beyond the filters they are famous for. "We are aiming to make the core better, creating more of an ecosystem," he said "Everyone can build a photo app, but not everyone can build a community."
I would say this all actually seems pretty cool to me, but as the numerous Lifehacker bloggers who I have pestered with my ridiculous "WHICH BUTTON DO I PUSH TO MAKE THE INTERNETS WORK ON MY PHONE THINGIE" questions about technology will attest to, I have about 600 million steps behind being able to handle new editing options.
Image via Shutterstock.
DISCUSSION
I'm assuming this is in response to the popularity of VSCO Cam. As a photographer who also loves cell phone photography, I use the shit out of that app.
Noticed the new options on Instagram last night, but I had already done my editing in VSCO, so I haven't tried it out yet. The real question is: Will they get over their obsession with the freaking square format already?