Thanks to a friend (Ani) and a nephew (Tyler) of mine, I have been looking at Instagram photos on facebook for far too long without figuring out what the heck was going on. I bordered on believing that people were delving into an Artistic Photography Career before I finally realized they were just using the Instagram App’s capabilities to its fullest. (Not that the photos aren’t artistic, of course.) What does it do? Well, just what it says: uses a photo from your iPhone and transforms the look and feel by adding a filter. Pretty soon your 2012 photo will look like it’s partying like it’s 1979. Or any other era of little square photographs with the rounded edges that you have leftover from your youth. (Unless you’re not as old as I am.)
I just uploaded the app and had happy times picking photos of my kids and dogs and completely changed the exposure and saturation with already pre-approved filters that line the bottom of the screen. I can’t wait to try it with random stuff that will look wicked cool. To stimulate your own artistic ideas, check out Instagram’s blog for some great examples of creative shots.
There is also a whole social network in itself centered around Instagram photos. You can follow your friends who have chosen their own unique usernames. Plus, it’s linked to facebook, twitter or Flickr, so any time you take an Instagram photo and want to upload it, voila, it’s there in seconds with the caption (“Instagram Photos”) below it.
I’m not a huge App user, but this is definitely one of the cooler ones I’ve come across in a long time. Plus, it’s free. So get your filter groove on and start snapping some Instagram Photos, share with your friends and spread the love of cool digital photography tinted from a bygone era all across the land. Peace out, man.
