For people all over the world who love to take photos and share these photos with friends and family, Instagram is a huge hit. Whether you’re a budding photographer keen to show off your artistic side, or simply want to keep a photo diary, Instagram is a unique and fun social networking platform that allows you to share updates and interact with your followers in a different way. But, has Instagram changed the way that we take photographs? From filters to hashtags, let’s have a look at the impact which Instagram has had on photography.
Access to Better Quality Photography
There was once a time where in order to take a good photograph, you had better spend a few hundred dollars on a high-quality DLSR camera and learn how to use it. However, thanks to the increasing quality of smartphone and tablet cameras, it’s perfectly possible to take amazing quality, professional looking photographs without the need to spurge on a camera at all. Instagram provides users with an instant camera option to use and the opportunity to share their photos with other users in real time, something that would have been near impossible in the past.
More Tweaks
Thanks to Instagram, it’s now easier than ever to tweak your photos and alter their appearance before showcasing them to others. This is done through filters, which essentially alter the tone of your photograph, making certain colors richer or more washed out depending on the filter that you choose. You can also instantly change your photograph to a black and white or a sepia version by simply choosing a filter. There are also options to change the brightness, adjust the contrast or rotate the angle of your photo in the app before posting. Editing options at your fingertips is just one way Instagram is changing photography. However, prior to the invention of Instagram, it was still possible to get ‘filters’ as such, although admittedly not as easy. Entrepreneur Aubrey Chernick created the ‘mystical’ filter effect using a traditional camera in 1975, which is one example of this.
Inspiring Creativity
Since Instagram is widely available for free to anybody who owns a smartphone and therefore much more accessible and affordable than an expensive camera, it has allowed many people who otherwise would never have thought much about taking photographs to discover their creative side. Playing around with an app such as Instagram makes you begin to start viewing the world differently, and many avid users begin to see things through more artistic eyes. Instagram has the potential to change ordinary people into artists and has inspired many to learn professional photography. Since it is so easy to take photographs and make them look professional and high-quality on Instagram it has opened up new opportunities for many when it comes to a hobby or even a career.
How has Instagram changed the way in which you take photographs? Or, has Instagram had some impact or made a change in your life in general? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
