Instagram adds new editing features in its latest version

Instagram makes your world look wonderful. Take a look at any regular feed on Instagram and you will see people with a parade of fabulous brunches, perfectly coifed pets, and outstanding sunsets. These images tell you polished and visually enchanting stories of people who are just as regular as you are. As a matter of fact, this is what Instagram was created for. It has been created to let you present your story the way you want to with the help of the images you have clicked. With the launch of its powerful photo editing tool, the images would now be even more surreal and a lot more amazing.   Getting away from the typical filter option that Instagram provides, this tool also helps you to adjust brightness, highlights, contrast, shadows many other imaging characteristics using simple and intuitive on-screen controls. This tool is available in the new version of Instagram for IOS and Android. Though this feature is not a ground breaking innovative idea, as you would find many desktop and mobile editing apps that provide you with similar features, this tool from Instagram is certainly a lot easier and sophisticated than the rest. The controls are simple, and you can adjust and edit your images just by using a single slider control.   Instagram’s Co founder and Chief executive Kevin Systrom quoted in an interview that Instagram is a stage for most people and you need these tools to put your best foot forward. Facebook Acquired the company in the year 2012 and since then, it played a big role in Instagram's success. The company had grown over 23 percent in the year 2013, which is tremendous when compared to its parent organization Facebook which grew by only 3 percent. Instagram has a user base of 200 million active users and is still growing pretty strong. The growth of Instagram has also made Photo sharing app market more competitive, and many more interesting apps have come up. One such app is Snapchat; it is a bit different from what Instagram is. This app automatically deletes the images once the recepient has seen them, whereas Instagram provides you with a gateway to produce creative expression of your story through an image timeline. Instagram wants to be that one place online brimming with thoughtfully clicked photos. Mr Systrom and his team of photo-nerd engineers have put in a lot of effort into making this tool simple but efficient. The interface is butter smooth and intuitive. All you have to do is take a snap from the app or select one image from your photo library, and just tap on the new imaging panel that provides dozens of fine tuning options to improve lighting and color of your picture. The slider controls make it real easy to execute. This new app also allows you to customize Instagram’s standard filters. Say for example, you want to use the Sutro filter but you find it to be too strong for the image. In this case, you can now reduce the strength of the filter to even a fraction of its standard strength, to give the desired presentation to your image. The tool also offers the option to tap and hold on your photo to see the “before” image. When you let go the hold, the picture snaps back to the edited version. The interface is designed to provide a fast and intuitive system that also helps you understand your edits. The tool is so simple to operate that using it once or twice will make it feel like second nature. You don’t need to understand the photography jargons or any other technicalities to edit. All you have to do is turn the slider up or down and tap to see the difference. Under this simple interface, you get a powerful editing tool with uncommon powers. Mr Systrom and his team of engineers are self-proclaimed “Photo nerds." These people take their job seriously and have spent many hours in designing this new feature. These engineers have given a lot more time than most users can guess even on issues that might seem trivial. This attention to detail has certainly paid off as the adjustment and editing features are much more subtle and useful than any other editing app. The brightness in the picture does not give a white washed look, the contrast doesn't make the picture look unnatural. Rather these feature helps you to give a more natural and refined look to the image. When asked, Mr Systrom gave two explanations in response to the skepticism shown by the reporters. He said that these features were requested by the users since a long time, and he is confident that users will like the tool and it would further enhance the user base of this popular app. He also offered a more philosophical take on the question, stating that he often felt that many a times, there is a great difference in the image that we have in our mind and the image we click. This tool helps bridge that gap. It helps you express the moment the way you felt about it. We live in a time where smartphones make it possible to click photos instantly, and apps like Instagram help you adjust the image and express your emotions to the world through pictures. With this new tool, it would further show us how amazing the world around us is.