Instagram Adds 10 New Features, So Anyone Can Be a Photo Geek

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By Kurt Wagner2014-06-03 16:00:42 UTC

Photo filters are now just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to editing images on Instagram.

The photo-sharing service announced 10 new editing tools on Tuesday for both iOS and Android. In addition to new adjustments like contrast, brightness and saturation, Instagram's filters have also been tweaked; users can now adjust the filter's intensity with a slide bar.

See also: 12 Most Cliché Photos on Instagram

Instagram first started utilizing the slide bar in March with the app's Lux tool, which serves as a fill light of sorts for dark photos. That slide bar is now available on a number of editing features, giving users more control over how dramatic their edits appear.

"All of us [at Instagram] are kind of photo geeks, but we're trying to bridge the gap between being a photo geek and the rest of the world," says Peter Deng, director of product at Instagram. "Instagram's always been about taking these tools that were previously inaccessible ... and making them accessible for free for everyone that uses Instagram."

All of Instagram's new editing tools come with a slide bar to set different intensity levels.

The company has been building the new suite of tools for less than six months, Deng told Mashable. For some, like the vignette tool that affects the lighting around the edges of an image, Instagram engineers studied film cameras to determine how light is bent through different lenses, says Deng.

The full list of editing tools include Adjust (lets you crop and straighten photos simultaneously), brightness, contrast, warmth, saturation, highlights, shadows, vignette, sharpen and filter strength (the border tool is now within the filter strength setting, too).

More Instagram editing tools are on the way, although Deng wouldn't specify any; they will be added to the app as they are finished. Instagram expects the new editing tools to be available to iOS and Android users on Tuesday as the app updates are pushed through to the App Store and the Google Play Store.

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Topics: apps, Apps and Software, editing tools, Facebook, instagram, Mobile, photo filters, photography, Tech

Image: Mashable, Will Fenstermaker