Instagram (iPhone|Android) is a popular photo enhancement app that requires only a couple of touches to produce retro-looking images and then share them with friends and other Instagram members. And with new mapping features in version 3.0, you now have a whole new way to browse images by location. But what's really special about the Instagram phemenon is how users have used the app to create a story about their everyday lives through stylized photos.
You start by signing up with Instagram with an e-mail address, username, and password. From there you can configure Instagram to autopost to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, and Posterous, or just choose to share images from within the app or via e-mail. You can also turn any of these options on or off if you don't want to share your shots with everyone.
Once you're connected, you'll be able to snap a photo wherever you are, move and scale the image, add an effect with a touch of your finger, and then touch Done to share your photographic moment with the world. The app comes with several free custom-designed filters that can give your image various retro effects, a grainy black-and-white look, or even adjustable tilt-shift options. When you're satisfied with the look, you can add a caption along with geotagging, then share it right away.
Even with just the features mentioned, this free app would already be easy to recommend, but a couple of added features make it even better. Once signed up with Instagram, you can follow other Instagram users on the Feed page, which shows recent images taken by you and your friends. Here you can comment and "like" photos and Facebook integration means you can also "like" it on Facebook. Switch tabs to look at a Popular list that shows all the most popular Instagram images from all users. You can search for tags and users in the recently added Explore section. You also can look at a News tab, which shows the latest actions by your connected friends (liked, commented, or otherwise), so you can see what your friends are currently looking at. These features make Instagram an app you might look at every day, just to see what your friends are up to.
In version 3.0, Instagram now has mapping capabilities. Once you update, the app will automatically gather all your past Instagram photos where you activated geotagging and put them on a map so you and your followers can browse by location. When you first launch the update, there's a banner across the top of the app that directs you to review your geotagged images. The app defaults to showing all geotagged images (once you have given the OK), but you can select or deselect images if you don't want certain locations to show on the map. With the new features, people will have a Photo Map button in their profile pages that you can touch to show a map of all their images.
I can't stress enough that it is very important to go through your images and make your selections. Sometimes you won't want to post location information (like where you live) to the public. Parents of kids who use Instagram would be wise to make sure their kids do not geotag their photos for the same reasons. With that said, this interface change makes it so your images don't disappear down the endless feed and gives people a much easier way to see all the images you have created.
Overall, Instagram is an excellent way to take retro-looking shots and share them with anyone. The popularity of the app gives you tons of content to browse and offers the possibility that your images will be seen by a very large amount of people. With the added mapping features, anyone who wants to take part in the Instagram phenomenon now has a new way to browse and show their images to a large audience.
Written by: Jason Parker, www.cnet.com
