Instagram was launched in October of 2010 and is a free photo-sharing application that also doubles as a social media tool. The application was only available for Mac users for awhile (Mac, IPhone, IPad) in the Apple Store. But, as of April 2012, Android users can now enjoy the same benefits as it is downloadable through Google Play. Instagram has swept the nation and has given entertainment to those who use it.
This article is not for Instagram users. In fact, I encourage that you explore options when looking into photography. I encourage that you have a good time playing around with a free application. This article is for Instagram Photographers, the new breed of artists that have been sweeping the country. Most Instagram users get offended when I voice my opinion on the application because they don't understand where my anger stems from.
The appeal to the market is simple. When you're in Instagram, you have a few different options.1. You can take a photograph with your camera phone or you can take a previously taken photograph and run it through a few filter options.
2. You can share your finished Instagram shots over the Instagram Feed. Followers can "<3" or "Comment" on the photograph. These posts can be showered in hashtags, which is "#" and then a word(s) or phrase relating to the photo. The term ‘hashtag’ comes from computer-coding: the symbol is a hash mark, and the term is a tag, thus ‘hashtag’. Hashtags were coined by Twitter in order to be able to search the site for an interest or an event. For example, if I take a photograph of my red shoes I am wearing today, I could post it as #redshoes. With that hashtag, people can search for the term "redshoes" and be able to locate my content.
3. You can comment or "<3" the photographs of your friends.
4. You can share across social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and FourSquare. I chose to share it over Twitter and Flickr.
At this point, I had figured out that the app works very similarly to most social media networks. I will admit that I had a lot of fun with it and as an entertainment application, I recommend that people use it as such. It does it's purpose of being fun and entertaining. As a consumer, I would say that the only issue I have with the application is the forced square box that crops your photograph entirely. As a photographer? This application is something that is more than frustrating.
However, I still stand by my statement that I had made a few months ago. Instagram does not make someone a photographer. I met a girl a few months ago who showed me her portfolio, asking me what she thinks she can do to improve her photos. I noticed that the photos were a little grainy and in low resolution but she had a technique for Photoshop edits. However, when I asked her what type of camera she used, she smiled and excitedly said, "My IPhone! Instagram is a great application!"
The low resolution and the blurriness of the photographs are "exciting" and "new" to people. However, to people who work with higher quality photographs on a day to day basis, it's frustrating to say the least. If you blow up an Instagram photo on a large poster, it won't have the same effect as it does online. When you blow up a photograph taken with a physical camera (with a decent amount of megapixels), you don't risk the memory not being as clear as you though it was.
Even on high-end mobile phones, it is a depressingly inaccurate camera. Even a decent film camera has a resolution of between 12 to 20 megapixels. The iPhone 4 has 5 megapixels on the rear camera, and something like the EVO has 8 megapixels.
This is where my rants start from. The picture on the left (You can click it to see it up close) shows the manual process per filter. I have used most if not all of these methods by hand. Processing under their filters can take seconds on Instagram. Where as the actual process takes much longer than that.
Little known fact, however, is that in their Terms and Conditions, they clearly state, ...By displaying or publishing (“posting”) any Content on or through the Instagram Services, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, worldwide, limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and translate such Content, including without limitation distributing part or all of the Site in any media formats through any media channels, except Content not shared publicly (“private”) will not be distributed outside the Instagram Services.
Photographers who want to make a living off these photos, relinquish those rights when they use this application if shared publicly. Also, it states that they can reproduce and translate such content. That means that your photograph of your lunch for today is no longer yours. It belongs to Instagram now.
The recent trend of Instagram Professional Photographers have also taken a chunk out of the Photography Network. Most photographers I know use Instagram as a handy quick point and shoot tool. But, clients have turned to the new app as a means to define a photographer. This can lower photographers chances of said client. However, it isn't a situation where the photography business is dying. People still love film and digital photographs and some have never even heard of Instagram before.
Most people say, "But, photography equipment is expensive!". I absolutely agree with you. However, when photographers start out with basic cameras, they are able to learn the basics and gradually move up to better quality equipment. Just because Instagram is free, does not mean that it should be used as photography equipment that can be taken seriously in the field. However, over time you learn to budget and learn what equipment pieces work for you.
According to Alex Cowles of QueryClick, "Instagram is the new lens-flare. It's the new delusion. It's the new fake-authenticity that people crave." (Why I Hate Instagram) But, most trends die very quickly. If this application was ran entirely by users that were doing this for entertainment, I would be more than happy to support it. But, it is a mixed bag of entertainment users and Instagram photographers. However, Instagram photographers hopefully will come to a stop - whether it is their discovery of film or digital cameras or they realize that Instagram just does not make you a photographer overnight.
~Meredith Gerber
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